Safe mountain hiking requires good planning
Hiking is very popular and widespread. But time and again, people have fatal accidents while hiking in the mountains. Accidents often happen because hikers misjudge the risks and challenges along the way. The BFU is therefore committed to ensuring that hikes can be better planned. Together with partners, it has developed a method that allows trained people to assess hikes according to their technical requirements and their level of danger.
Every year, 51 people die in hiking or mountain hiking accidents in Switzerland - more than in any other sport. In addition, 37,000 people are injured every year. The high accident figures are also due to the fact that hiking is one of the most popular sports in Switzerland: almost 60 % of the Swiss resident population aged 15 and over hike regularly.
A safe mountain hike starts with planning
Careful planning is essential for a safe mountain hike, as many accidents happen because hikers overestimate their own abilities or misjudge the risks and requirements. This is why the BFU is running a campaign from the end of June to draw attention to the importance of good planning.
For mountain hiking, you need to be sure-footed, have a head for heights and be fit enough to tackle the whole route, including the altitude difference. For a better self-assessment, you can find a Self-test are available. The BFU also recommends taking the weather and trail conditions into account. Especially on mountain hiking trails, high steps, uneven paths with roots and stones as well as exposed areas can increase the demands on hikers and the risk of accidents.
Precise information is needed to assess hikes
It is not always easy to find out how challenging a particular hike is. White-red-white marked mountain hiking trails can be relatively easy to follow on some sections, but in other places they lead along a steep slope and have their pitfalls. Together with the Swiss Hiking Trail Association and the University of Applied Sciences Western Switzerland HES-SO, the BFU has therefore developed a Method has been developed for a more precise assessment of hiking trails. The trails are walked by trained persons and the criteria "danger" and "technique" along the route are assessed independently of each other.
Dangerousness refers primarily to the risk of falling. The technical requirements include how uneven the path is or how high the steps are that need to be climbed. This means that technically experienced people who are not completely free from giddiness can choose hikes that are challenging but not overly exposed.
BFU wants to enable better planning
The newly developed method can supplement the existing categorization of hiking trails (marked yellow), mountain hiking trails (white-red-white) and alpine hiking trails (white-blue-white). In a next step, the BFU therefore intends to assess mountain hiking trails in the first regions according to the criteria of "danger" and "technique" and to make this additional information available to all hikers free of charge. This should enable hikers to better inform themselves in future and make a conscious decision as to which route is suitable for them - leading to greater safety when hiking in the mountains.
Source: AAIB
