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Blue Lake - That Day the Mountain Fell |
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21-Aug-2008 2:34:36 PM
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I have a BCA Tracker & find it easy to use. There are some basic instructions that come with it - or check out the website www.backcountryaccess.com .
the common consesus in regard to beacons is to practise practise practise & know how your beacon works. According to the patrollers here (Canada) the effective ranges of most beacons is less than quoted.
Beacons are just way to make travel in avalanache terrain safer. Remember they are useless unless everyone in your party has a beacon+shovel+probe. The joke is to always give the best avi gear to your friends.
~$300 is the cheapest I've ever seen a new beacon sell for.
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21-Aug-2008 3:48:23 PM
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On 21/08/2008 Capt_mulch wrote:
> Can anyone recommend one and some tips on their
>use?
I found the below website to be particularly useful:
http://beaconreviews.com/transceivers
I have the Pieps DSP and hope to never have to use it.
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21-Aug-2008 4:16:18 PM
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On 21/08/2008 james wrote:
>
>the common consesus in regard to beacons is to practise practise practise
>& know how your beacon works. According to the patrollers here (Canada)
>the effective ranges of most beacons is less than quoted.
>
>Beacons are just way to make travel in avalanache terrain safer. Remember
>they are useless unless everyone in your party has a beacon+shovel+probe.
> The joke is to always give the best avi gear to your friends.
>
correct - should practise every season. most people rarely do.
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21-Aug-2008 4:50:46 PM
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Sad but true Beefy.
Mulchy, good job on the report and well done for getting through the experience intact. PM me if you want a critique of the 2 or 3 most popular beacons as they're not necessarily all they're cracked up to be. I've some other condensed info cards for rescue situations you'll find useful to print and carry with you but they're not for the forum.
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21-Aug-2008 5:30:50 PM
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Thanks all - I'd like to get some info together for the Canberra Cross Country Ski Club - I'm going to do a presentation at a meeting in a few weeks and it would be good to get this info together.
WARNING!! The Sydney Morning Herald is on the hunt for something juicy for this weekends edition - I just had a reporter (an older guy - much older than you Rod :-) who couldn't even understand the NZAC website address, didn't understand what youtube was and how he could find extreme skiing videos, and couldn't get basic terminology for the situation straight. There's going to be some crap in the paper this weekend...
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21-Aug-2008 5:39:06 PM
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A well written report Mulchy, and a good one for posterity. Rescuers, nurses doctors and the like all have to put up with this sort of epic on a day to day basis and I totally don't have the stomach for it. Hats off to you and your comrades.
I'll seek you out and force a beer down your neck next time I'm in the capital (which should actually be pretty soon. Might be a NSW taxpayers financed beer.)
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21-Aug-2008 5:42:52 PM
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I never say no to a beer :-) Unless, of course, I'm with wallwombat and widewetandslippery and we've already then had a dozen each - I seem to remember it becomes vodka after that - as I said, I only seem to remember... damn, hijacking my own thread again!!!
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21-Aug-2008 11:49:17 PM
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There's a heap of info here that might be useful. Obviously it won't all be relevant, but it gives an starting point for some things to look out for - in particular the terrain considerations.
http://www.avalanche.ca/default.aspx?DN=673,428,4,558,3,Documents
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22-Aug-2008 9:07:27 AM
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Hey Nick,
I talked to a guy from Wild magazine the other day I think. Not sure if it was Wild or another magazine. The guy I spoke with said you gave him my number. You remember which mag it might have been and what the guys name and number is? I want to get him to send my a copy of the mag when it goes to print.
Cheers
o
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22-Aug-2008 9:14:59 AM
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Nick, maybe the Canberra Climbers' Assoc and the XC club may consider buying some avalanche transceivers that can be then hired out to club members
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22-Aug-2008 9:50:31 AM
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In NZ if you don't want to fork out the money they can usually be hired from NZ Mountain Safety council or other sources.
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22-Aug-2008 10:22:15 AM
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> Not sure if
>it was Wild or another magazine. The guy I spoke with said you gave him
>my number. You remember which mag it might have been and what the guys
>name and number is?
It was probably mousey (josh) - send a PM to mousey and you'll get him.
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22-Aug-2008 10:22:36 AM
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On 22/08/2008 ohrabanek wrote:
>Hey Nick,
>
>I talked to a guy from Wild magazine the other day I think. Not sure if
>it was Wild or another magazine. The guy I spoke with said you gave him
>my number. You remember which mag it might have been and what the guys
>name and number is? I want to get him to send my a copy of the mag when
>it goes to print.
>
>Cheers
>o
Hi Owen,
It was me that you were talking to (for Outdoor Au mag), my number is 0408 257 138 in case
you need to get in touch. Can you please email me (photos@joshcaple.com) your mailing address & I'll
get a copy to you when it comes out (Nov/Dec issue)
Cheers,
Josh
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22-Aug-2008 10:41:51 AM
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All,
ohrabanek is Owen, who was on the scene too.He should get the Chockstone mountain speed climbing award for sprinting up Little Twynam in ski boots to get into phone range and call in the rescue services, not to mention that he worked as hard as the rest of us on the scene (without gloves for quite a while too).
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22-Aug-2008 11:43:33 AM
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Thanks Nick and Owen. A sad, sobering story.
A hard warning that we always need to have the right equipment - and training in its use -
to help stack the odds in our favour as much as possible.
Be Prepared.
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22-Aug-2008 1:05:36 PM
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Too true - I'd done a back country tour leaders course a few weeks before (and a back country survival course the year before), and avalanche wasn't even considered as a possibility when we covered hazards of travelling in the back country. Sad thing was, Tom was apparently carrying an EPIRB. Right idea, wrong situation.
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22-Aug-2008 4:15:28 PM
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Hi I was part of a group that climbed Stag Gully in Blue Lake one week prior. Our guide gave a lesson on avalanches and used the cornice that eventually fell as the example of what to look for. Couldn't believe the news reports when they came out. Terrible story that you told Capt Mulch. Well done on a brave job.
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22-Aug-2008 5:33:21 PM
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Here is some more interesting avi info:
http://www.mountainz.co.nz/content/article/article.php?article=240608_avalanche.php&direct=general
Probably not so relevant for Australia as it mostly concerns windslab. I kicked off a small windslab the
week before last. Verrry scary, glad it was only a small one, still quite a sobering experience. We were
carrying transceivers and shovels (my probe broke unfortunately), as well as EPIRB and UHF with
regular scheds with another party. TR may follow if I get off my backside...
Have been offline for a while, taking a break after NZ trip, otherwise I would have posted this sooner.
Good effort on the rescue attempt Mulchy, and quite a shock when I saw your mug on the evening news!
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22-Aug-2008 6:20:45 PM
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Good link thanks Vaughan. Ironic that your the one that went to NZ and didn't come up to Blue Lake (and it was me worried about you, dickhead!!), while we had the avalanche here. I like the quote in the link that says if climbers don't have all three avalanche rescue items (beacon, probe and shovel) then they have almost no chance of finding and digging out a buried victim (unless some part of the victim is protruding above the snow surface) within an acceptable time frame , with my hindsight, so true - please read this all you reporters that are trying to find "an angle" for some extra drama to blame someone with - believe me, all you Chockstoners, the press has been reading everything we write trying to get some juicy controversy. Wait for tomorrows SMH.
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23-Aug-2008 12:24:48 AM
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On 22/08/2008 Capt_mulch wrote:
>all you reporters that are trying to find "an
>angle" for some extra drama to blame someone with - believe me, all you
>Chockstoners, the press has been reading everything we write trying to
>get some juicy controversy. Wait for tomorrows SMH.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/my-battle-to-save-tom/2008/08/22/1219262525163.html
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