Mikkelza wrote: ↑Sun Feb 20, 2022 9:33 am
So my question is:
Those of you who do snowkiting uphill and downhill, do you wear e.g. transceivers and other avalance equiptment?
I used to work in the backcountry snow-sport industry and after seasons of training, I concluded that it's best to be fully equipped for any situation.
I carry a transceiver, probe, and shovel. Either you are going to be looking for someone or hoping someone is looking for you, so it is best to have all of these tools in you quiver.
I feel the most important tools are the probe and shovel if a kiter is still attached to the kite. Kite lines
may lead you to the victim, but there's no guarantee. If the victim is indeed attached, using a probe and proper techniques to find the victim will allow you to pinpoint them and gauge the digging depth, digging time, and the possible outcome.
It generally takes about 15 minutes before suffocating to death. If a person is buried 6' (1.85m) down, it would take
one person about 20+ minutes to excavate the victim once pinpointed with a probe. Here's some perspective... for a victim buried under 4' (1.25cm) of snow it would be a ton+ of snow to remove. Can you dig out a ton+ of snow within 15 minutes with a tiny 9x10 shovel by yourself? I highly doubt it!
To make it worse, when an avalanche occurs the snow sets up like cement from the kinetic energy generated by the avalanche. When I was training, digging out a simulated victim within 15 minutes in cement type snow was extremely stressful and difficult. Maritime type snow doesn't help either.
If a kiter has to release the kite, they
will definitely want a beacon and/or airbag for the best chance of survival.
Truly the best thing you can do is to know when NOT to go!