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Where is the best place to get avalanche transceivers etc from
 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead

Yes I would get the Tracker 2 if I were to buy a beacon in the near future. Simple operation, a 2nd victim option that works. However I would wait until the end of season to see what glitches come out of it. I already broke a search/transmit button on a prototype but this should be a different design on the real beacon as they have had nearly a year to work out the glitches.

BCA Tracker 2 - video review

The price difference will be a bit more than £20. More like £40-50 retail. The Tracker 1 has a lower price for 2008, I saw conrad had them for 200 euros which is a good deal. It is a solid beacon that works.

I think the new ABS design is not going to be in the shops this season. They had a working prototype in the spring... maybe 2009.
ski holidays
ski holidays
 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person

I think the point about 88% of transciever recoveries being dead is correct- from the pistehors web site at leat (but I can't find the link- I was reading it yesterday).

This is different from avalanche survival- I thnk that the difference is that many caught in avalanches are found without transcivers- from surface signs- either bits sticking out / skis/ poles etc- for those buried- with no surface signs then found with transcievers alone the stats are much worse- because of the depth of burial (I suppose meanng a bigger slide / more force/ possibly more injury / longer to get out / went further etc).
The pistehors site staes that tranceivers aren't silver bullets - but jokers in the pack (I guess that's the snow pack).

I'll find the page and post.
snow conditions
snow conditions
 Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

here is the bit about transcievers from pistehors

Quote:
Some information from the ANENA’s magazine Neige et Avalanche (Oct 2007 - ISSN - see the ANENA’s site if you want to subscribe).

The ANENA were informed of 81 avalanche incidents, 54 accidents with 16 accidents involving fatalities with 20 deaths (same as our figures).

Victim Profiles
90% of the victims were male, slightly above the long term average. The average age was 37 although if you break this down to ski touring the age is 39 and for off-piste 29.

6 of the victims were non-French, which is close to the 28% average and a reason why we take avalanche information so seriously.

Three of the victims were pros, there were the two ski instructors from Areches and a Swiss high mountain guide (see PisteHors report).

Of the French victims 20% lived in the mountains, 20% in the valleys and 15% in the foothills. These are obviously the people who can ski the most but it also shows that living in proximity to the mountains doesn’t necessarily give you any special wisdom.

Equipment
As is clear from the PisteHors report and confirmed in detail by the ANENA ski tourers tend to be better equipped. None of the off-piste or climbing victims had basic safety gear of avalanche beacon, probe or shovel.

Once again we see that an Avalanche Beacon is not a silver bullet but more a joker. Only 3 from 10 victims who were rescued thanks to their beacon survived. 9 victims were recovered due to surface indications, 5 survived (here we can see that the ABS airbag and possibly the avalanche ball are useful tools). All 4 victims found by rescue dogs were dead.

Time factor
Looking in detail, 33 people were completely buried by avalanches last year. Time is crucial. All 6 of those rescued within 15 minutes survived but the figures drop rapidly afterwards. 8 of the 12 victims buried for 15 to 45 minutes died and all 10 victims buried more than 90 minutes.

This ties in with how people were rescued. 6 out of 11 victims that were rescued by companions survived. The figure falls to 5 from 14 where the rescue services were involved (time to get to the scene, locate victims etc is crucial).

There is obviously a lot more detail in the ANENA report and we encourage anyone with a serious interest in avalanches to subscribe to their journal (in French).

In conclusion: don’t ski alone, make sure you and your companions are properly equipped with a minimum of beacon, probe and shovel. Route choice should be based on the experience of your group and the prevailing weather conditions not on the amount of gear you are carrying. A north face is statistically twice as dangerous as a south face so when the risk is 3 (Considerable) or above favour lower angled (less than 35 degrees max) southerly slopes. Oh and finally, as Andre Roch said The avalanche doesn’t know you are an expert

Posted by davidof on Thursday, 06 December, 2007 at 09:30 AM


So- what to do- obviously avoid/ train/ read/ ski with others / get advice/ and have gear-- other info from pistehors set out the time taken- in a study to find and get out with different combinations of transciever / probe/ shovel- basically you need all 3.

There is also an interesting article on 'strategic shovelling' (really) on the BCA web site
snow report
snow report



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