J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by ise

Hirsty wrote:I found this report of it saving a life.

http://www.avalanche-center.org/News/2005/2005-12-31-germany-recco.php

I should have remembered that one, I think I recall seeing the TV report. Again though you've got an unequipped party and a lucky survival after a long burial (45 min's). Most people (70%) dug out after 45 mins are deceased regardless of how they're found.

Jan I Stenmark wrote:
I’d still like to hear about anyone who has ever had a successful rescue due to one

Jan

Don't hold your breath, I've only heard of a few

1. skier 1987, found in Lenzerheide, Switzerland, after dogs and probes couldn't find her.
2. boarder, Les 2 Alpes, 2001, no details
3. Savognin, Switzerland, 2002, 8 snowboarders, 2 burials, one dead at scene the other died a few days later. None of the party were equipped.
4. Kaunertal Glacier. 2002, snowboarder in crevasse fall.
5. Prägraten, Austria, 2004, ski tourers not equipped, found using RECCO but not carrying reflectors, signal from phone or camera.

That's up to a couple of years and it's not very encouraging. Even in that first case the woman must have survived a long burial which is pretty unusual. Also note that there's no live recoveries where the victim was actually equipped.

Rescue teams like it, they're arriving on scene quite late and RECCO detectors are very quick compared to transceivers but otherwise it's not a good story.

I'm intrigued to know that the record snowfall is though, a quick Google suggests Mt Seki in Japan at 2.1m in 24hrs. Any other ideas?

For the US :

In 1 month (U.S.): 390" Tamarack, Calif. Jan. 1911
In 24 hours (N. America):76" Silver Lake, Colo. April 14–15, 1921
In one storm (N. America):189" Mt. Shasta Ski Bowl, Calif. Feb. 13–19, 1959
In one season (N. America): 1,140" Mount Baker, Wash. 1998–1999

Source: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Engineer Topographic Laboratories.

Yahoo Answers has this http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20071210073033AAfW4Ra but I think they're wrong.

colemangavin wrote:Thanks ISE.

To be honest, I am not worried about the fact that it might destroy the very fabric of the universe :lol:.....just concerned about having to fit my snow chains...it was difficult enough during my trial run on Sunday :evil:

absolutely, it's important to maintain a sense of perspective about these things :D

colemangavin wrote:We are going skiing in Germany for Christmas.
According to the snow report on this web site there will be 272cm of snow on the 22nd in Oberstdorf.
However, on uk.weather.com no snow will fall on the 22nd?!?!?

Who to beleive?

:D There must be something wrong with the report, 272cm of new snow would be apocalyptic, the weight of it would cause a gravity well that would suck in all of space and time and destroy the very fabric of the universe :D

gavin2020 wrote:i'd agree with all you say, and hold my hands up to not being, by any stretch, an expert. our practice, as i live on the beach where it hasnt snowed in 10 years is clearly not mountain conditions. about the peace of mind comment, i did an avalanche course in canada and try and read up a bit on it and am a whole lot more scared of avlanches now than i was in my ignorance! now id be very scared venturing off piste without my tranceiver much like driving a car without a seat belt.
we do have a go at block test slides, and and checking the snow pack, forget the technical terms. this is generally the part i get confused with interpreting the temperature changes and so on. i will, when we do this, do a practice as you suggest with multiples on a steep slope.

You make a good point there, there's a danger that an amount of knowledge can make you so concerned of the dangers you end up hiding under the bed, conversely I think some people deal with the overload by just blanking it out.

bandit wrote:

ise wrote:

What happened the other weekend though was as bandit closed the distance my receiver leapt about 1.5 m away from here signal. That's consistent with the reported problems with mobile phones so I asked if bandit had a phone. What's interesting there is that you're only 100m from the phone mast so is the signal stronger or weaker?

I did subsequently wonder if you'd hit a flux line though and that's what happened although I don't think I've seen that happen on a "ski by" before.

If the mast on the cable car station is a transmitter, then the signal that my phones send (to the transmitter) will be weaker, as they reduce their power output (power saving).

So, if this was the case, as I got closer to you and your Tracker (nearer to the c/c station) then my phone signals should have been weaker.

are you sure about that? I'm not :D Radio signals are odd things, you know how that transmitter in your transceiver works, it's built into our search techniques to allow for the flux lines and dead spots.

bandit wrote:
I think the poor lad probably froze his wotsits off. It was a bit parky to be standing around checking snow in avalanche pits!

yup, this cold :