Simply Savoie
Guided walking – snowshoeing – via ferrata in the French Alps with Mark Tennent
Bonjour mark
Super merci. Encore merci pr cette belle journée. J’ai appris pleins de choses et ce, dans une très bonne ambiance et avec bonne humeur ! Tu as contribué à cela. Je vais sûrement faire la suite des formations. On se croisera peut-être
23 janvier 2021
If you, or a friend, are still using an old (c. 10 years or over avalanche transceiver) it’s time to consign it to the bin! And no, don’t sell it on Ebay!
Really old transceivers worked on analogue technology. There were no visual direction or visual signal strength indicators. Your only guidance was by the volume of the ?beeps? emitted and adjusting the sensitivity of the device. It required experience and regular practice to become proficient. They almost certainly had only one antenna.
After that came two antenna transceivers to help give directional guidance and range to the victim. Now the majority of transceivers are all using three antennae; and some now even four.
Mixing the old with the new: old analogue transceivers transmit in such a way that they can mask the signals coming from a more modern receiver. So it’s not just you who may not be found you may also create problems for your friends!
If it’ over 3 years have it checked over. Why you ask? The antenna(e) of transceivers can get broken. You may not be aware unless you carry out a full group type check. Here you may discover a drastically reduced range; amongst other anomalies. Is there corrosion that you can’t see?
Make sure you are using the most up-to-date software for your transceiver.
Transceivers work on the 457 mhz frequency. Old transceivers are prone to drift too far from this frequency with the result they are impossible to find!
We see and potentially carry, more and more gadgets including: ?smartphones?, GPS devices, digital cameras with GPS built-in, GoPro’s, etc.
However the effects of ?Consumer Electronics? on Avalanche Transceivers is sobering. The long and short of it is ?turn it off?. (If carried they should be more stowed more than 30cm from the transceiver ? in a backpack).
The effect is most marked in the ?Search? (Receive) mode as the signal searched for is masked by the electronic ?noise? of the other device(s). This can make it very, very difficult to locate the victim and remember ? every second, minute counts.
Don’t forget that some digital cameras have a built-in GPS to location ?stamp? where photographs are taken. These too should be off and stowed at least 30cm from the transceiver.
The document in this link shows graphs clearly demonstrating ?The Effect of Consumer Electronics? on avalanche transceivers from ?Proceedings, International Snow Science Workshop, Banff, 2014? Link: http://arc.lib.montana.edu/snow-science/objects/ISSW14_paper_P4.13.pdf
Reading and interpreting the avalanche forecast is fundamental to reducing the risk of becoming a victim of an avalanche.
Despite daily avalanche forecasts available on-line and displayed in ski resorts there are still too many avoidable avalanche accidents.
Studies show that these incidents took place where predicted by the avalanche forecast. So, either people are not reading the forecast, or if they do they are not extracting the information in it.
The European avalanche risk scale runs from 1 to 5. Statistics (from France) for the last 15 years show that on 44% of days the risk was at level 2 (with 14% of fatal incidents) and 35% of days were level 3 (with 56% of fatal incidents).
One of the issues is the perception of Level 3. It is seen wrongly, by many as a ?medium? risk when in fact it is ?considerable?. If the avalanche risk scale e.g. 2 is the only element of the avalanche forecast being read incidents will clearly follow and the statistics would lend credence to this conclusion.
The avalanche bulletin itself contains a wealth of information.
Timescale ? at the top it gives the validity of the forecast and the level of risk. Sometimes it indicates an altitude with one risk level below and another above.
Compass ? here it shows which slopes are the most dangerous in terms of their orientation.
Type of avalanche(s) to expect ? This is divided into two types, natural releases and those caused by skiers.
Snowpack Stability ? Here a detailed description of the current stability of the snowpack. It may give information about recent weather patterns including wind direction and strength. There may also be more detailed information about altitudes where certain risks may be higher. This paragraph should be read carefully.
Depth of Snow (at a certain altitude) ? here it gives information on the quantity of recent snowfalls and what is predicted over the following 48 hours.
Weather forecast summary ? here it gives the altitude of when rain will turn to snow; the freezing level and wind speed at different altitudes along with the direction.
Snow depth off-piste ? here it gives the depth of snow at different altitudes on both north and south facing slopes. It also gives the altitude from which you can expect continuous snow.
State of the snow ? the state of the snow e.g. is it crusted, humid or powder.
Avalanche risk outlook ? here it shows whether the risk is staying the same, increasing or decreasing.
Time when the forecast was written ? here it gives the date and time that the forecast was prepared.
As you can see there’s a wealth of information that when read carefully substantially decreases the chance of becoming an avalanche victim.
Wearing an avalanche transceiver and carrying a probe and shovel are essential if going into areas with a potential avalanche risk. Essential too is practise in using the equipment.
Like many people these days I’m carrying a mobile phone and sometimes use a GPS. I was aware that electronic items could have an effect on avalanch transceivers. Transceivers emit a signal on 457 mhz until switched to ?search mode? when they are used to home in on this emission.
The effect was demonstrated recently in dramatic fashion. I had buried my rucsac with my transceiver to simulate a casualty. The two searchers switched their transceivers to ?search? mode. Immediately it became apparent that the two transceivers were behaving in a peculiar manner. Unexpected direction indications; sudden loss of signal and ?freezing?. What was going on!
We decided to get to the bottom of this issue by experimenting with different combination and permutations of phones and GPS’s. The culprit was a Sony smartphone. If this was in proximity in any mode other than ?off? the transceiver was rendered inoperable.
There’s only one conclusion: switch off all telephones when using transceivers.
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