![\"avalanche](\"https:\/\/www.chaletline.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/20180405_155442.jpg\")
<\/p>\nYou\u2019re more likely to notice the lift operators or even the snow groomer drivers in a ski resort than a pisteur, yet their role is the most important of all.<\/p>\n
Probably you\u2019ve most likely to see them in the worst circumstances when escorting someone down the mountain in a \u2018blood wagon\u2019, but the job requires much more.<\/p>\n
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On duty from dawn to dust<\/strong><\/p>\n Every day they have to formally open and close the pistes, make risk assessments on safety and, most crucially, plan avalanche management (Plan d’Intervention pour le D\u00e9clenchement des Avalanches). This latter area includes prevention as well as rescue.<\/p>\n In short, a pisteur is on duty from dawn to dust.<\/p>\n As you\u2019d expect, before you can do the job, you need to hold a number of qualifications. requisites are required: to be of age, to hold the French PSE1 and PSE2 first aid qualifications and also pass the national technical tests.<\/p>\n Every day is different and a pisteur needs to be constantly alert to any changes in weather and conditions.\u00a0 You might not notice them, but the pisteurs are always on the move, criss-crossing the domain and checking everything it\u2019s okay.<\/p>\n Avalanche prevention<\/strong><\/p>\n It\u2019s when there\u2019s fresh snowfall that the job comes into its own. The pisteurs will meet and form a plan, then travel in pairs to the sectors that need to be blasted. Setting off controlled avalanches can be done by dynamite or by gas, either manually or automated.<\/p>\n This is a complicated procedure and can\u2019t be rushed. That\u2019s the reason for the delay in lifts opening the morning after a heavy snowfall.<\/p>\n![\"pisteur\"](\"https:\/\/www.chaletline.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/pisteur.jpg\")
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