This lecture talks about avalanche risk that often goes unnoticed i.e. when there is not a lot of snow. Recent serious avalanches from 2017 to 2022 will be analyzed. In these cases the snowpack was thin yet this resulted in a detrimental outcome surprising the first responders. Yet by analyzing the events clues in weather and the snowpack indicate clearly that avalanche risk is present. Weak layers between older and newer snow can be extremely volatile and deteriorate very rapidly with changes in the weather. These risk factors will be discussed and participants will hopefully leave with a better understanding of what they need to observe while traveling in the mountains during winter.

In Search and Rescue in the wilderness there is a need for SOP's for rescuers and incident management. The key to a successful rescue is an orderly approach and situational awareness. When dealing with an accident in the wilderness it is important that information on the status on-site flows to the Incident Managers with the scope and severity of the event.The "first wave" should travel light and fast and administer first aid and report to the Incident Management. The second wave carries the needed equipment for evacuation. Should the rescue require backup resources e.g. due to environmental risks (weather, avalanche risk etc.) we should always have resources in reserve i.e. the third wave. This lecture discusses past operations where this method should have been used leading to the formation of this methodology and also operations where this operating procedure was followed to the letter.