delays, imperfect conditions and bad weather.
Carry liquid refreshment, emergency rations and a first aid kit.
Check the weather forecast before setting out.
Watch for signs of deteriorating weather, and don’t be too proud to turn back should it be safer to do so than continue in the face of an oncoming storm.
Don’t venture onto exposed ridges if a storm is imminent. In the event of being caught by one avoid prominent rocks, metallic objects or isolated features, and refrain from taking shelter in caves, beneath overhanging rocks or in gullies.
Should you be involved in an accident, stay calm, move yourself and, if feasible, the injured person (with care not to aggravate the injury) away from any imminent danger, and apply immediate first aid. Keep the victim warm by providing emergency shelter and adding any spare clothing available, and alert the rescue services – see below.
A rescue helicopter in action in the Bernese Alps
Mountain Rescue
All mountain activities involve a degree of risk, and participants should be aware of the fact and accept responsibility for their own actions. Since accidents occur in the Alps every year and in every season, it is important to know the procedure for calling out the rescue services. Remember, the cost of an emergency rescue and subsequent medical treatment can be extremely expensive. Be properly insured – see the section in Practicalities above. (It’s advisable to leave a copy of your insurance details with a responsible person at home, and to carry with you photocopies of important documents, such as passport information pages and insurance certificate, as well as an emergency home contact address and telephone number.)
Notification of an accident
Should you witness, or be involved in, an accident in the Swiss Alps, raise the alarm by calling the local police who organise mountain rescue; the number is 117. If you do not have a mobile phone, or cannot get a signal, remember that telephones are located in most mountain huts, including bivouac huts. Hut guardians will normally help co-ordinate the rescue call-out.
When reporting an accident the following information will need to be given:
your name
location and telephone number
name of victim
nature of injury
exact location
weather conditions at accident site
any obstacles in the accident area (eg cables) which could hamper helicopter evacuation.
Established in 1952 the Swiss air rescue service REGA provides emergency medical assistance throughout Switzerland from its operations centre in Zürich. Its red-and-white helicopters carry a medic and paramedic, and the call-out number is 1414. A non-profit foundation, REGA relies on donations and patronage for its funding. Do not request helicopter assistance for non-serious accidents.
The following signals are used to communicate with a helicopter:
International Mountain Distress Signal
(to be used in an emergency only)
Six blasts on a whistle (and flashes with a torch at night) spaced evenly for one minute, followed by a minute’s pause. In the event of no whistle being available, wave a brightly coloured item of clothing six times a minute, then wait a minute. Repeat until located by a rescuer.
The response is three signals per minute, followed by a pause of one minute.
RESCUE EMERGENCY CARE
First aid training courses designed especially for outdoor pursuits are available throughout the UK and Ireland. Go to www.recfirstaid.net.
Cicerone publishes a very useful pocket-sized first aid handbook: First Aid and Wilderness Medicine by Drs Jim Duff and Peter Gormly.
The extravagant spotted gentian
Trumpet gentian (Photos: Linda Reynolds)
Plant and Animal Life
Plants and animals are vital to the alpine environment, and whether the visitor is intent on walking, trekking or climbing, an awareness of the rich variety of flora and fauna will help create a multi-dimensional experience. Plantlife is incredibly varied, thanks to the wide climatic differences that allow palm trees to flourish below the Lepontines of Ticino, while the glacier crowfoot has been found blooming near the summit of the Finsteraarhorn at over 4200m.
Alpine flora
While the range of mountain plants is enormous, they are grouped by habitat, soil and climate, rather than scattered in a haphazard manner, and are roughly divided between those that are lime-loving and those that exist only among non-calcareous formations. Habitats range from lush meadow to damp marsh and acid bog, from deciduous woodland and coniferous forest to virtually soil-less scree, moraine bank, high rock face and wind-scoured ridge. With such a diverse range of habitats, it’s little wonder that Switzerland has around 620 species of flowering plant, and no matter how small some may be, no matter how remote and inhospitable their lodging place, each one is an integral part of the mountain world.
As the snow recedes in early spring, the lower valleys reveal such perennial favourites as soldanellas, gentians, primulas and anemones that flower, seed and then become dwarfed by the grass and coarse foliage of the burgeoning meadows. And when they’re all-but forgotten, more of the same appear higher up the hillside as a later spring season arrives in late May and June to chase the departing snows from the true ‘alps’ – the summer pasturelands with their groups of chalets and haybarns. In June and early July a profusion of mountain flowers adorn these pastures in a vibrant tapestry, until grazing cattle or the farmer’s scythe have cleared them. In mid-July and August alpines are evident on glacial moraines, among screes, in narrow crevices and open rock faces; tiny cushions of flowering plants, some appearing little more than a stain on a rock, others that display a cluster of rosette-like leaves from which a stem of brilliant colour protrudes. Every one is a gem.
The soldanella referred to above is a tiny violet-blue tassle-headed snowbell (Soldanella alpina) that often appears to burn its way through melting patches of snow. Drifts of crocus appear at the same time, the white or purple Crocus albiflorus and C. vernus, the rose-red primula (Primula hirsuta), and the spring anemone (Pulsatilla vernalis) that also flowers as the snow melts.
The earliest of the gentians, the brilliant blue spring gentian (Gentiana verna) appears from March until August, and is followed at various altitudes and in different habitats by the extravagant trumpet gentians (G. clusii and G. kochiana), the blue-lilac field gentian (Gentianella campestris), the tall blue, multi-flowered willow gentian (G. asclepiadea) that appears in both wooded areas and damp meadows, and the tallest of them all, the great yellow gentian (G. lutea) that grows to more than 1m in height and flowers between June and August.
Growing among stony meadows and rock debris, the large flowered leopardsbane (Doronicum grandiflorum) is a 6–50cm tall member of the daisy family with custard yellow head, very similar in appearance to Arnica montana which appears in meadows and open woods.
Along the edge of woodland straggles of powder-blue alpine clematis (Clematis alpina) twist tendril-like around tree trunks and low branches, the flowers at their best in late June or July. But it is the alpenrose, or dwarf rhododendron (Rhododendron ferrugineum), that makes its presence known both nearby and from a distance, with its mass of pink-to-scarlet flowers spreading