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Beacons


marylou

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Beacons have a track record of saving lives. Use them.

Beacons do save lives. Use them. If you've ever taken part in a probe line - you'll use a beacon everytime.

 

That said, beacons track record is nowhere near as good as a climbing rope. This study http://www.bcaccess.com/pdf/CompanionRescue_Atkins.pdf

has only 32% of recreational transceiver searches being succesful. DON'T GET CAUGHT!

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We've had this discussion on this site each of the last two or three years, I think. I have become more and more convinced that beacons probably DO NOT save as many lives as has been suggested.

 

The Colorado article cited above has a very small sample size, so from it alone I wouldn't accept any figure of 19 dead : 9 alive as necessarily indicative of what we will see in the long run. Their statement that nearly identical survival statistics have been reported in Switzerland tends to support these survival percentages, but still I thinik this does not tell the complete story.

 

Later in the article it compares recovery rates using transceivers to those with other methods and the "results" for transceivers are not all that impressive, really. "Transceivers in the hands of recreationalists are even less effective than spot probing," it says, with spot probing being simply looking at terrain and probing in low spots or where you see a mitten on the surface or something. Might some of the successful recoveries using beacons have been also accomplished with spot probing? We don't know.

 

The real drawback of the study and others like it is that they generally do not compare the overall survival rates for skiers and climbers who venture into the mountains with and without beacons. It is an open topic for debate, but I believe there is a very large likelihood that the use of avalanche beacons enables us to feel safer when measuring up a potentially dangerous slope. If the idea that we may be rescued enters into our analysis in any conscious or unconscious manner whatever, we may in fact choose to take risks we would otherwise have avoided. Consider, too, that our snow here in the PNW is generally heavier and wetter than elsewhere. I bet our survival rates for buried avalance victims are lower than they might be in, say, Colorado.

 

I agree with the statement above that "beacons do save lives. Use them. If you've ever taken part in a probe line - you'll use a beacon everytime." However, consider the very real risk associated with venturing into avalanche terrain: like cj001f said: don't get caught!

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A beacon is kinda like car insurance, chance are you won't get in an accident, you have it "in case shit". Like someone pointed out, the beacon doesn't save the life, the user does.

 

I think it is more like a seat belt, yeah it might help save your life in a accident, but there is no garantee that it will.

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sorry for the thread dift Allison, but honestly, spend the cash, and ski with people who know how to use em.

 

I already have one. I am more interested in the trends and thought on usefulness among this group. Generally I err on the side of caution.

 

You might say I am conducting a little informal research on the subject for some article I'm writing.

 

Continue discussion.

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It would be difficult to convince me a beacon is not a good idea, since it sends you directly to where the person is, every time. Whatever statistics there are out there, all the spot probing in likely terrain or around "clues" I've done in scenarios seems rather desperate and incredibly unreliable. Again that's just a scenario but it sure would be miserable in "real life".

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Whatever statistics there are out there, all the spot probing in likely terrain or around "clues" I've done in scenarios seems rather desperate and incredibly unreliable. Again that's just a scenario but it sure would be miserable in "real life".

My scenario experience is similar - it's a good 30-45 minutes before you find someone that way. They are already on the downhill part of the survival curve by then.

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