Broken shovel

Just to clarify since my name is being used.
I have no problem with" lightweight safety gear" whatever that means... I specifically have a problem with shovels with lexan or plastic blades and the scoopy thing Koda is referring to.
I have a big assed shovel.... The PIT BOSS and when I whip it out....many a ski tourer has swooned over it's girth.

wow... do you recall doing much prying when digging? i've always been told to dig by doing the 'chop, chop, scoop' method vs using an avy shuffle vs a traditional shovel where you'd pry up what you're shoveling (thus risking a break like that).

I'm having trouble coming up with snow scenarios where you'd want to pretend it's a spade (i.e., stamp on the back of the blade with your boot to bury it and pull back on the handle to pry out a chunk of snow). Even that would only tend to compress the weak spot, unless you wiggle it back and forth or something.

Not to say it never happened though, just not something I specifically remember. I certainly never used the thing as if it were fragile; Given that it's made of metal (<--- astonishing engineering material!) I think I assumed it was bulletproof.

Apart from the whole failure issue, like Velillen I've been very happy with the product. If I bought another one, I might get a slightly smaller blade: I like the big one for soft snow, but think something smaller might be more effective for hard snow/debris, where this one can get twisted round a bit easily.

Yellow painted BCA Companion ~6 yrs old.  This stress riser (within a stress riser) looks like maybe an original manufacturing flaw given how its painted over?  Same spot as Georg's fracture.  Time to go shopping.  Thanks Georg!

A recent shovel test in refrozen avalanche debris showed that shovels made with tempered aluminum stand up much better and some non tempered shovel designs fail quite quickly and BCA shovel tested failed at the handle.

www.avalanche.ca/adx/aspx/adxGetMedia.as...in+shovel+review.pdf

Voile and g3 shovels use tempered aluminum and stood up the best... we have one of each and while the g3 did show some minor damage in the test it packs much nicer into my shovel pocket due to the welded attachment tube. k2 and ortovox are also coming out with tempered shovels for next year and the k2 one looks really sweet:

straightchuter.com/2011/01/shovelful-of-love/
www.earnyourturns.com/587/review-ortovox-kodiak-shovel/

FWIW, I think of my shovel as a piece of equipment with a limited lifespan. I know I'm not supposed to pry with it, but try breaking up our Cascade concrete without a little bit of prying to free the shovel during the "chop-chop" stage. Both of my last two shovels failed at the neck joint.

Its a give and take - yes I could get a beefier shovel that would last longer, but it will also weigh more. That weight penalty is great enough that I choose to replace my lighter-weight, metal shovel when I see fatigue cracks beginning to form.

Cheers! Chris

P.S. Bigger isn't better - the studies coming out in the past few years are indicating that most users move more snow in less time with a smaller shovel blade than a bigger one.

P.S. Bigger isn't better - the studies coming out in the past few years are indicating that most users move more snow in less time with a smaller shovel blade than a bigger one.

I was reminded of my ergonomics class in undergrad. Shovel weight/size was one of the original areas of study of ergonomics and management consulting. Props to Fredrick Winslow Taylor, and the 21.5 lb shovel, which he found to be the most efficient weight for a shovel full of matter and concluded that the size of the blade should be adjusted depending on the density of the matter needing to be moved. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Winslow_Taylor
I would venture that the average skier in the Northwest would be weaker than the average steelworker in the late 1890's so we should adjust accordingly.