On Sunday 20 March the Snow Kidz event took place for the first time in Piancavallo. Snow Kidz is an initiative in the FIS-International Ski Federation program, with the aim of bringing children closer to the world of skiing, snow and ski resorts.
During the event, a group of young skiers had the opportunity to get to know some operators working for the safety and rescue on the ski slopes, including our SOS FVG.
It was an afternoon dedicated to discovering the correct behaviors in a fun, “hands on” way that was much appreciated by both the children and their parents.
It all began with a demonstration of the rescue of victims of an avalanche held by the operators of UST Trentino.
After showing the children how to manage safely the first meeting with a dog, the UST instructors played games with the children and demonstrated what their dogs can do during the research of people caught in an avalanche.
During these activities, the children themselves became little handlers for a while under the guidance of the instructors, who transformed such a critical moment into something appealing for kids, depriving it of its drama.
As expected, the activities with the dogs immediately captured the attention and the interest of the children, perfectly preparing them for the following tasks.
For the second of these tasks it was the turn of our BLSD instructors who illustrated the heart compression and made the children try it.
This intervention was also coordinated in the ERC-European Resuscitation Council’s Kids Save Lives project, an initiative promoting the education of school-age children to CPR and its implementation in Europe.
The children were encouraged to describe what their behaviour would be in an emergency. Then they were guided to discover the actions they should take to manage unexpected situations.
This activity has involved and committed the little skiers, who first played enthusiastically with inflatable simulators and then tested their skills on a mannequin equipped with sensors, in order to measure the effectiveness of their CPR.
It was then the instructors of the Piancavallo Ski School and the Aviano-Piancavallo Ski School who “took to the slopes”, along with the SOS FVG patrollers. They accompanied the children to discover the best practices to follow while skiing.
The ski instructors and the patrollers have solicited the children to knowingly state the actions to take when they are on the slopes, which some of them are already performing when they are with their families and that they must learn to perform when they are alone as well.
It is a seed planted with the aim of “growing” a population of responsible and respectful skiers.
Small maneuvers and precautions can make a big difference, like one of those underlined by the ski instructor Italo: “Where do we stop when we are on a change of slope: below or above?”.
With pleasure the choir replied “Aboovee !!!!”
Skiers experience the ski slopes that the resort prepares for them and for all tourists.
But who is it that makes the slopes perfectly ready for them with all those “tiny waves”?
Among the staff of the ski areas there are the gattisti, that is the operators who at the end of the day get on the snow groomers to “tidy up” the slopes.
The vehicles they drive, the so-called “snow cats,” are like small spaceships, full of lights and commands that depart when the ski slopes have closed.
To the delight of the children, one of these vehicles was parked on the square in front of the garage and one of the operators showed the characteristics of these vehicles and allowed them to sit in the “cockpit”.
The day ended with the awarding of a personalized certificate to the little participants. Each one of them “came one”, as the famous ski champion Gustav Thoeni once said!
It could not have been otherwise, given the great enthusiasm and will to get involved of the participants. They made this day a great success.
The initiative was also appreciated by their parents who wished it to be repeated in the seasons to come, perhaps even thinking of a program for adults.
Last but not least, a big thank you goes to PromoturismoFVG, in particular to the Director Iacopo Mestroni and the Area Managers of the Piancavallo ski resort Andrea Capovilla and Fabio Paron.
snowkidz-Piancavallo-March20th.pdf (1.2 MiB, 195 hits)
