[at-l] Repost from Gearworld on Backcountry Travel

["L. Parker" <lparker@cacaphony.net>]

The Back Country Experience
This article focuses on the necessary knowledge, and gear required to travel
safely through the backcountry.
by Nigel Thompson

The inherent risks of backcountry travel need to be taken seriously. The
rewards are tremendous, the mistakes can be unforgiving.

Crossing vast expanses of snow-covered ranges, climbing mountain passes and
descending untracked basins with some-what graceful turns.
Take-two...Blinding snow-laden wind covers the trail, sub-zero temperatures
set -in, and in a fraction of an instance, a wave of snow raging down a
slope envelops your group.

Traveling the backcountry by necessity requires an assortment of gear. To
travel through waist deep snow one needs some type of device to stay above
the surface.

You will see people traveling with large surface snowshoes, variations of
nordic/telemark skis, or heavy-metal (randonee equipment). These skis will
have scaled surfaces, special wax jobs, or some-type of skin to enable the
user to travel uphill. Poles with large baskets are used to help push the
traveler uphill while breathable synthetic clothing keeps her dry and the
fleece and down layers warm.

You may notice the travelers with large backpacks that undoubtedly contain
additional clothing, down sleeping bag, food, stove and pot, spare parts for
bindings, tools, straps, and invariable a large supply of duck tape. A
waterproof bag, easily accessible in the pack, is their compass and
topographic map. On the outside of the pack you will see a light-weight
shovel, a bag containing telescoping poles for probing the snow or ski-poles
that have similar capabilities.

What you may not see is that beneath their outer layers and down-jackets,
close to the body where it can not be easily ripped away, is a small
transmitter that silently and consistently sends out a radio signal, that
through a similar device set to receive, sounds eerily like an electronic
heartbeat.

This device is the avalanche beacon, the life-link between a buried
backcountry traveller and her rescuers. This device also increases her
chances of survial from 0 to 50%.

What many people fail to realise is that all the gear in the world will not
necessarily save your life from an avalanche burial or becoming lost. What
will vastly increase your odds of having and eventless and enjoyable trip is
knowledge.

For instance, the buried traveller may have a 50% chance of survival, though
if her companions are experienced (professionals) her chance of survival
increases to 80%, and similarily, if her rescuers are novices
(recreationalists) her chance of survial plummets to a dispairing 17%.

This highlights the disparity between having the gear and knowing how to
use. It also is a reminder that you're only as strong as your weakest link.
If you're experienced, take the time to educate and train your team members,
if you're a novice ask for help, others may reley on you to save their
lives.


"Professionals are faster with transceivers, and therefore more likely to
find thevictim alive (59%) than recreationalists (32%). Though a survival
rate of only 59% may not sound encouraging, the buried victim found by
professionals is almost twiceas likely (84%) to be found alive than the
victim found by recreationalists.Professionals are 77% faster finding their
companion than recreationalists."
-Atkins

The reasoning is that a professional will act faster in the event of an
emergency, given that the majority of avalanche victims suffocate, time is
of the essence. The other contributing factor is that a professional is
properly equipped, where each member of the team has a shovel, tranciever,
and probe poles and understands how to use them accurately and quickly.

The advent of trancievers has greatly increased your chance of survival from
0 to about 50 %. Unfortunately not all transievers are created equal. A
recent study by the Swiss Federal Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research
(SLF).

They concluded (field tests, laboratory tests. questionnaires) reveals
Ortovox M1 as the best of the three newly developed units tested, followed
by Tracker DTS, and with Arva 9000, with generally the worst grades,
trailing at the end.

* From the AT-L |  Need help? http://www.backcountry.net/faq.html  *

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