| dc.description.abstract | Every year hundreds of people are involved in avalanches to a greater or smaller extent in Norway, and every year experienced and inexperienced mountain hikers lose their lives as a consequence of being taken by an avalanche (Snøskredulykker- Og Hendelser, 2018). Due to the impact injuries from the powerful forces of the avalanche and the large masses of avalanche snow that pushes towards the body of an avalanche victim, most victims die after only 15 minutes of being buried (NRK. Norge Nå, 2018). This makes it really hard for the Norwegian Rescue Dogs and other rescue teams to save people if they are buried by an avalanche. The aim of this thesis has therefore been to explore the following problem statement: How can avalanche searches become more efficient in order to assist the Norwegian Rescue Dogs in saving more lives?
The research methods used to explore this issue has been literature reviews of avalanche science, market research of existing avalanche gear, participatory and observational studies with the Norwegian Rescue Dogs, expert interviews of professionals within a vaiety of fields, and in-depth interviews of mountain hikers.
The results from this research shows that comradery rescuing is what saves the most lives from being lost to avalanches. This is because they are already present at the sight of the avalanche and can start the search for victims immediately. The research in this assignment has established a range of challenges associated with fast localization of avalanche victims. This has laid the foundation for the development of a new concept idea for avalanche victim rescuing gear that can save people from losing their lives to the ticking clock of death. | en |
