Alpine dangers

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Warning of alpine dangers in the Ammergau mountains

In alpinism, alpine dangers are primarily understood as dangers that can threaten mountaineers, hikers or skiers. Since the end of the 19th century - with the publication of the book The Dangers of the Alps by Emil Zsigmondy in 1881 - a distinction has been made for these two types: objective dangers, which are largely independent of the abilities of the alpinist, and subjective dangers .

However, the term alpine hazards is also used in a geological context when landslides , floods and mudslides pose a threat to residential areas and traffic routes in the mountains .

Dangers in the alpine sense

Distinctions

Traditionally, two types of alpine dangers are distinguished in the literature, the subjective and the objective dangers . An attempt at definition says that subjective dangers are dangers caused by humans themselves and objective dangers are those that nature and the natural environment oppose to humans.

According to this, objective dangers are natural events, such as:

Subjective dangers are therefore:

  • insufficient experience (overconfidence, carelessness, ignorance)
  • poor ability (no / insufficient level of training, incorrect route planning: time factor)
  • insufficient physical conditions ( stamina )
  • Equipment deficiencies (wrong, bad and / or inadequate equipment)
  • mental misconduct
  • in groups also may be a fatal group dynamics occur

criticism

In recent times, however, this dichotomy has been questioned and newer authors suggest that natural events only become a danger when people consciously or unconsciously expose themselves to them, because it is in their own hands to at least theoretically reduce the risk, but fails due to incomplete information and a lack of rationality, especially in the high mountains. In addition, the mountaineer thinks he is exposed to the objective dangers more or less by fate and behaves accordingly.

Alpine dangers in the geological sense

The consequences of climate change in the mountains, such as the more frequent occurrence of landslides, mudslides and floods, made the term alpine hazards move into geology . In engineering geology , the term is dealt with in connection with integral risk management , torrent and avalanche control .

literature

  • Emil Zsigmondy, Wilhelm Paulcke : The dangers of the Alps , reprint of the 6th edition from 1922, Paderborn 2012, ISBN 3-8460-0476-6 .
  • Peter Geyern, Wolfgang Pohl: Alpine syllabus Volume 4, ski mountaineering variant driving , Munich, Vienna, Zurich 1998, ISBN 3-405-14824-3 .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Pepi Stückl, Georg Sojer: Mountaineering - textbook and guide for all forms of mountaineering . 3. Edition. Bruckmann Verlag, Munich 2010, ISBN 978-3-7654-5435-6 , pp. 173 ff .
  2. ↑ Peter Schatzl: Geographical Aspects of High Mountain Climbing , diploma thesis at the University of Salzburg 2001, p. 107 f.
  3. ↑ Franz Berghold in: Yearbook of the Austrian Board of Trustees for Alpine Safety (ed.): Alpine Hazard Theories and Risk Situations in Mountaineering and Skiing , Innsbruck 1992, p. 155 ff.
  4. ↑ Website of the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna for the relevant course
  5. ↑ Website of the Technical University Bergakademie Freiberg on alpine dangers in the geological sense (PDF; 1.1 MB)