I was out with two other people this past weekend and we did a mock avalanche search / recovery. We were just practicing at one of the BCA beacon basins.
None of us knew where the beacon was buried. We tried to create as much chaos as possible. Here are a couple things we learned; hopefully you can learn from our mistakes.
As soon as we yelled avalanche, one of the group members started getting his shovel ready before putting his beacon into search mode. This cost a couple extra seconds before we could get him to switch his beacon to search. Lesson learned: MAKE SURE EVERYONE KNOWS THAT THE FIRST THING YOU MUST DO IS SWITCH YOUR BEACON TO SEARCH.
We started our primary search and within 30 seconds or so we had a signal (45 meters away) and locked onto the flux line and went right to the area of the beacon. While one person did the pin-point search with the beacon, another put his probe together, and the other started digging in the area. As soon as we had pin-pointed the location with the probe, one member of his group realized he left his shovel on his snowmobile. Lesson learned: MAKE SURE YOU HAVE YOUR SHOVEL & PROBE ON YOUR BODY. DON'T LEAVE IT BEHIND.
Two of us began digging right above the beacon while the other ran & grabbed his shovel. Soon all three of us were digging straight down. The hole we dug started out big, but soon the hole was only big enough for one person to be in and dig. The other two people tried to help, but there was nowhere for them to dig. Lesson learned: DON'T DIG STRAIGHT DOWN, DIG AT AN ANGLE AND DIG A BIG ENOUGH HOLE THAT MORE THAN ONE CAN HELP.
Every time we run a mock avalanche or a search scenario I learn something new. I practice with beacons almost every day, but it's not every day that I do a mock search. Practicing with your beacons is not enough, try to make the events as real as possible and see how your group dynamics work.
When all was said & done, we completed a search that was about 60 meters away from where we started and had the buried object unburied from 5 feet of PACKED snow within 10 minutes. In my opinion, that is still too long to be buried!
None of us knew where the beacon was buried. We tried to create as much chaos as possible. Here are a couple things we learned; hopefully you can learn from our mistakes.
As soon as we yelled avalanche, one of the group members started getting his shovel ready before putting his beacon into search mode. This cost a couple extra seconds before we could get him to switch his beacon to search. Lesson learned: MAKE SURE EVERYONE KNOWS THAT THE FIRST THING YOU MUST DO IS SWITCH YOUR BEACON TO SEARCH.
We started our primary search and within 30 seconds or so we had a signal (45 meters away) and locked onto the flux line and went right to the area of the beacon. While one person did the pin-point search with the beacon, another put his probe together, and the other started digging in the area. As soon as we had pin-pointed the location with the probe, one member of his group realized he left his shovel on his snowmobile. Lesson learned: MAKE SURE YOU HAVE YOUR SHOVEL & PROBE ON YOUR BODY. DON'T LEAVE IT BEHIND.
Two of us began digging right above the beacon while the other ran & grabbed his shovel. Soon all three of us were digging straight down. The hole we dug started out big, but soon the hole was only big enough for one person to be in and dig. The other two people tried to help, but there was nowhere for them to dig. Lesson learned: DON'T DIG STRAIGHT DOWN, DIG AT AN ANGLE AND DIG A BIG ENOUGH HOLE THAT MORE THAN ONE CAN HELP.
Every time we run a mock avalanche or a search scenario I learn something new. I practice with beacons almost every day, but it's not every day that I do a mock search. Practicing with your beacons is not enough, try to make the events as real as possible and see how your group dynamics work.
When all was said & done, we completed a search that was about 60 meters away from where we started and had the buried object unburied from 5 feet of PACKED snow within 10 minutes. In my opinion, that is still too long to be buried!
