Transcivers, Age and Reliabity

Glencoe Mountain Beacon Training Park

One of the upsides of avalanche education is the positive take you can give on back country skiing. You are giving folks practical and thinking tools to enjoy earning their turns and getting into it. It's really just a question of making decisions based on forecasting, being observant  and also being flexible and willing to change plans. 

For example, take time to evaluate the local avalanche forecast with your friends or partners and try an apply it to the area you want to ski. Use all your senses while in the mountains and look around for snow movement and where its blowing to, feel what the snow is like under your feet. Have open honest group discussions to reach a consensus on go/no go before dropping in and getting committed. Have a rescue plan and be sure you have practised rescue drills.

I have the luck to be able to train folk on a mountain with a good beacon park for practising rescue drills and its great to see folk pop in and practise. Some of the transmitters are very deep and its interesting to observe even quite experienced folks getting thrown out by deep burials. It's also interesting to observe the use of the multitude of different avalanche beacons and their various features.

In the current range of modern digital beacons there are no bad ones. Some however are faster than others due to a faster processor. Sometimes this is because the beacon has fewer features so its not tied up with digital compass's or processing signal suppression.  Often times its slower because the operator is going too fast for the processor to update. Regardless, all the current three antenna beacons are effective and speed differences are only apparent in a side to side comparison. 

I sell three makes of beacon.  ARVA, Ortovox and BCA.  When at Joint Services Mountain Training I had a fleet of fifty four Mammut "Pulse" to keep updated and working. So I have used quite a few different models.  I can say hand on heart that if your buying a new beacon always get a digital three antenna model. The little bit extra for three antennas is worth every second of the time and oxygen it will save your friends.  

I see a lot of second hand transceivers for sale on forums at the moment. Ask yourself why these folks are selling them. I am sure most are out of warranty. Some are two antenna (thankfully no dangerous analog are being sold). Some of these two antenna beacons were state of the art in their day. And some are still quite fast and being sold from new stock. They require the user to be knowledgeable about signal spikes and practised in what that is and how to overcome it.  As I said above why are folk selling these?  I think because they know in their heart its slower and glitchy and requires more practise.  The best thing they could do is keep the old one and use to bury and find with their newer faster three antenna model.  I wouldn't sell you a two antenna one and I personally wouldn't advise buying one second hand or new.

A lonely ski found at the site of an avalanche burial in summer

So my conclusion is that a three antenna beacon is a must.  Two antennas are better than nothing but be prepared to train lots more with one, as if you don't then you won't find deep burials easily and will be probing a lot more to pinpoint a victim.  In training I have found that folk using a two antenna beacon are from one to five minutes slower depending on the buried beacon orientation and depth.

To the folk that sell their old ones I say keep them and use them for practise. To the folk buying second hand I say don't be a cheapskate over someone else's life as its not you that will be asphyxiating . However, if your that skint then any beacon is better than no beacon. 

BCA have produced a checklist for the Tracker DTS the first digital beacon.  If you have one then its worth a run through.  Tracker 1 Checklist  My advice would be upgrade to the superfast Tracker 2 or the excellent (in my view) Ortovox 3+ if you feel you can use its mark feature. The Mammut Pulse and Element and Pieps DSP Pro are also excellent but the T2 and 3+ are my favourites.

A Book and DVD for Christmas

This is not a book to cheer you up but never the less its an uplifting and interesting read about a journey from tragedy back to life and happiness.  It's a must for anyone who guides in the mountains and will definitely make you think when in avalanche terrain.  Amazon synopsis below:

On January 20, 2003, at 10:45 a.m., a massive avalanche released from Tumbledown Mountain in the Selkirk Range of British Columbia. Tonnes of snow carried 13 members of two guided back country skiing groups down the 37-degree incline of a run called La Traviata and buried them. After a frantic hour of digging by remaining group members, an unthinkable outcome became reality. Seven people were dead.

The tragedy made international news, splashing photos of the seven dead Canadian and US skiers on television screens and the pages of newspapers. The official analysis did not specifically note guide error as a contributing factor in the accident. This interpretation has been insufficient for some of the victims' families, the public and some members of the guiding community.

Why did the guiding team seemingly ignore a particularly troublesome snow pack? Why were two groups travelling so close together? Were the guides adhering to best practises for terrain selection and snow stability evaluation? What motivated them to go there?

Buried is the assistant guides story. It renders an answerable truth about what happened by delving deep into the human factors that played into putting people in harms way. The story begins buried metres deep in snow, and through care-filled reflection emerges slowly like spring after a long winter, nurturing a hopeful, courageous dialogue for all who make journeys through the mountains of their life. The story illustrates the peace that comes from accountability and the growth that results from understanding.

Also about the same tragedy and well worth watching for it's superb ski scenes is "A Life Ascending" about the life of the head guide at SME of whom much is said in "Buried".  You can make up your own mind about him.  I have!

Avalanche Course Dates and Equipment Offers

Avalanche 101 at Glencoe Mountain.  A serious subject, but no reason why learning can't be fun!

Due to the success of last years courses hosted by Glencoe Mountain we are pleased to offer the following dates for courses this winter:

Friday 6th Feb 2015
Friday 13th Feb 2015
Friday 20th Feb 2015

Further dates to come for February including more weekday courses if there are groups and demand

These are £40 per person with shovel, probe and beacon free to try for folk who don't have their own. I may have some demo beacons which you can try. While there won't be a lot of free skiing, we will be skiing about during scenarios and there is the chance of a quick blast at lunch and at the end of the hill training before meeting to debrief at the Cafe Ossian. I hope to be able to organise lift passes at a special rate. This is an avalanche avoidance course with beacon training following the teaching format of BCA's 101 system.

 

• Weather snow and meteo
• Avalanche release
• Victim triggered avalanche: Snap, Crackle and Pop
• Avalanche Forecast Interpretation 
• Pre trip planning and pre depart Beacon checks
• 4 "A"'s  of planning and slope assessment
• Slope assessment the 3 "C"s before you drop in 
• Beacon Searching 101: Three phases of a search, including signal spike, antenna orientation and smart antenna technology, Micro Search Strips/3 circle, Mark/Flagging Pitfalls and Problems
• Probing 101: Including radial probing during pinpoint
• Digging 101: Strategic shoveling and conveyor shoveling
• Victim recovery:  Triple "H"

This training meets the basic log book requirement for avalanche level 1 for the British Association of Ski Patrollers

I can supply Ortovox and Back Country Access equipment. If you buy a Beacon (transceiver) from me I am more than happy to run a free familiarty session up the hill. While there may be cheap deals "online" you won't be buying from someone who knows the strengths and weak points of various beacons, who has been at the sharp end of victim recovery and can offer proffessional advice and training on the slopes.

Pre Season Avalanche Safety Offers

Transceivers (Avalanche Beacons)

Ortovox Zoom+  £159  A good basic 3 antenna beacon

Ortovox 3+  £225 New model with software upgrade and mark feature.  3 antenna with smart antenna technology

Ortovox Zoom+ Safety Box (Badger Shovel, Economic 240 Probe & Zoom+ Beacon) £216

Tracker DTS £160 Only 2 Antenna but still superfast.

Tracker 2 £225 The fastest and best beacon, simple, reliable and 5 star IMHO. 3 antenna and SP mode

Tracker 3 £265  Small 3 antenna beacon with big picture view and signal suppression

ARVA “Neo” £225 The Neo is a fast 3 antenna beacon with mark feature. Scored 5/5 in recent Beacon Reviews test

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Shovels

Ortovox “Beast”  £43

BCA B1 Ext £49 Cracking shovel that extends, digs well and is good for snow profiles

B2 Ext £54 Bigger blade than the B1 and also excellent

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Probes

Ortovox Economic 240 £35 A good enough simple probe for those on a budget

Ortovox HD pfa 240 £55  Better, stronger and recommended if your serious

BCA Stealth 240 £54 Very fast deployment with the legendary BCA quality

BCA Stealth 270 £59 As above but even stronger and longer this is the one for when the shit hits the fan as a professional

BCA Stealth 300 £64 Strong, long and fast to deploy this is best for search and rescue teams dealing with deep burials.

All the above come from a Scottish distributor (me) and with the manufacturer warranty.  I am a listed BCA avy educator, ortovox safety academy and pro member of the American avalanche association. You have a problem I will sort it.  As an add on benefit, I am happy to do some free basic beacon training at one of our sponsored training parks.  I can move a little on price for larger single orders. I am happy to take orders up the hill to Glencoe in season but will charge some P&P at a token rate for posting and standard parcel force for large orders.

email me on crankitupgear@aol.co.uk

Signal Overlap & "Marking"

I thought it worth re posting this little experiment I did with a Canadian SOS F1 (re boxed Ortovox) analogue with a couple of digital beacons pre season. Always worth being aware of these little glitchy things!

If you have a beacon with a "mark" feature beware of signal overlap. Listen to the audio signals from this old analog beacon. Analog is good for demonstrating signal overlap because of the audio picking up and letting you hear all signals. This short home experiment I did illustrates overlap, as two pulses merge to become one for a time.  Imagine you have four vehicles on a track. One travelling at 20mph, one at 30, one at 40 and one at 50mph.  At some point all 4 would be in line and seem as one. So like the vehicles the more beacons on transmit the more chance of signal overlap.  There is a risk when you "mark", that you mark two as one therefore missing one victim, or more if its a really big scenario.  Manufacturers try and address this by varying the pulse rate. Imagine what would happen in a large group with the same Beacon pulsing at the same rate!  But - there is a limit to how much they can do this before performance is affected. Therefore there is still very realistic possibility of synchronisation of the signal and marking two. Click this link also:
 HTTP://vimeo.com/23539827

Signal overlap is more frequent with 3 and even more with 4 beacons. For that reason on training session limit your transmitting beacons to less than 4 as you might confuse them. Establishing as soon as possible how many are in a party, how many have beacons, and how many victims are left out off the tip can help the rescue leader establish if the search is compromised and the searchers can try and separate any overlapping signals.

Many folk have failed the North American ski guide test because of signal overlap. The test usually consists of one fairly easy to find beacon and two that are in close proximity. It's these two close proximity that can catch folk out. For this reason its safer to use a simple 3 antenna beacon and search in micro strips or if its flat the DAV three circle method.  I have an obvious vested interest being a BCA retailer but hope I am being objective. I find the Tracker 1 and 2 both superior for this type of test with the SP mode invaluable.

I can't say much about Pieps which is the only make I have not tested but have seen in action in multiples and it does well. The Barryvox pulse has great advanced features especially with V 3.04 software but seems to want you to stop and stand still a lot. The one beacon that does really well is the ARVA "Neo" and is the only one with a mark feature which I have found reliable in mark/flagging. Like all of the beacons with this feature you need to be aware of overlap.  However if you want a beacon with that feature its a remarkably well priced beacon at £225 from me.

Obviously I am in the market to sell transceivers but you can see the Neo's 5 star review here
http://beaconreviews.com/transceivers/Specs_ArvaNeo.asp

A very reliable avalanche beacon with a mark feature and a very good price indeed at £225. 5* Rating

It beats a lot of more highly priced rivals hands down. Oddly the guts of the Neo are made by Barryvox, so its from a reliable and long standing company with technical expertise so it seems off pitching it against the Mummut branded Barryvox Pulse.  Yet it performs the basic functions better in my opinion. The Pulse is possibly more aimed at rescuers with it's many advanced features such as "Rescue Send" etc