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Who carries an avalanche kit in the back country?


Miguel75

19-Sep-2012
12:51:56 AM

It seems there are a few Chockstonians who venture out into the winter back country for a spot of ice climbing or snow sliding solitude. It's been a few years for me but BITD, OS, we used to carry all the good stuff and dig snow pits to test pack stability before committing to the untouched fields of white.

Do Chockstonians pack a full avy kit; transceiver, probe, shovel, saw, grid card, inclinometer etc.... and are snow pits a part of Aussie back country safety practice?

For those who carry a transceiver, how many actually practice search drills? (I'm probably stuck in the transceiver dark ages as my last peips wasn't digital (circa 2000) and we used to really have to practice search drills to find anyone quickly). In my limited experience, digital transceivers are rad and much easier/faster to search with.

james

19-Sep-2012
1:36:08 AM

not sure about Aust, but in Canada definitely carry, practise, use everything when skiing. Never really bothered when ice climbing, but it was easier to avoid avalanche-prone climbs, or climb them after they slid & before new snow. It would be inviting certain death not be educated re avalanche safety.

Digital transceivers are easier to use but the range is generally less. Most newer transceivers have both analogue & digital antennas.

Edit: no point carrying the gear if you don't know how to use it FAST. ie you really have to practise otherwise you may as well not carry it.


JamesMc

19-Sep-2012
6:42:16 AM

Not me


Eduardo Slabofvic

19-Sep-2012
8:34:09 AM

In Australia, no.


StuckNut

19-Sep-2012
9:38:36 AM

Nup. More chance of being hit by the Queen of the Desert bus than buried in an avalanche in Oz.

barney800

19-Sep-2012
10:20:14 AM

I always ski with a transceiver, probe and shovel, although mainly out of habit in Australia. Someone once told me it's a bit like wearing a seatbelt in a car and the sentiment kind of stuck. In my (limited) experience of the Aussie backcountry I've been a lot more worried about getting sun burn or hitting a wombat than being buried.

simey

19-Sep-2012
10:23:57 AM

On 19/09/2012 barney800 wrote:
>I've been a lot more worried about getting sunburn or hitting a wombat than being buried.

Don't mention the dangers of hitting native wildlife on skis to Eduardo. Given his experiences whilst cycling, he probably figured he was safe from such dangers whilst skiing.

adrian

19-Sep-2012
10:39:04 AM

I developed my BC ski habits while skiing in the US and Canada - in which case I never went out without the full kit (although digging pits and analysing snowpack is something I rarely bothered with if all signs showed that the conditions matched the avy forecast). I also practised searches on a regular basis.

In Australia, I have only once carried a beacon, when it dumped a lot of reasonably light snow in windy conditions leading to some wind loaded slopes (that I stayed away from for 12 hours till they settled). My experience has been that with a little conservative route planning on the rare day when conditions are dangerous, there's no need for all the gear. You're far more likely to die from sliding down an icy gully into a rock than from being buried (or from a killer rat in one of the alpine huts).
Of course there will be the occassional day when you should be careful about what terrain you ski, but if you've skied back country overseas you already know that.


SteveC

19-Sep-2012
5:54:05 PM

I just carry extra jelly beans if the snow is unconsolidated. I'll eat about half a kilo just before a descent, I find it's the right t amount of energy to skin back up, or if things get spicy, I can simply melt my way through the debris with my excess energy.
THis equals a yes vote

barney800

19-Sep-2012
10:52:30 PM

On 19/09/2012 simey wrote:
>Don't mention the dangers of hitting native wildlife on skis to Eduardo.
>Given his experiences whilst cycling, he probably figured he was safe from
>such dangers whilst skiing.

What's the story here? I'm intrigued...

TonyB

20-Sep-2012
6:49:02 AM

The only avalanche I ever experienced in Oz was being caught in the middle of a sliding slab about 10cm thick. Big ones like this are rare
http://khuts.org/joomla25/images/stories/ASYB/ASYB1957_KunamaAvalanche_Ward.pdf
The particular slope was known as "the eagle run" by the crazy guys on wooden skis.

climberman

20-Sep-2012
6:56:40 AM

On 20/09/2012 TonyB wrote:
>The only avalanche I ever experienced in Oz was being caught in the middle
>of a sliding slab about 10cm thick. Big ones like this are rare
>http://khuts.org/joomla25/images/stories/ASYB/ASYB1957_KunamaAvalanche_Ward.pdf
>The particular slope was known as "the eagle run" by the crazy guys on
>wooden skis.

Was it the golden eagle ?

climberman

20-Sep-2012
7:01:39 AM

http://bushwalk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=10627

Shows a pic near the Sentinel in a similar year to this. Theres often a f---load of debris down the bottom of those area too.

simey

20-Sep-2012
8:35:55 AM

On 19/09/2012 barney800 wrote:
>On 19/09/2012 simey wrote:
>>Don't mention the dangers of hitting native wildlife on skis to Eduardo.
>>Given his experiences whilst cycling, he probably figured he was safe
>from such dangers whilst skiing.
>
>What's the story here? I'm intrigued...

Just a little incident where he was hammering down the summit road at Arapiles at 60km/h and a wallaby jumped out in front of him. Took him quite a few months to recover from the injuries. However it is unlikely Edwin will ever achieve those speeds on skis, unless he accidently skis off a cliff.


Eduardo Slabofvic

20-Sep-2012
9:21:48 AM

On 19/09/2012 barney800 wrote:
>
>What's the story here? I'm intrigued...

Two trips to A&E in the back of the meat wagon after altercations with wildlife whilst on my pushie, resulting in a year and a half layoff from climbing

barney800

20-Sep-2012
9:33:38 AM

Ouch! A similar thing happened to a mate of mine in the UK. He collided with a badger at high speed, wrote off his bike and broke a couple of ribs. The badger looked at him for a minute, as if to say "what the f**k?", then walked off unscathed.


ajfclark

20-Sep-2012
9:41:14 AM

Can't see the word badger without thinking of this: http://www.weebls-stuff.com/songs/badgers

simey

20-Sep-2012
8:54:34 PM

On 20/09/2012 ajfclark wrote:
>Can't see the word badger without thinking of this: http://www.weebls-stuff.com/songs/badgrs

Andrew,
I don't think you are capable of seeing anything anywhere without relating it to some utterly ridiculous thing on the internet.


ajfclark

20-Sep-2012
8:55:57 PM

Pretty well. Makes watching porn difficult. ;-)


Miguel75

20-Sep-2012
9:40:48 PM

Thanks for your input people, esp. Andrew's;)

I haven't really done much BC stuff out here though used to build lots of roadside kickers many moons ago...

There are 25 messages in this topic.