 Poster: A snowHead
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... has a piece on page 34 of the travel supplement talking about avalanche tranceivers. I'm still laughing. Apparently, they are the latest digital safety gadgets! Dead simple, all you have to do is wear one and you can easily find the victims, dig them out (and, presumably, all go off for a warming hot toddy none the worse for your experience). No mention of avalanche awareness or where to get the training (or how vital that is) but there is an online game where you can practice!?!?! It's a worry - over 3 million copies of MoS sold.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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good god!!
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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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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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It's to be expected though. It'll all come back to advertising. As long as the product gets the exposure the manufacturer requires that's all that matter. It's up to the end user to do the research into actually getting out of the potentially fatal situation!
It pisses me off..... 
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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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Bode Swiller, ... I haven't seen the article, but that is a serious worry and these attitudes more prevelent than you might imagine. Last February I had to dig out a British schoolboy boarder, off-piste from an avalanche in La Plagne - fortunately alive. To be honest I was shocked at how he had come to be there. That youngster did not have a clue about where he was, or the danger. Absolutely no safety equipment. The avalanche risk was 4, but he knew nothing of the warning system, or what it meant. Apparently nobody told him anything. They just hired kit and away. His 'mates' had left him behind about 20 minutes previously as he was the slowest member of the group. He was trying to get back to the piste when he triggered a slide. Within a few hours a British man died in a similar slide, off-piste and no more than 500 metres away. His body was recovered the following day.
If you can let me have more details on the supplement - mainly the author of the article and the editor of the paper, then I shall write them a few lines, hopefully to encourage them into writing a sensible postscript or a further article.
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It is a scary thought, but Specialman is absolutely right. As long as the product gets the exposure then they aren't really bothered.
Wow, I know! I'll wear a clever digital gadget the size of a mobile phone and NEVER get caught in an avalanche. Even if I do, its ok because i'll be fine!
Have they never heard of RECCO?
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| Specialman wrote: |
It's to be expected though. It'll all come back to advertising. As long as the product gets the exposure the manufacturer requires that's all that matter. It's up to the end user to do the research into actually getting out of the potentially fatal situation!
It pisses me off..... |
To be fair I think transceiver manufacturers and their distributors are probably among the more responsible companies in this respect. I see plenty of sponsorship of safety/information events and great initatives like "beacon basins" for practice. Last year the UK BCA rep was very helpful in turning up at short notice to demonstrate transceiver seaches and provide demo units to a bunch of snowheads. Now obviously it was good PR for his product but still very much appreciated by those who were there.
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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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Typical Mail frankly - no research, no checking of information just partial information and this is a non political story, add bias and a whole load of nasty axes to grind to that mix and you have a picture of the standard of their political reporting.
All in all a nasty little rag that's by far the worse in the UK IMHO and I wouldn't believe a word they print without reliable corroboration!
Unfortunately the majority of their readers think it's a reliable source of information though... poor deluded souls!
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Haven't read the article but anything that brings about awareness is a good thing. If the article gives the impression that this is a magic fix, then I cannot see the manutacturers wanting that.
BC told us that story last year and the shocking thing about it more than anything, is the fact that the snowboarder was completely oblivious to the dangers. 
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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BernardC, It was attributed to a Simon Heptinstall. I can't find the piece on the Mail's travel site unfortunately. P34 of Travel on Sunday supplement. Travel Ed is Frank Barrett.
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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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| Quote: |
anything that brings about awareness is a good thing
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not if it makes it seem Ok to be caught in an avalanche because you're magically protected by a small box of tricks. The theme seems to be... buy one, stick it in your pocket, ski anywhere you like.
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| Quote: |
All in all a nasty little rag
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Certainly is, and presumably its readers like it because it confirms everything they believed in the first place, including the belief that most problems are solved by shopping. They've discovered that if you have a SatNav you need no navigation skills, that if you can pay a surgeon to suck off a few kilos of fat you have no need of stomach muscles or willpower, etc. It follows naturally enough that another gizmo means you need no mountain skills.
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You know it makes sense.
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pam w, at this stage I'd like to announce to the world that I swiped it from a cafe... I didn't go out and buy it.
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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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Bode Swiller, that's what they all say. At one stage we used to go for Sunday lunch to Nardini's, on the Ayrshire coast, where you could read the Sunday Papers while you waited for the roast to arrive. I remember my 11 year old buried in the News of the World, saying "Mum, this is much better than those papers you buy..."
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Poster: A snowHead
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Bode Swiller,
good selective editing of my post.. 
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| JT wrote: |
Bode Swiller,
good ... editing of my post.. |
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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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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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boredsurfin, alright, alright, I have it delivered along with The People.
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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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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Have you seen today's Mail?
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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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| parlor wrote: |
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The way I look at it, it's very Darwinian. Whether you're wearing a beeper or not.
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Agree with that, it's like kids seatbelts, Motorcycle and (dare I say it?) Ski helmets. folk who make contra survival decisions gradually remove themselves and their offspring from the gene pool. As Larry Niven said " think of it as evolution in action".
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Maybe the Mail readers will strap on their beacons for "one of Europe's most dangerous off-piste runs"
Into the Valley of Death
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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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davidof, hmmm - quality journalism...
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| AxsMan wrote: |
| Agree with that, it's like kids seatbelts, Motorcycle and (dare I say it?) Ski helmets. folk who make contra survival decisions gradually remove themselves and their offspring from the gene pool. As Larry Niven said " think of it as evolution in action". |
Does that mean there'd be less Mail readers? 
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You know it makes sense.
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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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davidof, "Only a few skiers attempt the Vallée Blanche" - ah, that'll be why you need to book your uplift slot then. Nothing like a bit of background research is there? ladies' front bottoms.
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