Re: Avalanche cords

Yeah, OGBO used avy cords a few times. The theory was not to drag them, but have them wadded into a pocket or somewhere, then when you were about to be caught in an avalanche, you tossed the thing out, hoping enough of it showed on the surface that your rescuers could dig in, following it to you. Of course, that might mean a whole bunch of digging. Thankfully, I have never been caught in an avalanche nor with anyone who was, so I never tested that theory.

Avy beacons are far far better, assuming you and your companions practice. I use an Ortovox F1, an analog beacon. This last Beacon Olympics, Barbara, who had never done a search for speed, borrowed a Tracker and got fastest time of the day in the qualifiers. The general consensus is that the Tracker is the easiest for people to learn in short order. I tried out an Ortovox X1, which is a combined analog (for initial range) and digital (for final search). It looks promising, but seems to have a very steep learning curve.

I have competed in several search competitions. While I am nowhere near as fast as the pros, I can usually get to within a couple feet of the surface position within 30 sec of the initial pickup of the signal. Digging the "victim" out is also a lot slower for me than the pros, with the depth making a lot of difference. Last year at the Bear Valley competition, a pro guide from Austria took 35 seconds from start to having the beacon in hand from a 2 foot burial (I took 57 sec for the same scenario). Multiple beacons take longer, of course, especially if the victims are close together.

Point is, I suspect that an avy cord would take several minutes to even identify, assuming your buds knew that's what to look for, and then a bunch more time to dig up the length all the way to you. Considering how fast the survival percentage drops, I believe the avy cord is more a body recovery device than a rescue device. After 10 minutes, survival rates are already below 50 percent.

But, with the beacons, even the Tracker and other similar digital beacons, you have to practice, practice, practice.

$300? What is your life worth? True, boarders don't use them. But they are mostly young males, which means they are immortal, invulnerable, and omniscient, unlike us Old GreyBeards who are very aware of our mortality and vulnerability, and learned long ago that we are far from knowing it all. It is not cost that keeps them from using the beacons.