The Wilderness Medical Society convened an expert panel to develop evidence-based recommendations for three primary aspects of avalanche accidents: prevention, rescue, and resuscitation. Nonavalanche deep snow and tree well burial were included as related conditions with pathophysiology and recommendations similar to avalanche burial.
The 2024 WMS Avalanche guidelines represent the latest management of snow burial accidents, revised from the 2017 paper. 15 authors from two continents reviewed the available literature and crafted recommendations.
Among other topics, the authors point out the value of airbag utilization for preventing burial and possibly trauma. Most fatalities are due to asphyxia (75%) and trauma (25%). User error is a significant cause for device failure.
Avalanche transceivers, shovels, probes continue to be the mainstay of rescue, and require knowledge and practice. Electromagnetic interference is becoming a growing probles when using avalanche transceivers.
Resuscitation guidelines follow those from International Commission for Alpine Rescue and European Resuscitation Council and the WMS hypothermia practice guidelines in utilizing burial time of 60 minutes for decision making. The data suggest that if a subject is buried for over sixty minutes and has an occluded airway, cardiac arrest is likely from asphyxia and resuscitation is likely to be unsuccessful. If the airway is not occluded, is it possible that hypothermia is the cause of cardiac arrest, thus resuscitation should be continued.