Avalung usage

Great info everyone, especially interesting and informative, reminding us of all the things that we need to think about and be prepared for. Not much sense in owning the items if you don't know how to use them. Which brings one more thing to mind, it's a good time to change those batteries in the avi transceiver.<br><br>

Try a practice search and recovery of a transceiver buried about four ft. deep, on a relatively flat area similar to an avalanche catchment zone to experience the difficulty.

<br>This is really a great thing to practice. It's amazing how much more difficult it is to find a deep burial, and especially if the transceiver is turned on its side, tipped at an angle. Ron, Jerry, Stefan, and I have utilized some of our non-ski days, ie. poor weather/snow conditions or high avi conditions to find a flat area where we can practice such a thing. Also it's a whole lot easier in a practice scenario when you can move slowly, knowing it's not a life or death situation than if it was the actual event with mass confusion. <br><br><br>

I've used the Avalung II now since it came out. Putting it on and making sure the mouthpiece is partially extended has pretty much become automatic, I just consider it another piece of standard equipment. At ~1lb. wearing it is imperceptible. The airbags are the ultimate additional safety gear, however the weight, cost and limitations regarding backpack selection have kept me from purchasing the ABS system.<br><br>One neat thing about the Avalung, the fog horn sound it makes is great for getting a rythm going on your turns. I only pre-insert it into my mouth when the pucker factor combined with potential instabilities make me think twice about skiing a slope, possibly supporting GregL's theory that it may lead to addt'l risk taking (than again I'd most likely still ski the same slopes as long as I had a partner along, therefore the Avalung should buy more time for them to find you).<br><br>If nothing else, it's provided some added peace of mind, especially when I'm out w/ partners I know haven't done as much beacon practice as they should.

Good point, Ron J., it was an oversight. I forgot to mention that all of my ski touring ski poles are probe poles. Having a probe and practicing with it is also important.<br><br>My training and experience beginning with the Skadi has emphasized fast and precise transceiver use. Probe use is fine, but in my mind by the time one needs a probe it is approaching body recovery time. Clearly, in group practice, I have seen that probe search without surface clues or transceiver would most likely be not just body recovery but cold, stiff body recovery, unless luck intervenes, which I have seen in an actual burial accident.<br><br>So, my first choice for avalanche rescue is my dog. In practice my dog recovers a buried victim in less that a minute and practically never longer that two minutes. My dog has ridden a relatively small but serious slide with my ski touring party and then acted properly without command.<br><br>Primarily, my personal standard is that one must be able to hustle and recover a transceiver buried about two ft. deep, starting from a logical starting zone, in three minutes routinely and in two to three minutes on a good day. If one needs to pull out a probe, your time will be five to ten minutes commonly. Time=dead brain cells for the victim.<br><br>To avoid probe use, one must pinpoint with a transceiver to a small area of about four to six inches. Then, I have found that efficient digging to locate the buried victim involves trenching from a foot above the pinpoint to below, dig like a madman and do not stop until it just gets too deep. By using this technique and not stopping right away one makes a sizeable excavation in seconds. After maximal fast trenching and no find, it is time to quickly search the trench walls with the transceiver and possibly the probe, however probe use involves time so it is far down my list. * Why start digging above?*- The strongest transceiver signal is from the shortest distance through the snow to the transceiver. That distance is perpendicular to the slope, and the natural tendency is to dig straight down the plumb line. If one digs straight down the plumb line it is likely that the transceiver will be just inches above the dig.<br><br>There is other stuff that was not discussed, such as the last seen point marking, likely catchment areas, surface clues, personal safety, bla bla bla. Interesting and important stuff.

In regard to the transceiver being tipped-perhaps transceiver users are generally aware, but I will remind of similar orientation of the rescue transceiver to the buried transceiver.<br><br>In other words, at the beginning of the transceiver search, quickly turn the transceiver to find if a certain orientation results in a stronger signal. Conduct the search with the transceiver oriented in the manner that gave the strongest signal. This is a good practice exercise- tip the buried transceiver at various angles.<br><br>Another time saver is learning to kick out of your skis after the initial coarse search slightly above or on the buried transceiver. Much time can be spent climbing back up.

I've done quite a bit of practice with my transceiver and with various #s of folks over the years. What I always found the most useful, though stressful at times, was creating as much of a real life scenario as you can. This includes burying a transceiver at the bottom of a decent sized hill, at a funny angle, and at least a few feet down. Then, having the remainder of the party start at the top of the hill-skis, packs, etc. all on. The time pressure is amazing and trying to navigate on your skis, pull everything out of your pack, stay safe, and find your friend(s) really puts everything in perspective. Frankly, the majority of the time, more than one person is buried, so I always practice multiple burials. Depending on your transceiver, this can really change the game (to a much more difficult one!). <br><br>I've been fortunate since I've never had to use my transceiver in a real-life situation, but I have watched someone I cared for get swept away in an avalanche and get buried up to his chest. When I moved just a few feet to yell to him, I started another avalanche that swept him away, once again. It took about 2 hours for me to get to him (very hard to find a safe way down, and um, I never did find a safe way down. I ended up starting about 12-15 more avalanches that scared the S*+^T out of me). Luckily, he did not get buried completely and was able to dig himself out.<br><br>I guess the moral is practice using your equipment, regardless of what equipment you choose to use. Never let anyone pressure you into going outside your comfort zone. If they are your friends, they wouldn't do this. This goes for terrain, giving you a hard time about lugging your helmet on a trip, and so on. <br><br>Ski hard, have fun, but always be safe!

I've done quite a bit of practice with my transceiver and with various #s of folks over the years. What I always found the most useful, though stressful at times, was creating as much of a real life scenario as you can. This includes burying a transceiver at the bottom of a decent sized hill, at a funny angle, and at least a few feet down. Then, having the remainder of the party start at the top of the hill-skis, packs, etc. all on. The time pressure is amazing and trying to navigate on your skis, pull everything out of your pack, stay safe, and find your friend(s) really puts everything in perspective. Frankly, the majority of the time, more than one person is buried, so I always practice multiple burials. Depending on your transceiver, this can really change the game (to a much more difficult one!). <br><br>I've been fortunate since I've never had to use my transceiver in a real-life situation, but I have watched someone I cared for get swept away in an avalanche and get buried up to his chest. When I moved just a few feet to yell to him, I started another avalanche that swept him away, once again. It took about 2 hours for me to get to him (very hard to find a safe way down, and um, I never did find a safe way down. I ended up starting about 12-15 more avalanches that scared the S*+^T out of me). Luckily, he did not get buried completely and was able to dig himself out.<br><br>I guess the moral is practice using your equipment, regardless of what equipment you choose to use. Never let anyone pressure you into going outside your comfort zone. If they are your friends, they wouldn't do this. This goes for terrain, giving you a hard time about lugging your helmet on a trip, and so on. <br><br>Ski hard, have fun, but always be safe!