From 7 to 11 January 2026, an international exchange took place as part of the “LAVINISTIKA” project, funded by the Erasmus+ Sport programme of the European Commission. The event was held in the beautiful Tyrolean Alps, Austria.

Together with our partners Österreichische Gesellschaft für Schnee und Lawinen and the Bulgarian extreme and freeskiing association, we exchanged experience, knowledge, and good practices related to avalanche safety in the mountains.

The main goal of the meeting was training and in-depth exchange between the organizations on topics such as:
▪️ Conducting avalanche rescue operations, working with avalanche equipment, avalanche safety, and working with avalanche bulletins
▪️ First aid
▪️ Risk assessment and management
▪️ Terrain observation and analysis
▪️ Snow, snow cover, and snow profiles
▪️ Meteorology
▪️ Methods for training teenagers

Thanks to Christoph Hesselbach, project manager on behalf of the Österreichische Gesellschaft für Schnee und Lawinen, and Thomas Wanner from the Österreichischer Alpenverein, and their network of partners, we had extremely valuable lectures and fieldwork with certified IFMGA mountain guides, who shared real-life experience from the field and helped us further develop our knowledge and skills at the highest international level.

Photos: Boris Missirkov and Oliver Beilharz