 Poster: A snowHead
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Hey.
I recently bought a new skiing coat, and on the packaging it advertised an inbuilt Recco reflector, helping me to be found in the case of avalanche. Now i don't ski any off-piste, but i was wondering whether this system is actually any good, because i thought avalanche transceivers cost lots of money, and this was a cheap coat.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Markus, To put it very simply it is a radar reflector, and requires a special receiver to locate it. The receivers are gradually getting smaller and more portable. At one time they were only carried on helicopters. They require someone to raise the alarm and get the receiver to the location. Better than nothing but not in the same league as tranceivers.
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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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Markus, having a Recco reflector is no replacement for a transceiver off-piste. They allow you to be found by the rescue services, but not search.
Even if you don't ski off-piste, though, avalanches can and do cut across pistes - although they are rare. In such circumstances you're better off having a Recco reflector than nothing.
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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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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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I think this Recco reflector is just a piece of hard sponge with metal foil around it. I have two, one in my jacket ond the other in my salopettes.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Have many people actually been saved using Recco? By the time the equipment gets to the scene it mosly saves time finding the body.
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Markus, I wouldn't say you're doubly safe - they recommend you have at least 2 just to get a signal. Alright - I guess thats kind of doubly safe 
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When I was in the shop yesterday they had a box of Recco's behind the counter and they cost £16 each, so that might help judge how much of your jacket was the reflector
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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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| Megamum wrote: |
| When I was in the shop yesterday they had a box of Recco's behind the counter and they cost £16 each, so that might help judge how much of your jacket was the reflector |
I got it on the cheap in Tschibo in Germany, 35 euros reduced from 70. Not bad quality at all for that price and the salopettes were 30 euros...
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> salopettes were 30 euros
I've always wondered whether salopettes are petites salops? If so is 30 euros a reasonable price? 
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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I believe the situation is: With an unobstructed Recco reflector (that's why they say wear two placed as diametrically opposite each other as is poss on a human) once a detector is on site you'd be found quicker than with a transceiver. The problem is getting the detector on site quickly enough whilst your companions or a passing skier may actually have a transceiver on their person so a search can be started immediately. Now that Recco detectors are much smaller and easily portable, many piste patrol huts now have them and so their real world effectiveness is increasing dramatically. I'm told.
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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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Anything that helps the safety of skiiers - particularly inexperienced ones who don't even know what a transceiver IS - has got to be a good thing.
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| slikedges wrote: |
| I believe the situation is: With an unobstructed Recco reflector (that's why they say wear two placed as diametrically opposite each other as is poss on a human) once a detector is on site you'd be found quicker than with a transceiver. |
I've used Recco equipment and the detector is directional so you can walk directly to the victim, you still need to probe to fine locate the victim and dig them out. The detector is about the size of a large book, however as it is a passive device it relies on you scanning the avalanche scene to pick up a signal - that can be from a recco reflector or from a Suunto watch ripped from your wrist during the avalanche or the video camera in your rucksack some distance from your body or from the mobile phone in your jacket that was ripped off during the slide. You begin to see the problem here as well as some of the power of the system but you need skill to use the gear effectively. I would imagine overall that Recco would be slower than a beacon for locating a victim.
Even in the best of circumstances the piste patrol are going to take 5 minutes to reach the scene of an off-piste avalanche. More realistically, after the alarm is given you are looking at more like 15 minutes, especially if they have to take a lift or wait for a helicopter. 15 minutes while your friend is gasping for breath under meters of snow.
There were some lucky escapes from avalanches in France last week, but these are the exceptions rather than the rule. After 20 minutes your chances of suvival begin to look very poor.
This is not to denigrate Recco, but it is a joker in the rescue worker's deck and of course speedy body recovery is very important for the family of avalanche victims. There are very few live recoveries but hopefully this will improve in the future.
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You know it makes sense.
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davidof, so you'd imagine that, both on site at the time a search begins, a transceiver would be quicker?
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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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| slikedges wrote: |
| davidof, so you'd imagine that, both on site at the time a search begins, a transceiver would be quicker? |
Yes but that is just a complete guess and you may be right with what you said earlier. I assume any trained Recco operator can tell the difference between a Recco diode and the signal he gets back from other electronic gear, even then you have the average transceiver searcher able to follow the flux line directly to the victim (an ellipse) after the initial search to pick up a signal. I just imagine that a Recco would take longer to pick up an initial signal although then they can walk directly to the victim. There wouldn't be a great deal in it anyway. It is a great tool.
I believe there was a live Recco recovery in les Deux Alpes.
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Poster: A snowHead
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davidof, yes, I've been told by another avalanche expert that they can usually recognise the diode signal when nearing the source. Is there any truth in the claim that remote searches by low-flying helicopter can be effective too, to cover large areas quickly? Wouldn't this imply that they can pick up from a distance or is it only an advantage of angle due to being in a copter in the first place? Totally agree that there have been pretty few live recoveries using Recco thus far.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| slikedges wrote: |
| Is there any truth in the claim that remote searches by low-flying helicopter can be effective too, to cover large areas quickly? |
Yes and they can use a bigger antenna giving more range. I didn't ask our local rescue helicopter guys if they had Recco on board but they do have a big antenna for a standard 457khz beacon which gives them a big range.
Given the large number of people going off-piste without beacons avalanche dogs and Recco are their best hope.
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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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davidof, so they can pick-up tranceiver signals too - never knew that. With all the publicity recently on avalanche avoidance and survival, I'm amazed at how careless people continue to be with their lives, whilst engaging in a recreational activity.
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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 wrote the wikipedia entry on recco, which includes some detail on how it works, if you haven't seen it please look at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RECCO
If caught in an avalanche your first line of help is, without a doubt, that all your group should have transcievers and know how to use them but once a recco detector arrives on site it will find buried reflectors in a few minutes. The latest generation of Recco detectors does indeed include a detector for 457khz transceivers as well.
I'll try and dig out an article I wrote elsewhere, last season on past 'live' recco rescues, and will post it here.
Recco now give the receivers away for free (to responsible orgs) , Whistler Blackcomb for example have 5 spread around the hill. I understand that the same applies in Europe.
Last edited by You need to Login to know who's really who. on Mon 8-01-07 18:07; edited 1 time in total
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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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Here, copied from my SCGB thread of last year is more info on RECCO. (I'd ask U's indulgence in copying it here and the SCGB's tolerance too!)
Colin McCubbin writes:--
21 Jan 2006 The new Schöffel jackets I've seen out here on reps this year seem to be a major improvement on those of recent years, but I wonder who made the decision to omit the Recco reflector that Schöffel is incorporating into their high end jackets this season?
As a staunch supporter and promoter of the Recco system, it seems to me that a few pence have been saved at the cost of the loss of a major safety feature.
If anyone want's to discuss or know more about Recco please post here and let's chat!
David *** writes:--
22 Jan 2006 I saw Recco reflectors featured in relatively high-spec ski jackets sold in a London supermarket recently. The brand is called Tchibo (I think German). The jackets were £30.
Alan *** writes:--
23 Jan 2006 I seem to recall that reps use avalanche transcievers all the time, even on piste. These can be located very quickly in emergency by almost all pisteurs and a lot of ordinary skiers with their own (or hired) transcievers.
The Recco system requires heavy search equipment to locate the reflector - such equipment is not carried by the average pisteurs, usually only by heilcopters & not in majority of resorts. Hence is slower to locate buried victims.
By all means use both if it seems safer but check with resort as to wheteher Recco rescue equipment is used locally.
James *** writes:--
23 Jan 2006 Hi Colin - hope you're well. I'd like to be proved wrong but I have been told that no-one has ever been found alive in Europe using a Recco reflector - plenty of bodies located but not one of them breathing. By the time the equipment gets there it's too late. That's according to Jim Kerr and Dave Cummings (Chamonix mountain guides).
Colin McCubbin writes:--
23 Jan 2006 Hi Alan :
You write: The Recco system requires heavy search equipment to locate the reflector - such equipment is not carried by the average pisteurs, usually only by heilcopters & not in majority of resorts...........
There was a time, 'way back when' when I would have agreed with you. Yes, the early detectors weighed in at 16kg and were far and few between, but now they are 1.6 kilograms / 3.5 pounds and can easily be carried by one searcher, and used while on foot, skis or in a helicopter. These detectors are now standard equipment with search and rescue teams in most major ski resorts worldwide.
The latest RECCO AB newsletter dated Oct 2005 states that 450 rescue services now are equipped with RECCO detectors, and that this means that 80% to 90% of ski areas worldwide have them.
In the early days there was a real catch 22 situation where the resorts said “Why should we buy the detectors? There are no reflectors out there to detect! And folk going off piste said “Why should we buy the reflectors? There are no detectors out there to come find us!
There has been a major policy change at Recco in recent years, so rather than try to persuade folk to buy the reflectors and stick them on their boots, they have been negotiating with major manufacturers of board and ski wear to build them into their clothes ranges. Figures I have seen indicate that over 30% of all high end ski jackets sold in the Germany speaking markets last season had Recco reflectors built in. Also Atomic has Recco reflectors in all their adult ski boots this year!
Recco now say that more than 70 brands are incorporating RECCO reflectors into their products, I have the list of the main ‘players’, it includes Arc’teryx, the North Face, Millet, Nike, Schöffel, Atomic & Vans (snowboard boots) amongst others.
Noticing Schöffel on the list made me check the new reps jackets and realize they lacked the Recco reflector, hence my post.
They say that the number of reflectors on skiers and boarders has doubled in the last 2 years as a result of this. Tests last winter 2005 by Ski Patrollers in Chamonix, Les Menuiers and Val Thorens indicate that approx 16% of all skiers passing a detector had at least one Recco reflector on them!
The next generation of detector, will be even smaller, and will, I understand incorporate a standard transceiver detector too. Wow! Even better!
Here in Canada where I live I understand RECCO AB have been giving away the receivers to S&R operations, I believe there are now 5 in Whistler, and Parks Canada announced at Christmas that all their Banff Park Rangers ( the largest ski touring area in W Canada) would have detectors and training in their use.
Finally I have a recent Swiss Alpine Club report that 80% of accidents in their mountains are now reported by cell phone and that the average time from call to a helicopter or rescuer to arrive at the site was 22 minutes! I hope this alone convinces you that everyone should have a few reflectors stuck on them. A helicopter hovering over an avalanche will usually find a Recco in under 5 minutes. Yes transceivers are a must, but the cost and need to turn then on(!) mean that only a small & of the population will ever wear them as a matter of course. Barryvox have just announced that their next transceiver will have a recco reflector built into the case too.
Transceiver + Recco = Belt and Braces!
You can buy a pair of stick on Recco reflectors for your boots at Snow and Rock in the UK for £12.95.
Websites that will give you more information include:
RECCO AG home page which has history and a list of resorts with detectors worldwide, also some info and a movie.
RECCO USA & CANADA home page with a map of resorts having the detectors in the USA and Canada.
Which brings me back to my original question. In the light of the above, if I was a rep I’d expect the club to have paid the extra few pence to get a jacket with the reflector, especially bearing in mind that Schöffel’s 4 top retail jackets all have them.
Colin McCubbin
23 Jan 2006 Hi James, good to hear from you!
Easily proved wrong you'll be pleased to hear! And, I hope that my brief update posted above will distroy the old 'takes too long/just a bodyfinder' myth. That was certainly true a while back, but it would be hard to argue now!
The first recorder live Recco recovery was in Lenzerheide, Switzerland in 1987. According to The American Avalanche Association newsletter I have on file here, the victim was a female, who had earlier that day been given a pair of reflectors and had stuck them in her pocket. That afternoon she was caught and burried. Dogs and probing failed to find her. Once the Recco detector arrived on site she was quickly located and recovered alive.
The most recent I know of was in Germany this last New Years eve.
Here's a report I grabbed off the web at the time:
Hinterstein, Germany (Ski Press)-On New Year’s Eve, a 29-year old German woman who was caught in an avalanche and trapped under 1.5 meters of
snow was pinpointed with the RECCO avalanche rescue system and recovered
alive after being completely buried for 45 minutes.
The woman and her partner had been snowshoeing to a backcountry cabin when the slide hit, swept her 150 meters downhill and trapped her under 1.5 meters of debris in a narrow, hard-to-reach gully. The backcountry traveler caught in the slide was not wearing a transceiver even though the avalanche danger in the surrounding mountains was rated considerable on the international scale that day.
Luckily her partner was not caught and placed a cell phone call to police, who then deployed Mountain Rescue of Hinterstein. Two rescuers equipped with an avalanche dog and a RECCO detector were immediately transported to the accident scene by helicopter, ahead of a rapidly approaching storm and descending darkness.
After a 15-minute search, the buried woman was located with the RECCO detector, pinpointed with probes and subsequently dug out alive and conscious. Three hours after the slide, she was transported by military rescue helicopter to a nearby hospital where she has since recovered from the ordeal.
...............................................
It is interesting to note Dave and Jim's view on RECCO, I'm sad that the IAGM isn't more up to speed on this.
Colin
Mark ***
23 Jan 2006 Colin I used to think that RECCO were good for recovering bodies only but I am warming them after reading your posts. I do have a couple of reflectors anyway. Not that they can take the place of transceivers/shovel/probe for off-piste trips.
Colin McCubbin
23 Jan 2006 Mark :
NATO has officially adopted the system too, so if military help arrives in Europe they too should have detector(s).
I went to wkipedia last night to see what was there on the subject and there was no entry.
So I started a page with some history and technical info. It is only a 'stub' at present, but if anyone here wants to read it or add to it, please go to:
Recco at wikipedia
Mark *** wrote:--
23 Jan 2006 Ah, well I was going to mention that NATO thing. My two were issued to me before I deployed to arctic Norway. Regulations stipulated the fastening of them to our kit. When I arrived I enquired after the whereabouts of the detector unit, but nobody seemed sure where it was!
Colin McCubbin
23 Jan 2006 Ouch.... They are probably in a warehouse and marked for rapid deployment in case of a sandstorm in the Sahara.... Shame...
I've searched for a picture of the modern Recco unit in use, I'm sticking one on my own site just to give you an Idea how compact they now are. (the latest one is even lighter BTW)
Here is a pic of a detector in use
Colin McCubbin
24 Jan 2006 Mark :
Not on your kit I hope, but on something firmly attached to your body such as the outside of your boots. By 'kit' I hear rucksack or waterbottle etc, most of which would end up away from you in a real avalanche incident. Great for finding them but FAU for finding you!
Colin McCubbin
24 Jan 2006 How about an 'up to date' article on RECCO in Board and Ski? ...
James.... Arnie.... David.... ???
James ***
24 Jan 2006 Colin....interesting stuff and I am very glad to be proved wrong!
Next time I do a piece about off piste safety devices I will mention RECCO. Shame I didn't know this a couple of weeks ago as I wrote a piece for BBC News web site following a dozen or so avalanche deaths in The Alps after heavy snowfalls. I mentioned a bit about safety and could have included it there.
I'll also pass on your info to Dave and Jim next time I see them. They actually made their comments at a BASI Off Piste safety course I was doing last November so their comments got to a reasonably wide audience of people who ski professionally.
Anyway good to chat and pass on my best to Whistler......
Mark ***
24 Jan 2006 Trousers and smock Colin. 'Kit' in forces jargon encompasses everything issued to you personally including clothing!
Alan ***
25 Jan 2006 Colin McCubbin:
I stand corrected - my information is obviously not up to date.
However I still think speed of detection is paramount and a skier with a transceiver on site must be quicker than a helicopter 10 to 20 minutes away. Even the Pisteur would have to be called to the location.
Agree with "belt & braces" policy - what does one do for the "nail to hips" aspect?
Steve ***
25 Jan 2006 Very interesting read i bought 2 reflectors on saturday with my new boots, S&R are doing them half price with any new ski's or boots bought so only 6 quid. Hope they work better than the boots which are going back because my toes now have no feeling after 40 mins of wearing them oh well
Colin McCubbin wrore:--
28 Jan 2006 Alan ***: Yes, of course a transceiver is your first line of defence, as long as you all have them and know how to use them! The problem is persuading folk to buy/hire and wear them!
Try this example statistic for France, taken from: France, Past 5 years. Anaea and Snosm (Nat. Association for the study of Snow and Avalanches, & Nat. System for the observation of Mountain Safety)
‘In Tignes, in 2004 a user count conducted by the ski resort revealed that 75% of the Skiers that were accompanied by a guide on a classical out-of-bounds tour did not carry Avalanche Beacons. The ski resort estimates that based on counts, interviews, and air photographs indicate that about 1/3 of their visitors ski out of bounds every day, which means about 5,000 persons.’
75% of 5000, out of bounds with no transceivers…….
Scary stuff eh? Multiply that by all the resorts in France alone…
Colin McCubbin
28 Jan 2006
James ***: I'd be happy to add my 2 pennies worth to any article you do on transcievers etc.
I notice you recomend the Tracker in another thread. I'd be inclined to say it is still good for untrained users, but I think the current 'best of the bunch' has to be the Mammut/Barryvox. As set up straight out of the box it is similar to the tracker, but lighter and smaller with a better harness.
If you prefer analogue tones 'a la' old classic VS68 for example you can change the setting to emulate that, and there is also a hybrid mode setting that will display the arrows/distance and sound.
James ***
29 Jan 2006 Colin - I agree that the Mammut/Barryvox is good and I like the fact you can go digital and analogue, but I'm afraid I find it just another thing to think about, with more dials to turn, in what would be a high pressure situation. I say The Tracker is so good because it is the simplest.
But of course the best transceiver of all is the one being used by someone who has practised. I did a couple of courses this season which involved quite a lot of transceiver work and I was fairly amazed to see the number of instructors and, dare I say it, reps who were not perhaps as proficient as they should be! How many people regulalry practice? Not many i fear.
5 Feb 2006 James ***:
The settings on the Mammut/Barryvox aren't really something you would change while out on the slopes. Yes you certainly could, but the idea is that you decide how you best like to search, set the options at home if you aren't happy with the factory default, and then leave them like that from then on.
So, if you do ever have to go to search it is already set to your personal preference.
As you say practice is the real key to efficient use, whatever beacon you buy, if you don't practice with it regularly you'll be next to useless if you ever need to search for real.
Brian ***
6 Feb 2006 I bought an Avalung2 (S&R catalogu page 192). It cost £99, and should allow me to breathe for over an hour under the snow (of upside down in a tree hollow, or in any one of many non-avalanche situations).
No point me being located in 22 minutes if I stopped breathing after 5 -10 minutes...
P.S. I wear a transceiver and I will be buying a RECCO recflector right away having read this thread.
Colin ***
7 Feb 2006 Hi Colin...hope you are both well......The new Reps Schöffel jackets are, as you rightly point out, a major improvement on those of recent years. Having fully tested mine already this season in all conditions. I like you, was surprised to find that they had omitted the Recco reflector, but will ask the question via the club to Schöffel. Combined with transceivers we are giving ourselves the best possibility in °search and rescue°.
Talking of transceivers, and taking up some comments from James, who I had the pleasure of attending a course with in December. We were told that the best transceiver for °multiple searches° is the Mammut/Barryvox. Like James I also recommend the Tracker as most skiers are in fact untrained users. We did put it to the test, a simulated avalanche search was set up with 7 buried transceivers (multiple search), using two Trackers we succeeded in recovering all 7 in less than 14 minutes across a reasonably large area (admittedly not buried deeply) - did this dispel the myth?...I would say leave the Mammut/Barryvox to the trained and recommend the Tracker to the general members, I for one, would prefer someone in my group who had a device he could use easily.
PS hope you are having a good season......
Nicholas ***
7 Feb 2006 FWIW, I bought 4 Trackers at Lockwoods this weekend and they cost "only" £190 to SCGB members (as opposed to £225 normal price).
We had a practice in the garden and around the house with them, and the most surprising thing about them in use is that the line that you follow is curved not straight.
The other quickly learned lesson was that if the distance numbers are going up, you need to turn through 180 degrees!
John ***
8 Feb 2006 Don't forget that even when the RECCO system is being used in a search for a dead body it increases the safey of the searchers considerably since less searchers are required and they need to spend less time in avalanche prone terrain.
Beverley ***
8 Feb 2006 Hi. By RECCO, can I assume you mean that little oblong shaped block I have sewn into my salopettes?
Even though my salopettes are nearly 6 years old, is this RECCO block still working in that a signal could be picked up, or does new technology not recognise them?
I don't go off piste, but its nice to know I have something that can be tracked in case of a freak accident.[url][/url]
Last edited by Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do. on Mon 8-01-07 18:16; edited 1 time in total
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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| slikedges wrote: |
| davidof, so they can pick-up tranceiver signals too - never knew that. With all the publicity recently on avalanche avoidance and survival, I'm amazed at how careless people continue to be with their lives, whilst engaging in a recreational activity. |
No not the signals but they get an echo back from electronic equipment which means even without a Recco reflector the device can be used to locate buried avalanche victims although as we discussed above I suspect the Recco diode gives a much clearer echo.
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| eddyr wrote: |
| Anything that helps the safety of skiiers - particularly inexperienced ones who don't even know what a transceiver IS - has got to be a good thing. |
But it could be bad if it give you a false sense of security. If you are skiing off piste you need a transciever/probe/shovel. Recco is no substitute.
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colinmcc, I'm not sure about copying here what other people have written in a private forum with their full names included, informative as the posts are.
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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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colinmcc, I have starred out the surnames in the transcript.
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Thanks Ray Zorro, I was a bit surprised to see mine in there! Nick
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Ray Zorro, Thanks!
Since most of the folk in the thread are old friends of mine and two are professional ski journalists (have you ever heard of a journalist who doesn't like their name being spread about? , and as none of the other folk's posts contained anything negative, I didn't see any harm in copying it 'as is'.
But sorry, Nick and Cathy, I'll take more care next time!
Colin
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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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Diarmuid, Anyone who treats any avalanche device to give them a real sense of security is surely misguided - inexperienced (new) skiiers aren't likely to carry much at all in the early days so surely every little helps (emphasis being on equipment manufactures including such devices)
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| colinmcc wrote: |
I wrote the wikipedia entry on recco, which includes some detail on how it works, if you haven't seen it please look at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RECCO
If caught in an avalanche your first line of help is, without a doubt, that all your group should have transcievers and know how to use them but once a recco detector arrives on site it will find buried reflectors in a few minutes. The latest generation of Recco detectors does indeed include a detector for 457khz transceivers as well.
I'll try and dig out an article I wrote elsewhere, last season on past 'live' recco rescues, and will post it here.
Recco now give the receivers away for free (to responsible orgs) , Whistler Blackcomb for example have 5 spread around the hill. I understand that the same applies in Europe. |
'After years of having the stick on stickers I have lost mine and they doesn't seem to be stocked by most of the major ski shops anymore. Having seen your old posts I didn't know if you knew where they can be obtained now in the UK. Thanks'
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You know it makes sense.
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@chowchow,
I have recently had an emaill from snowsafe.co.uk offering them for sale. Only £22.
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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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Hi, I live in Canada and am not sure about the UK. But, RECCO have a facebook page at
https://www.facebook.com/ReccoAdvancedRescueTechnology/
If you message them there it should be a way to get a quick answer. I will ask them as well, I haven't seen the stick on aerials here for sale in along time.
Colin
Edit:Thanks, @musher! https://www.snowsafe.co.uk/product/recco-reflector/
Stockholm, Sweden – January 23, 2019 – According to Linus Buchs, in charge of the rescue operation and former Head of Rescue in Jaun, three skiers were skiing in a steep off-piste area on Monday last week when the avalanche occurred. A 22-year-old man got buried completely in a 50 meters wide and 250 meters long avalanche. The avalanche risk was 3 (considerable) out of 5 on the European Avalanche Danger Scale, and none of the skiers were equipped with a transceiver, shovel or probe. A witness called immediately for emergency assistance and a rescue team from REGA (Swiss Air-Rescue) came by helicopter with an avalanche dog and a RECCO detector.
“The avalanche dog marked a zone after 10 minutes, but the probing was unsuccessful. The rescue team immediately got a signal nearby with the RECCO detector and was able to pinpoint the victim. The position of the victim was confirmed with the probe and after 40 minutes of digging, the skier was found alive and conscious on a depth of 3.20 meters. He was rescued about 1 hour and 10 minutes after the burial and transported to the hospital. He is fine today,” says Buchs.
The skier was wearing an Arc’teryx jacket with an integrated RECCO rescue reflector."
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