Curse in the Coire 1982

Avalanche Safety Gear Winter 18/19 Prices

Ascent 22 with a carbon cartridge. Very light and perfect for Ski Patrol or Scottish off piste and day tours

The average depth of a buried skier is 1.5 meters. You need a good shovel and a structured method to remove the snow fast and get the victim's airway cleared. Time to dig is "Triple H" the killer triad of Hypoxia, Hypercapnia (re breathing your own Co2) and Hypothermia.

Winter around the corner and a very successful back country gathering in Edinburgh will have stoked folks up for getting out among the mountains next snowfall. Below is a price list for avalanche safety equipment that I sell. While I also retail ARVA and BCA stuff I tend to mainly sell Ortovox these days. This is for a number of reasons.

Ortovox do a full range of kit that I retail. From high quality outerwear to base layers. All well thought out and working as a layering system. It's also pretty gucci! Ortovox run a safety academy and education package which allows retailers to offer a bit more than just sales. For example if you buy a beacon from me I offer an hours free training at a beacon training park. Ortovox have a long history of manufacturing avalanche beacons. Their kit is extremely high quality and reliable and meets the practical function and design requirements of professionals working in the mountains. Avalanche safety kit must never fail, and so this quality and well thought out design makes Ortovox the best in the market in my opinion. While this post is about avalanche kit I can also quote you for clothing.

Prices indicated do not include P&P. If you are local I often meet up with folk in the ski areas or can get stuff to you or if you cover the postage I can send it. Ask for a quote if you want a bigger order and I can see what i can do.

Pro Alu III shovel. This also converts to a hoe which is really important when using the conveyor method to dig a victim out quickly as it speeds things up clearing behind the diggers on point

This is the best beacon for pro use with its advanced multiple and deep burial modes and a visual "game" level display of each victim. Unlike most 3 antenna beacons it calculates a direct line to the victim. Very clever!

320 PFA Probe. As a pro user perhaps also working with Winter ML groups you need a longer probe for picking snow hole sites and also a longer one for the deep burials common to buried mountaineers in terrain traps

Glencoe Mountain Transceiver Training Park Success

Avalanche Avoidance and Companion Rescue

The most up to date training system in use at Glencoe Scotland

Eight independent beacons that transmit a signal at the international standard for avalanche transceivers of 457kHz are permanently buried in up to 4m of snow at Glencoe Mountain ski resort. They are looked after by Glencoe Mountain staff, Ski Patrol and Davy Gunn who runs avalanche education training on Glencoe Mountain

Hamish at the 2011 opening

In collaboration with Anatom who supplied a wired starter training system to get things going in 2011. Glencoe Mountain Resort provided a piece of snow sure land, help from the staff and some financial help to start the training park 4 years ago.  The original park was opened by Hamish MacInnes the famous mountaineer and rescuer. Winter 2015 money raised by Clachaig Inn at their annual winter series of mountain safety lectures at the hotel provided funding for the new wireless avalanche search training system in place this winter. The hotels owner is a member of Glencoe Mountain Rescue and a friend of both his and Davy Gunn’s (Chris Bell) was lost in an avalanche in Glencoe in 2013 where 4 people lost their lives in one avalanche. The original wired system is now in use at a training park at Glenshee ski centre and it’s hoped to raise funds to get a similar and more effective wireless system in place there. As at Glencoe, the one at Glenshee provides an accessible training venue for local mountain rescue teams, mountaineering groups and off piste and touring skiers.

Practising digging effectively, a crucial
and often overlooked part of avalanche rescue

The general public has free access to use the training systems which stays out all winter. All they have to do is check in with the Glencoe Mountain staff or  ski patrol to see if it’s already in use that day. Each of the eight buried beacons also has a RECCO reflector inside so that mountain rescue and ski patrol can practise using this alternative search system as well as transceivers. 

Organised rescue teams use RECCO which is harmonic radar that can also be used from a helicopter. RECCO is a standard search tool by mountain rescue in Europe. Three Scottish mountain rescue teams, and threes ski patrol's use it. No search and rescue helicopters have adopted it in the UK for avalanche rescue to date but the hand held can be used from a helicopter with an adaptor system from a 3rd party manufacturer. I have one here in Glencoe as I am also the UK trainer for Recco.

The training park beacons are buried deeply in the snow so that searching for them proves difficult, simulating searching a real avalanche for a victim.  As it’s wireless there are no wires to degrade or get cut by shovels as folk dig, and different avalanche burial scenarios can be created from single to multiple victim burials by alternating which buried beacons are transmitting from a control box. When a victim/beacon is found by a searcher, contact with the buried beacon by a snow probe sends a signal back to the control box confirming a success.

Ortovox 3+ a modern fast avalanche transceiver
Training is available from me in  avalanche awareness and transceiver searching

Every skier going off piste or touring in the mountains should carry three essential items. A transceiver to be located or locate a buried companion, a collapsible snow probe to confirm the victim’s location and a strong aluminium shovel to dig them out quickly.

Glencoe ski patrol practising in the park

Recovery of buried companions in an avalanche is time critical with a 90% survival if victims are located and dug out within less than 15 minutes. After this time survival is very poor, therefore practise in locating and digging is critical. One of the training beacons is inside a resuscitation mannequin so that digging it out is like excavating a real victim and some care is required. The park importantly provides an opportunity for ski patrol to talk to those practising and emphasise the importance of avoiding avalanche terrain by interpreting the area avalanche forecast and local weather effects and therefore make wise and safe choices avoiding avalanche terrain for the day.

The enthusiasm and support by Glencoe Mountain owner Andy Meldrum and his staff by providing snow sure land, tending to the park and investing in its upkeep is tremendous. A particular mention of thanks to Glencoe Ski Patroller Keith Hill who is always on hand to give sound advice to skiers and boarders and who maintains the park.

Killin Mountain Rescue and a group of Freeride skiers using the training park

Two Blasts from the Past

14 years ago and a few well kent faces on the course

Shit hitting the fan airway

Recco Finds

Some reports from searches with RECCO 2018

Avalanche in Cauterets, France – 14th of February 2018
Reported by: Manuel Freyche CRS Lannemezan

- A call was received in the evening saying that 3 skiers were missing.  Unfortunately, the conditions were too dangerous to start a search the same evening.
- The following morning a helicopter brought a rescue team up to the main avalanche field (200m long and 100m wide). The deposit was at least 3 m deep.
- The rescue team consisted of 2 avalanche dog teams and 2 rescuers with RECCO detectors. They were told that none of the victims were equipped with transceivers.
- One rescuer quickly received a RECCO signal from the top but when checking with his probe he found that there were only rocks on less than 1 m. He folded his probe since it created distracting signals.
- He continued his research and quickly got a new signal around 7m from the exact location and marked the spot.
- 25m further down he got a second, very strong signal around 7m from the location.
- The rescuer continued to search towards the deposit, whereas a dog team and probing confirmed and excavated a victim at the second signal.
- Due to high risk of new avalanches the head of operation had to evacuate the area
- Before leaving the rescuer decided to double-check the area around the first victim but without result. 
- He continued towards the first signal and half-way he got a third, very weak, signal, that he confirmed together with the dog team.
- The rescuer continued to the first signal that he could confirm, too. The 2 victims were then excavated and evacuated.
- The 3 victims were buried under approximately 2m of snow and excavated by 4 shovelers.
- The first 2 victims were marked 20 minutes after the start of the search and the third one somewhat later.



Avalanche in Vallon d’Arby, Riddes, Valais, CH – 16th of March 2018
Reported by: Raphaël Troillet, Mountain Guide & Ski Patroller Téléverbier, and Raphaël Richard, Mountain Guide & Rescuer Air-Glaciers

- 6 people were swept away by an avalanche with heavy snow, 4 of them were completely buried.
- The avalanche was 150m wide and 400m long.

- 2 victims were located with the RECCO system.  The first one was buried under 6.5m, the second under 8m of snow.
- 2 rescuers searched with 2 RECCO detectors on the ground and marked 2 different points, 15m apart, with a rather vague signal between very large blocks of snow.
- The rescuers took each other’s positions in order to confirm the marks of the other one.
- After that a helicopter flew over the avalanche field with a RECCO helicopter detector, marking a very vague signal between the two zones.
- Since the victims could not be confirmed by probes, the snow ad to be evacuated bit by bit by pist machines, until the two bodies could be found under 6.5m and 8m respectively.


Lost skier in Squaw Valley, USA – 1st of March 2018
Reported by : Squaw Valley ski patroller

- A person who was reported missing on Thursday evening was located with a RECCO detector Friday morning.
- The call came late, around 9 p.m. Due to the high avalanche danger a search during the night was not possible.
- The search started the following morning in the skier’s last known location, and in a prioritized area.
- After a few minutes’ search with the RECCO detector, a signal was received from about 45 feet (10 m) away. The rescuer immediately closed in on the signal and found the person 3-5 feet (1-1.5 m) deep.