The practice of ski mountaineering presupposes the ability to plan and carry out an itinerary independently and in safety. It is therefore necessary to be able to read and interpret the snow conditions in progress, to be autonomous in assessing the terrain on which one is moving and to have the ability to analyse the behaviour to adopt in order to correctly assess the degree of exposure to risk.

It is advisable to always read the avalanche and weather bulletins and to plan excursions on the basis of the information contained therein, comparing it with the observations and evaluations carried out independently along the itinerary.

Particularly with avalanche danger levels of 3 - Marked and, even more so, 4 - Strong in the bulletin, the possibilities for excursions are limited or severely restricted. With these scenarios, it is necessary to have good or very good skills in assessing the condition of the snowpack and reading the terrain morphology in order to identify potential avalanche areas and thus implement suitable risk reduction strategies, also taking into account the human factor and group management.

On snow-covered terrain, there is no exactly defined trail that is valid a priori, this can vary depending on the quality, quantity of snow and stability conditions. The tracks that can be downloaded from the Gulliver platform and are present in the APP, although created with the utmost care, are not to be considered as the only possible route, they are just one of the many tools that technology makes available for viewing the proposed routes on the web.

The GPS tracks have the sole purpose of enriching the descriptions of the itineraries, but in no case do they replace the knowledge of the place and the orientation skills required to plan the excursion, also in relation to the environmental, snow and physical-athletic conditions.

The GPS tracks are therefore intended merely as additional information and a complementary part of the route descriptions.

The choice to use the GPS tracks provided on the website and available on the APP falls under the total and exclusive responsibility of the user.

In no event shall we be held liable for the accuracy of the GPS tracks available for download on the website, nor for any damage that may be caused to users and/or third parties as a result of their use; should you find any errors, please let us know.

We advise you, therefore, to plan your route carefully according to the snow, weather and terrain conditions along the route, and to adapt your behaviour according to the identified or expected scenario, the number of people and their technical abilities. If it is assessed that safety conditions do not exist, give up. If you are not an expert, it is advisable to be accompanied by a mountain guide.

With danger level 5 - Very Strong, ski mountaineering activities are generally not possible.

Text edited by Fondazione Montagna sicura, within the framework of the Interreg VA Italy-Switzerland project SkiAlp@GSB

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