Avoiding being avalanched in the first place is the best way to stay safe in the back country but accidents do happen, they may not even be to your party but you should learn how to help other people. Lets have a look at what Avalanche Safety Equipment you should carry and how to use it.

Learn as much as you can before leaving the piste about avalanche safety. An excellent introduction to the topic can found on; The Canadian Avalanche Association site

When skiing in the backcountry, ski mountaineering, ski touring or even just nipping off the piste for some fresh snow you should always wear an avalanche transceiver and carry a shovel and probe. There are lots of different models available and choosing the right avalanche transceiver can be confusing. All transceivers use the same frequency 457mhz so they can all search for each other. They can be split into two categories digital and analogue. Digital avalanche transceivers can give a direction and distance to a buried victim and analogue transceivers require you to interpret audible information and in some cases visible information to locate a buried victim. Some of the digital transceivers can be set to use analogue search method or use a combination of methods. We will have a look at models from the main three manufacturers.

No matter what unit you use it is no use to you or your partners unless you have it on and know how to use it. Make sure everyone’s transceiver is on and working at the start of each day. Check again if you have been to the restaurant for lunch as people tend to take them off and forget to put them back on. The only way to learn is to practice.