Mountain riding / safety

intense never thought much about it.

"Meaningless Ride"

i carry a small collapsibly shovel.. and an small ice pick... usually some things to help me stay warm... and things like energy bars and flashlight, DUCT TAPE... and usually 50 feet of rope... that all fits in as small bag on the back of my sled and some things fit in spots under the hood


Duct tape much like the force... it has a light side, a dark side.... and it holds the world together!

Hey BurninOil, you pack exactly like me! I got the probe, shovel, and rope under the hood. Besides the beacon, I take toilet paper, spare clutch spring, and a GPS too.

How does an avalanche beacon work. Do you have to activate it. What happens if you get seperated from the sled.

95 XLT Special
88 Saffari 377
89 Saffari Saga 377

I was just on the polaris site and wow those little beacons are expensive.

"Meaningless Ride"

Yeah, 225-300 is a chunk of change. I do a lot of mountain riding and have seen people get buried. Not a pretty site, an avalanche is an incredible force. Beacon may help them find you in the 15 or so minutes you have before you suffocate if you didn't hit something on the way down. But the chances they'll find you without one is almost non existent. Need a probe & shovel too.
Don't mean to be a downer. Since I took my avalanche class there has only been 2 times that I looked at a hill and said not today. Can't say it saved my a#@ But I'm here to talk about it.
Remeber the equipment you are carrying is not for you but for your buddies and vice versa.

Hey Niceorange, check this site out for an explanation. There are beacons available that you mount on your sled, although I don't know anyone with one. The personal ones are strapped to your body. Don't forget to turn it on! You keep it in transmit mode, and if an avalanche occurs and someone gets buried, everyone involved in the search switches to receive mode.

http://www.firstrax.com/117.htm

Edited by - Flange on 02 Nov 2001 18:26:12

Originally posted by niceorange
[br]How does an avalanche beacon work. Do you have to activate it. What happens if you get seperated from the sled.

Click to expand...

Basically, you wear it one on your body along with everyone else in your group. When you turn the beacon on, it is in transmit mode. If someone gets buried, everyone switches to receive mode and uses their beacon as a receiver to locate where the victim is.

For a simple online practice page that will give you an idea of how one works, visit
www.snowbigdeal.com/practice.php