REVIEW OF THE NEW AVALANCHE RESCUE PROCEDURES ACCORDING TO THE NEW ERC 2025 GUIDELINES
Abstract
Introduction and objective: Emergency medicine is nowadays a highly specialised branch of medicine. Regular updates on rescue procedures lead to the compilation of highly specialised guidelines. The rise in mobility among people encourages travel and participation in sports. Winter sports such as skiing and snowboarding increase the average time spent in mountain regions, thereby increasing the risk of avalanche exposure. To ensure high-quality avalanche rescue, official guidelines must be published and regularly revisited.
Review Methods: A comprehensive literature review was conducted, analyzing studies indexed in PubMed and the official ERC Guidelines from 2021 and 2025.
Brief description of the state of knowledge: The first official avalanche rescue guidelines were published in 2021 by the European Resuscitation Council. Since then, studies have examined their efficacy and sought better solutions. In 2022, a group of experts published an algorithm—Avalife—that outlined systematic, step-by-step Basic Life Support (BLS) recommendations in case of a shortage of rescuers at the site of an accident. The latest ERC Guidelines, published in 2025, introduce a new avalanche-rescue algorithm and incorporate the Avalife algorithm into official procedures, thereby establishing a cohesive avalanche-rescue policy.
Summary: In this review, we analyse the existing literature, with particular emphasis on the new ERC 2025 Guidelines, to present the current state of knowledge on this issue.
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