One of the biggest things I struggled with when trying to sort kit out is “is this right for me” – as a result, I’ve been “buying” my latest pair of skis for the last three years or so. Despite leading the Ski Club of Great Britain Ski Test team each winter, I get so wound up about finding the “right” pair of skis that I am yet to just pull the trigger.
But what about avalanche safety? Surely there is no such thing as the “right” or “wrong” probe or transceiver to buy, in order to stay safe or react quickly in the event of an emergency? In general, this is true, there is no such thing as the right or wrong bit of avalanche safety kit, provided you follow a set of basic guidelines.
However, there are some good ways to make sure you are getting the right kit for your wallet or the skiing that you are doing. Let's explore some of the nuances of avalanche safety gear, making sure you don’t waste money on kit you don’t need or ensuring you get it right if you are setting out to buy your first avalanche safety gear.
Transceivers
It’s really hard to get modern transceivers wrong. They all do the same job and are built in the same way; three-antenna transceivers, with digital frequency and display, broadcasting and receiving at 457kHz.
Brands will generally produce three models of the same transceiver; a basic unit, middle of the road, and expert. Each one is designed for a different level of mountain enthusiast or professional, and therefore should guide you when you come to purchase one.
Black Diamond are an excellent example of this; their three models are the Recon X, Guide, and Pro. The Recon X is your everyday transceiver, built to a high quality and running at the required specs to keep you safe in the hills. The Guide and Pro versions are designed, as the name might suggest for guides and avalanche professionals such as forecasters. The extra features are nice to have, but fundamentally don’t effect the performance of the unit – but you could save yourself several hundred pounds by sticking to the basic unit over the more advanced.
I occasionally get asked whether I would recommend a particular brand or model of transceiver. The short answer is no, I don't have a particular model I would recommend; they are all built to and operate by the same standards, the only differences being the ergonomics of each unit. The advice from the “streets” is to avoid units that have been subject to recalls in the past; traditionally this has Mammut and their Barryvox range as the only units still standing, units I have had a good time with in the past. However, the three other major brands (BCA, Black Diamond/Pieps, and Ortovox) have all rolled out new units in the past couple of years replacing units that were previously subject to recall, reducing the impact this rule of thumb has on your choice of units.
Ortovox has rolled on a neat little trick with their latest range by offering voiced instructions helping you in your search for buried victims. The jury is still out as to whether this makes a huge difference if you know what you are doing when using a transceiver (which you should), but in a stressful situation it doesn’t actively hurt to remind you what you need to be doing.
Shovels & Probes
There’s not a huge amount to be said about probes, as, similar to transceivers the basic principles behind them are the same. As if to highlight this, a new ISO standard is being rolled out, dictating things like minimum probe diameters, marking sizes, colours, and tip designs. Therefore, it’s going to be harder and harder to tell the difference between probes! I would recommend a probe between 270cm and 300cm long.
Again, a shovel is a shovel – as long as it’s metal and has a detachable handle to store in your backpack, there’s not much to be said about them.
There are two upgrades to shovels that you can consider. First, you can look at lightweight options, which feature a smaller shovel head and cutouts in the head. These are useful if you are committing to a hut-to-hut tour or a fast-and-light ski tour, but offer limited extra value for the everyday skier.
Second is to consider a shovel that has a “hoe mode”. That is, an angulation in the handle, normally where it connects to the head, and a D-shaped handle top that makes it easier to “hoe” the snow out the way when you are digging, especially when multiple people are effecting a rescue and you are in one of the rear positions, moving snow away from the dig site to prevent it from getting in the way of the primary digger. The Ortovox Kodiak as a good example of this, as is the Evac range from Black Diamond.
Snow Saw
Often, when (or even if) you think of snow saws, you’ll think of digging snow pits to perform column tests, testing the stability of the snowpack. However snow saws also play a useful role in rescue and evacuation, too, namely by allowing you to cut through large bits or debris that are otherwise too big or heavy to move by shovel or human hand.
The Black Diamond Snow Saw Guide is a really good example of a small but effective, good value piece to have with you. It comes with paracord on the handle, ostensibly to help isolate your columns when digging a snow pit, but any experienced ski tourer will tell you how valuable something like paracord can be for jerry-rigging a fix for a broken binding in the middle of the backcountry!
Inclinometer
One of the things I have really struggled with since I began to venture further and further into the backcountry is exactly what does a 30-degree slope look like?
A golden rule you are taught as part of any avalanche safety course is that avalanches tend to occur only on slopes around 30-degrees in angle. Any steeper, and the snow sloughs off and can't build up enough to create an avalanche threat; any shallower, and the slope does not allow gravity to do its thing, meaning any sloughed snow can't build up into an avalanche.
I've struggled for a while now to gauge exactly what a 30-degree slope looks like, and as a result have generally refused to ski on anything steeper than my wonky desk at home. This "paranoia" stage is a completely normal part of a skier's journey through avalanche safety, so don't be worried if this happens to you.
One way you can gauge how steep a slope is, is to use an inclinometer. This is essentially a spirit level that attaches to your ski pole, and allows you to get an instant reading on what the angle of the slope is.
However, they are expensive and can be difficult to get hold of, especially outside of the USA. What other options are out there? Well, continue to learn is the key one. When you know an avalanche cycle has passed, head out for a ski, and pay attention to the slides that have happened over the past few days. Because we know these will only have happened on slopes of around 30-degrees, check out the slopes on which they started, and familiarise yourself with what these look like.
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