A good plan is everything. Knowing how you can cut your hike short on the fly. Where you can bail off a ridge or a via ferrata fast. Where you can take shelter along the way. And if lightning is already crashing overhead and the mountain is shaking? At moments like that, truly safe places don't exist. There are only less bad ones.
Don't just watch your feet – look up at the sky now and then too. Storm clouds build up gradually – often over several hours. They never appear out of nowhere. The first warning signs of an afternoon storm could probably be spotted over breakfast.
It's a mistake to start dealing with a storm only once you can no longer escape it – when you're hanging on a via ferrata cable or standing on a ridge. By then you're (needlessly) putting yourself in danger – and a lightning strike is far from the only risk. Learn to read the clouds and you'll be able to see a storm coming.
A typical storm cloud looks like a giant tower with a dark base, and its top is often spread out into an anvil. It's called a cumulonimbus. It grows gradually during the day out of white heaped clouds. If you notice that the clouds are growing upwards, starting to look like a huge cauliflower or castle walls, and their base is darkening, start thinking about your way down.
In the mountains you often have nowhere to shelter from a storm. And a direct hit isn't the only threat. An indirect one is dangerous too – through wet rock or step voltage. It can cause respiratory arrest, severe burns or, in the worst case, a fall with fatal consequences.
And it's not just about lightning. A cloudburst can swell streams and flood gullies within minutes, destabilise slopes and turn the trail into a slippery channel. Add hail, gusty wind and a sharp drop in temperature and you're not far from an injury, hypothermia or getting lost.
A lightning strike is often just one piece of a story with a bad ending. Fatigue can play a part, or the late hour because the hike dragged on unexpectedly, or limited shelter options – and at that point you're only choosing between "less bad" options. So the danger of storms isn't just the lightning itself. It's that several risks pile up at once in a place where you have very little room for error.
Avoid the risk at all costs. That's the basic mindset of a true mountaineer. That's why you set off early in the morning – because heat storms often roll in as early as the early afternoon. And you set a turnaround time in advance. For example: "If I'm not on the summit by 2 pm, I'm heading down, wherever I am."
And of course a proper mountaineer has a backup plan. Find out beforehand how to shorten the hike or change the route to avoid sections that could be dangerous in a storm. Look up escape routes off the ridge or via ferrata, and note huts, bivouacs and other places to shelter.
Up there, nothing is set in stone. Keep watching the sky – it's not about what the clouds look like, but how they're developing. Bear in mind that things can look one way on one side of the ridge and completely different on the other. The only thing you can rely on is your ability to make the right call – and the knowledge that "heroism" is just another word for gambling.
Before we get into specific scenarios – a few rules that apply always and everywhere. Even with them, keep the harsh truth in mind: in a storm high in the mountains you probably won't find a truly safe place. At best you'll find a less bad one.
Lightning picks the highest points around – and you can become one of them. Get away from exposed spots and descend – to lower ground, below the treeline or at least below the level of the higher points around you. So that there's "more terrain" above you.
Poles, ice axes, skis, karabiners – anything that sticks out and conducts works as a target for lightning. Take it off and put it a few metres away. If you can. If it would compromise your protection in an exposed spot, staying clipped in takes priority over getting rid of the metal.
Everyone huddled in one spot? Wrong! A single bolt can then hit several people at once – and there's nobody left to help. Spread out at least a few metres apart (ideally 15–30 m) – but stay within sight of each other.
Pressing yourself against the rock under an overhang? Hiding in a cave entrance? You'll stay dry, but your chances of being hit go up. The current spreads across the wet rock – and "looks for" the path of least resistance. Which, right then, is you. It's called a spark gap or bridging effect.
No time to get lower? No shelter? Last resort – crouch down or sit on your pack, sleeping mat or rope. Feet together, arms around your knees, head down. This reduces the area touching the ground and lowers the risk of being hit by current spreading through the ground.
Avoid streams, rivers, waterfalls, channels and gullies. Not only because lightning travels more easily there, but also because of flash floods. Don't touch railings, chains or steel cables, and don't shelter near them either. The current can jump from them to you.
You're standing up there with no decent shelter anywhere near. The sky is black, thunder is rumbling and a downpour is about to hit. You know it – you're in exactly the worst possible place. This is where lightning is most likely to strike.
Get off the ridge. Drop at least a few dozen metres lower, where you won't be the highest point. But avoid gullies where water collects. If you're near a rock face, try to move at least a few metres away from it. Take up the protective crouching or sitting position – see above. And stay there until the storm passes.
Wait up top to see if it blows over? Nonsense! Same as trying to dash across the ridge. You won't outrun lightning. Don't hang around near the summit cross, don't lie on the ground, don't press yourself against the rock and don't shelter under an overhang just to stay out of the rain – thanks to the bridging effect you could take an indirect hit.
Your hands are gripping a steel cable. Maybe the storm caught you by surprise – it came from the other side of the mountain and you couldn't see the cloud building from the face. That doesn't matter now. You're basically on a lightning conductor. And even an indirect hit could make you fall.
If you can, try to get off the via ferrata. Maybe there's an escape route nearby. Maybe you can safely abseil or descend to less exposed terrain. If not, it's better to stay clipped in – while limiting your movement and contact with the steel cable. Put any conductive gear you don't need (poles, ice axes, rods) a few metres away.
Unless you're just a few metres from the top, pushing on upwards thinking you'll "quickly make it" is a bad idea. You're more likely to make a mistake. And never unclip just to avoid touching the steel cable. A lightning strike can be serious – but if you're hit without protection, a fall is almost certainly the end.
You're halfway up the face, the sky above is darkening and ever more frequent thunder tells you the storm isn't far off. Wet rock, steep terrain – now it's a race to see how quickly you can find a safer position on the face or get down to less exposed terrain.
If it's still safe, abseil to easier ground or onto a ledge where you can sit on insulation (pack, rope, sleeping mat) and where you can anchor yourself to a solid point – so that you won't fall even if you're hit. Minimise contact with the wet rock, which also conducts current – head, shoulders, elbows, keep everything off it.
Don't wait until things get really bad – if you spot warning signs, start abseiling to safety straight away. Carrying on climbing thinking you'll still make it, or even climbing during the storm, is dangerous. In the wet the risk of a fatal mistake multiplies, and on top of that you stay in contact with the rock and the risk of being hit by lightning is high.
A wide mountain meadow, a plateau, a shallow saddle. All those colours suddenly don't look so idyllic in the shadow of a storm cloud. No trees around, no rocks, just a few boulders. Here you're a really easy target for lightning – and you don't have many options for shelter.
Get to the lowest spot you can – a hollow, a dip, a gentle depression. But not into a stream bed or the bottom of a gully, where water could wash you away. Take up the protective crouching or sitting position – see above. If you're in a group, spread out at least a few metres apart (ideally 15–30 m) so that one strike doesn't put everyone at risk.
Don't run in a panic to a lone tree or the edge of a forest, which is actually one of the most dangerous places. But don't stay standing in the middle of the meadow as the highest point either. Don't shelter under a single tree, don't lie on the ground. And if there are more of you, don't stay together in a tight huddle.
You're winding your way through a gorge with a river snaking along the bottom. It's clouded over, thunder is rumbling – and this isn't a good situation. Water is an excellent conductor. And once the rain comes down in sheets, an otherwise innocent river can turn into a raging torrent within minutes.
If you're in a gorge like that or another narrow channel, find a way higher up the slope as soon as possible – somewhere a flash flood can't reach you. Sitting on a lakeshore or near a waterfall isn't safe either – a damp environment is ideal for current to spread.
Don't underestimate the risk of a flash flood. It may not even be raining right above you, but that doesn't mean water isn't already gathering on the slopes higher up and rushing your way – into the narrow neck of the funnel. Staying in the gorge, near the stream bed or sheltering from the rain under a bridge can be seriously risky.
Rule number one? Don't get caught in a storm.
Rule number two? Don't look for shelter from the rain, look for shelter from lightning. Human nature tells us to get under something – after all, who wants to get wet? But during a storm it's often safer to stay out in the rain.
Take cave entrances and rock overhangs – that's exactly where you risk current travelling across the wet rock jumping through you to the ground. You're not safe in a tent either. And a bivouac hut? Yes, that works as a Faraday cage. But definitely don't touch its walls.
So? There really is no truly safe place up there. That's why you should really stick to rule number one. It's the only thing that truly leads to safety.
