 Poster: A snowHead
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I've got a PLB I use for sea kayaking. Would it be recognised if I used it off piste skiing in the event of a mishap? Would the coastguard in Falmouth send a message with my position to French authorities asking them to look out for a yellow sea kayak lost down a crevasse?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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In the event of an avalanche you are not going to be able to press it. The only time it could potentially be useful is if stuck in a crevasse. Although you shouldn't be skiing glacier terrain without a partner or group anyway - so again rather useless.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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thankyou boarder 2020 for giving the mountain advice (which I am fully aware of and comply with)without attempting to answer the question
For example if I came across another party in one of the predicaments in your scenario needing rescue where there is no mobile phone signal and it is a long way from a lift station (for example)
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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What are the regs re your beacon frequency in Europe for starters. I know terrestial PLBs were banned in UK ( not sure about now).
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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thankyou boarder 2020 for giving the mountain advice (which I am fully aware of and comply with)without attempting to answer the question
For example if I came across another party in one of the predicaments in your scenario needing rescue where there is no mobile phone signal and it is a long way from a lift station (for example)
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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@On the rocks,
Are you talking about something like the Spot Messenger and/or Delorme/Garmin Inreach?
I don’t see why not, if you don’t have mobile coverage and it’s the only way to contact help.
I’ve been looking at the both for hiking/camping. What do you have?
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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@On the rocks, I don't see why not. The Breitling Emergency can be used anywhere. Clearly you know that you have to be careful and that you are insured for the rescue costs, as I understand it the alerting is free. Not sure from your link what the frequency is, hopefully both 121.5 and 406. I have thought about something like this for touring in case of an injury especially if buddies were involved as well, e.g. you are the last man standing after an unfortunate avalanche. You don't have to be far out of a resort to reach a mobile free zone.
I wore one for the whole of my career, so kinda miss the security blanket.
A DVA with beacon - now that would be a thing of beauty.
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For example if I came across another party in one of the predicaments in your scenario needing rescue where there is no mobile phone signal and it is a long way from a lift station (for example
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Well if you are skiing on a glacier you would have ropes and be able to rescue them.
The example above about your whole party being caught in an avalanche and you being incapacitated by injury is the only example I can see where it would be useful.
I just think the odds of it being used is so low it's not worth carrying.
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You don't have to be far out of a resort to reach a mobile free zone.
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Really? I'm surprised to hear that, I would have assumed mobile coverage in europe was pretty extensive everywhere.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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[quote="boarder2020"]
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Really? I'm surprised to hear that, I would have assumed mobile coverage in europe was pretty extensive everywhere. |
I live on the Cambridge / Essex border and there are plenty of mobile black-spots.
With regards to PLB’s, I’ve had a McMurdo Fast Find for years.
https://www.mcmurdogroup.com/mcmurdo-products/mcmurdo-fastfind-220/
Last edited by snowHeads are a friendly bunch. on Mon 1-10-18 9:51; edited 1 time in total
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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@On the rocks, I think you’d need to register it with the French. Feels like a bit of an edge solution.
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I can see situations where it might be useful. One poignant example would be the Haute Route tragedy from March - stuck on a white-out ridge within easy reach of rescue from nearby refuge, but no way of informing them.
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You know it makes sense.
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@boarder2020, if you ski down from the col du palet in Tignes to just below the refuge (about 200m vertical) your phone becomes just a camera. This often surprises folks when I question them on group safety.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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I've just bought a PLB-1 a gps linked beacon for windsurfing/sailing. They are also fully recognised globally as distress beacons & hence not just for the sea. When you register it you can add any relevant info on usage, so mine includes my watersports regular haunts, vessel ID's etc & the regions where I'm likely to be Skiing.
In the UK Falmouth Coastguard get the bleep & according to the RNLI folks they will be on their way, or a heli in 5 mins. The RNLI guys I met in the summer on an open day could not recommend one enough. £175 well spent that I hope to never use.
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Poster: A snowHead
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Also, if touring in a small group and someone breaks a leg in rough terrain. If you can't extract them yourself and have no mobile signal the options are limited to leaving them to seek help or waiting for someone to report you missing.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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For my non-skiing hobby, I am legally required to have a PLB (or equivalent) with international coverage and usable on sea or land. I understand that while your details are held by the authority you register the device with, immediate assistance will be launched worldwide. I hadn't previously considered carrying it while skiing but may in the future, although as I ski almost entirely on-piste I'm unlikely to actually need it. I have a McMurdo Fastfind - not heavy or bulky, nor particularly expensive.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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I'm currently evaluating what might be the best gear pretty well based on a hike over the weekend when I became a tad concerned at a loss of mobile reception together with my GPS packing up and just maybe one of our group was a tad weaker and then the potential of the weather closing in which did have me thinking how quickly the scenario could have got worse and how we might have been in the mire, with the only way out of me legging it down the mountain until I came back into mobile reception, though you never know if when it's showing no reception that sometimes you can still call emergency?
Has to be said nowadays it's not that often that we find ourselves in areas when we're hiking / ski touring that there is no mobile reception but sods law would dictate that were something to happen then we'd have no reception.
For sure as has been mentioned before a VHF radio could be the answer.
I'm looking at a Garmin Mini InReach and as well as the hardware cost you then have the data subscriptions costs.
The BlueTooth app which is able to connect the InReach to your phone is from what I've read a little flakey, but that's only if you need to send texts and navigate with a downloaded map.
It's very much about live tracking as well, so for instance if I go out on my own (which I do) the OH can track me via a web app and when I go to Siberia it will sort of be live bragging as I know certain people on here would just love to see what I get up to 
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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I have one of these built into my Spinlock Deckvest. If I go in, the vest auto inflates and the beacon starts transmitting... unless I cancel the transmission. https://www.mcmurdogroup.com/mcmurdo-products/mcmurdo-smartfind-s20/
That would work with an avi airbag, but the ability to manually activate may be very restricted if you were in the avalanche or were knocked out by it.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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@Weathercam, the Garmin solution is fine for communicating with your friends, but for emergency purposes the fastfind is half the price and internationally recognised. It transmits on 121.5 MHx, the international aviation distress frequency as well as 406 MHx, the international general distress frequency which will be quickly picked up by satellites. Currently, there is no better general distress solution that I am aware of.
However (!) it will not work with the transponder underground!
While I am only semi-aware of the details and therefore may be wrong, I suspect the poor chap who died in Tignes last year would have been saved if he had carried one of these devices.
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@Alastair, yes agreed - but there is also navigational functionality as well with the InReach.
If you thought mobile call / data plans were a tad confusing the various data / subscription plans for the InReach are in another league!
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@Weathercam, I have my eye on a mini inreach too. Post up a review if you go for one
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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I don't see why it shouldn't be used .Going a tour, or off piste includes being correctly equioed to assist in the event of an emergency, therefore you would also need to carry a regular tranciever to enable you to help in a search. So really it bewcomes just another bit of kit, but cheaper than a satphnoe.
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I have a McMurdo Fast Find Ranger PLB
I often cycle alone, sometimes hike alone, occasionally ski or ski tour off piste alone
I bought it in case of injury somewhere remote where my phone isn't working (or if i'm lost in dangerous conditions somewhere not so remote), it's small and light, seems like a sensible investment.
Could also be useful when with a group in some circumstances (eg Haute Route disaster mentioned above)
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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@Arno, some questions I've asked.
Couple of questions as the data plans are somewhat bewildering
First: Can the Mini InReach GPS functionality be used without being connected to a data plan - in other words can it be used as an ordinary Garmin GPS linked by Bluetooth to a smartphone for mapping navigational purposes?
Second: Track points how frequent are these as the safety plan has 100 in 30 days and the Recreational 600 are these like way points or are they self initiated. So if I was uploading a live track to a Web App the track is not automatically updated ?
Though having read a bit more (sorry) the frequency can be set to scheduled time intervals - so if it was a 3hr climb I could set it to 15mins so that would be 12 track points?
Can you please provide a bit more information about MapShare and the Bluetooth App for using the GPS for mapping nav on a smart phone.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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Been looking at options for a while now, currently carry a VHF radio set to Canal-E, not 100% guaranteed a signal in this part of the Hautes Alpes and a Garmin GPS 64 st stand-alone GPS as back-up to my smartphone (only back-up cos the screen's much smaller!)
Considered the Inreach Mini, but the initial outlay and ongoing €20/month minimum subscription put me off.....
So will most likely opt for the Ocean Signal PLB as a: it's cheaper, b: it's more powerful and c: once purchased there's no ongoing cost.
However, I can see the appeal of an Inreach, particularly if you're regularly venturing out of cell-phone coverage and have a loved one that would take an interest in following your exploits 
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You know it makes sense.
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@Weathercam, I'm assuming in Siberia, the guide will have some kind of distress beacon, not much in the way of cellphone signal or radio coverage where you're heading!
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Pretty sure you need a subscription to use the Earthmate app with the Inreach.........
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Poster: A snowHead
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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As Mountain Guides and IML's are required to be able to contact emergency services when outside of normal phone reception I've done a fair bit of research on this one.
VHF radios are only as good as the infrastructure supporting them - in the western alps they are actually the most reliable. But you need to jump through many hoops to set one up correctly and doing so legally without spending a fair amount of money is difficult.
What I an many of my friends use is a Sat Phone. https://www.globaltelesat.co.uk/thuraya-xt-lite-satellite-phone this is what I carry. it works almost anywhere outside of the Americas. and unlike certain other systems you can get pay as you go style credit. $30 gets me about 25min valid for 2 years! I've tested it and it works in all but the deepest valley bottoms, by which time I'm 15 min or less from a land line so doesn't matter anyway.
If there is a better system out there in terms of portability, usability or price I'd like to know about it, all of the above systems are inferir in many ways. PLB's are easier in terms of push the button and forget and in marine use.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Do the Sat phones and the Garmin Inreach mini both use the same network (Iridium). If so does this mean the chances of connecting are the same? Do clouds or a snow storm affect Sat phone reception?
Last edited by Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see? on Sun 21-10-18 15:33; edited 1 time in total
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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I use the full fat inreach. It’s a great bit of kit.
It uses iridium, but only sends a few bytes of data at a time so a momentary connection is enough; my understanding of satphones is that the problem is that they sometimes can’t hang onto a signal long enough, then there’s a break of a few seconds till the next satellite is visible, the call drops, and you start again.
I’ve never had a connectivity issue with the inreach, tho if you have no or very poor line of sight (eg canyons, crevasses or heavily treed areas) then it won’t work or might take a long time to get a signal.
However, what it will do, assuming you’ve turned on tracking, is show everyone your last known location, which is a good starting point for a search. Every other device requires activation (eg PLBs and satphones) and so is no good if you’re unable to hit the button.
It also enables two way communication to the emergency response centre so you can identify the exact problem - e.g. making clear you can sit out the night but need rescued vs need immediate response. You can use it in a howling gale, underwater etc.
I think I pay £20/year non-utilisation fee, then an additional £20-50/month when I want it active. If you want, you can also text, email and get weather on it.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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| DB wrote: |
| Do the Sat phones and the Garmin Inreach mini both use the same network (Iridium). If so does this mean the chances of connecting are the same? Do clouds or a snow storm affect Sat phone reception? |
Iridium phones use the same network as Garmin Inreach AFAIK
Other phones work on other very different networks.
Friends with the (very expensive) iridium phones report issues in bad weather. So far I haven't had any issues, but haven't checked much.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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@On the rocks, after much deliberation, went for the PLB1, possibly the best PLB at the moment and so tiny and light it will live in the waistband pocket of my backpack 24/7
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I sail from Falmouth, solo most of the time. Whenever I take my PLB skiing or mountaineering I just email falmouth CG and they update the DB temporarily.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Damn, I've been out-tinied........
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@Bob, Flash, does it come with a free helicopter?
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FAQ
