Anyone carry an Avalanche Beacon?

[Thebartman]

The family got me one last spring for my birthday so I’ll be wearing it this year. If it snows.
I always have shovels and now a snow probe too. I figured I’d take a class the snowmobile
club puts on to use it once.

Anyone ever use one in a real life situation?

 

[PJL]

I have one and have received a fair amount of training in it's use. Even if you don't think you will be in an avalanche consider this. You come across a scene and might be able to help find someone else. IF they survived the avalanche and are buried you have about 15 minutes before the odds of survival start to decrease. Calling 911 and waiting for a SAR response is many hours.

 

[sheep_mtn]

As a backcountry skier of 25 years or so, I always wear a beacon. There are active avie paths where we travel, and even if it’s not us we want to be ready to help someone else if needed. Also important is to practice your rescue skills often. By the time SAR arrives on scene it is almost always too late to affect the outcome. I haven’t used a beacon in a real world scenario, but I have lost friends to avalanches. In many cases, the beacon is largely considered a “body location device”. That is because if you are buried more than a couple feet deep, your chances are slim. The best avalanche safety protocol (IMO) is to learn to read terrain, and always know when and where to go. Avoidance is paramount.

 

[Blackfoot Tucker]

Bart,

PJL and SMJ have provided advice to live by. Training and proficiency are key to successful avalanche beacon use.

In my snowmobiling days my buddies and I would religiously wear the beacons. BUT we were never proficient at using the beacons. Usually once or twice a year, while taking a break from snowmobiling, one of us would bury our beacon and the others would search for it. What followed could have been a Three Stooges episode. Yes, we were that inept. That said, those beacons were not user-friendly and hopefully the current ones are MUCH better.

 

[sheep_mtn]

That said, those beacons were not user-friendly and hopefully the current ones are MUCH better.

Yes, the current digital beacons are MUCH better than the old analog versions (ugghh!). Still very important to practice, practice, practice until your response becomes automated. Then practice some more.

 

[PJL]

The new ones are so easy even Moe could find you. The one I have has a display that shows distance from target in metere and an arrow for direction. Can also detect multiple burials. If you find one you can cancel it out and go look for the others.

But, like BFT noted, in the middle of a real search is not the time to figure out how to use it.

 

[sheep_mtn]

If I could add anything to this discussion, it would be the recommendation to at least take a LEVEL 1 avalanche course. These are often offered by your local SAR group, avalanche center, or community college as a 2-day weekend course. These courses are actually quite fun and you will come away with very useful practical skills and knowledge.

 

[Melensdad]

OK so I know I'm a flatlander so I'll admit my ignorance but in my younger years spent a good deal of time in the back bowls outside of Park City. Given the technology, wouldn't you want to carry a new digital avalanche beacon + something like an ARC PLB?

Perhaps I'm wrong, but isn't an avalanche beacon only useful when you are with a group of others but not really useful if you head off solo?

The avalanche beacon so your friends who are not buried can find your exact spot and dig you out so you survive and the PLB to bring in the calvary to airlift you to the hospital?

 

[sheep_mtn]

Yes, beacons are only useful as a life-saving device if your immediate group is also wearing them (and not also caught in the slide). As a solo adventurer, a beacon will allow others to locate your remains (which is considerate of you). PLB’s in the case of avalanches (if you are not buried and can activate the alert) will summon SAR, but usually not soon enough to help an avalanche victim. If a member of your party is buried in an avalanche, you have mere minutes to get them out.

 

[Melensdad]

Yes, beacons are only useful as a life-saving device if your immediate group is also wearing them (and not also caught in the slide). As a solo adventurer, a beacon will allow others to locate your remains (which is considerate of you). PLB’s in the case of avalanches (if you are not buried and can activate the alert) will summon SAR, but usually not soon enough to help an avalanche victim. If a member of your party is buried in an avalanche, you have mere minutes to get them out.

That said, it seems prudent to use the airbag systems that were being developed to buy you a bit more time. And then a ARC PLB system. Especially for solo trips.

 

[Blackfoot Tucker]

I think going solo into avalanche country is just not smart. At all.

I live in Park City and it seems every year there is at least one fatality here due to an avalanche, and sometimes it's a very experienced back country skier/boarder. Occasionally, there is a big slide, meaning hundreds of feet wide and several people get buried.

An avalanche can be a very violent event and it's not uncommon for significant injuries from tumbling in the snow with objects picked up by the avalanche. I've seen good sized trees snapped like twigs and a big slide can have a deposition field that's huge. Once the snow stops moving it "sets up" to be surprisingly hard, and not at all like the soft powder that it's made from.

I think many people simply don't appreciate how dangerous an avalanche can be. And even doing everything "right": top notch equipment, great training and lots of practice, people still die.

Tragic Park City story:

Deaths stun Park City<BR> Avalanche that killed pair leaves an orphan, age 3

PARK CITY -- The fate of two Park City skiers was pretty clear as soon as the aerial photographs of Tuesday's avalanche were developed. "We see a pair of ski tracks hiking up to Square Top. And then I see one going to the right and starting to make a turn and then one going straight and...

www.deseret.com

Though it was on the west side of the Wasatch mountains and not in Park City, this one was bad:

Four People Killed In Millcreek Canyon Avalanche; Four Rescued

Four people were confirmed dead after they were overcome by an avalanche in Millcreek Canyon, according to the Unified Police Department.

ksltv.com

 

[PradoTDI]

Couldn't agree more. I always carry a beacon when in the backcountry, as does everyone in any group I go with. Practice is paramount with being able to use them efficiently and quickly, and can be done pretty much anywhere at any time of the year. Proper avalanche terrain and condition assessment and rescue training is also essential, I was fortunate enough to take the 6-day course the FS put on locally twice before they stopped doing it. All that said, all the training and knowledge won't do any good without a heavy dose of common sense: if the conditions are bad just don't go. There's no slope, no set of turns, no perfect line that's worth dying for.

From what I've seen highly experienced backcountry travelers aren't less prone to getting caught in an avalanche. It all comes down to the risks people are willing to take, and often those risks increase with experience.

Another thing to consider, even if a person is fortunate enough to be located and dug out quickly enough after getting caught in an avalanche, that doesn't mean they will survive. The blunt trauma caused by being swept down a hill at very high speed is often the killer.

 

[PJL]

First avalanche fatality of the season.

Medical examiner identifies man killed in Crystal Mountain avalanche

One person was killed and five others were trapped in an avalanche at Crystal Mountain Saturday morning.

www.q13fox.com