 Poster: A snowHead
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I came across this whilst looking for up to date avalanche info:
http://www.cambridgeskisafety.com
Seems like a good idea to me for those of us not venturing off-piste: the transmitting part of an avalanche transceiver for the unlikely "on-piste" avalanche at a fraction of the cost of a normal transceiver.
I'm tempted for my family...
What do you think?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Iona Lerington, I will just point out one scenario. Your family have been buried in an on piste avalanche and you have to wait till the emergency services get there (or other equipped skiers). How helpless would you feel not being able to locate them more quickly?
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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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| geepee wrote: |
| Iona Lerington, I will just point out one scenario. Your family have been buried in an on piste avalanche and you have to wait till the emergency services get there (or other equipped skiers). How helpless would you feel not being able to locate them more quickly? |
Maybe useful for the kids who might not be able to conduct a search, but i have a transceiver myself so if they were caught i could search.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Well if everyone has these who is going to find you? If you are all carrying these how will the kids find you if you get buried or vice versa? Unless you happen to be close to someone with a proper transceiver they are no better than recco as body finders!
Last edited by You need to Login to know who's really who. on Tue 1-01-13 16:06; 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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| andy from embsay wrote: |
Maybe useful for the kids who might not be able to conduct a search, but i have a transceiver myself so if they were caught i could search. |
But if you were caught they couldn't find you. My 8 year old can handle a transceiver and has done successful searches in the back garden!
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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I had thought the same thing, but can't afford £150-200 for full transceivers for each family member. At £50 each for emitters I can equip the whole family for (what is lets face it an unlikely scenario) the price of one transceiver.
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And then rely on others who have shelled out to find you? Seriously the chances of something happening on piste are so small I don't think I'd bother with anything, but by on piste I do mean strictly on piste, not in the trees just to side or on that shortcut between runs. If you are venturing off piste then full kit and know how to use it! It isn't that expensive to rent in resort if you want to do the odd day of off piste but don't just rent and stick it in you rucsack, learn how to use the kit properly.
Last edited by Then you can post your own questions or snow reports... on Tue 1-01-13 16:11; edited 1 time in total
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Then of course there's the issue on lots of untrained people milling around with active transmitters while a few trained people with receivers are looking for buried peeps . . . not a good scenario for effective time use.
On-piste avalanches are very rare and if you're going to protect you and yours go the proper route and get fully trained too. When resorts install slopeside receivers and a linked system to monitor all skiers on the hill like tracking multiple phones with GPS then yes, this'll be a great idea . . . a bit big brother through.
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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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| Masque wrote: |
Then of course there's the issue on lots of untrained people milling around with active transmitters while a few trained people with receivers are looking for buried peeps . . . not a good scenario for effective time use.
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Good point. So actually these could make things more dangerous for everyone!
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| Quote: |
there's the issue on lots of untrained people milling around with active transmitters while a few trained people with receivers are looking for buried peeps
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That.
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On-piste avalanches are very rare
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And that.
Pointless gimmick designed to squeeze cash out of worried dimwits.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Iona Lerington, are you connected with the website selling the emitter?
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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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Iona Lerington,
Of little practical use, as the risk is so small. And of little practical use as above.
Waste of money.
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You know it makes sense.
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Blatantly mickey mouse website. No details regarding company history etc, no address, 0800 phone number. They also claim disabled athlete Anna Turney as an 'ambassador', but I see no mention of their dubious product on her website.
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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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Sow beacon? The ones who I had to open a PayPal dispute with as they didn't honour my order nor respond to any emails?
I only wanted one as a practice beacon, which is all they are good for IMHO
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Poster: A snowHead
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feef, If ever I find one in a less than half price sale I might buy one to hide in the garden and get the kids to practice finding but as far as I can see that'd be all they are good for!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Hmm, changing names almost as often as they change what they say it is for!
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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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Company No. 07858543, registered with Companies House at 112 Hills Road, Cambridge, on 23/11/2011, as Snow Beacon. Name changed on 21/11/2012.
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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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Waste of money. Equivalent to wearing a helmet every time you drive your car.
At least it's not being marketed as cheap off-piste safety.
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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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evski,
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At least it's not being marketed as cheap off-piste safety.
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I think in an earlier incarnation (and its been through several) it might have been.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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p.s. to back that up with some back of the envelope calculations, the mortality rate from on-piste skiing is estimated at about 1-2 per million days. Most of that is from collisions and my guess is a tiny number is from on-piste avalanches- maybe 10% at a push. So if you were to ski on-piste for 1 week per year (i.e. 6 days), a rough guess of the chance of dying in an avalanche is 6 x 1/5,000,000,000, or roughly 1 in a million. Much better to spend your money on a good quality helmet.
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| Iona Lerington wrote: |
| I had thought the same thing, but can't afford £150-200 for full transceivers for each family member. At £50 each for emitters I can equip the whole family for (what is lets face it an unlikely scenario) the price of one transceiver. |
Even this writing style brings on de ja vu.
If tomb didn't have a decent post count, I'd be all suspicious and internet detectivey. http://www.snowheads.com/ski-forum/viewtopic.php?t=94625
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| Lizzard wrote: |
| Blatantly mickey mouse website. No details regarding company history etc, no address, 0800 phone number. They also claim disabled athlete Anna Turney as an 'ambassador', but I see no mention of their dubious product on her website. |
Could always ask her: https://twitter.com/SkiRaceAnna
However, given how recently they changed her name, that quote certainly can't be true...
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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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Thanks for all your thoughts. Nope I'm not linked with the company i was just considering purchasing their product. Don't think I'll bother as what you guys have said about avalanches on piste being highly unlikely is true. I don't have any off-piste plans so won't lash the cash on a full transceiver either!
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Iona Lerington, Its a company and product and product that has a bit of form to say the least, think someone had a bright idea and produced a load of gadgets without thinking it through or doing much by way of serious research into its use. Now it appears, attracts the sort of reaction you've seen here then reappears with a slightly different name or with a slightly different (piste only, off piste, training aid) use and tries again.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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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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| Lizzard wrote: |
| Company No. 07858543, registered with Companies House at 112 Hills Road, Cambridge, on 23/11/2011, as Snow Beacon. Name changed on 21/11/2012. |
Shame they haven't put that on their website, as failing to do so is a breach of the business names act or something similar...
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You know it makes sense.
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Snowheads is already the second website that comes up when you google cambridgeskisafety.com and I'm just making ensuring that anyone searching for cambridge ski safety's products find their way to this page pretty quickly
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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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rambotion, I wonder if the original thread about the company when it was Snow-be is the reason for the name change?
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Poster: A snowHead
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Megamum, Well they have been slated all over the skiing related internet and were basically just ignoring awkward questions at which ever ski show it was I saw them at.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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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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Transmit-only avalanche radio beacons are called "Doggie Beacons" - You attach one to your dog. So you can locate it if it gets buried in a snowdrift.
That's the extent of their usefulness (IMHO).
I suppose in a scenario where an infant skis off the side of the piste down into a snowbank and gets buried, a doggie beacon for the child could be of use there.
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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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SkiPresto, It could be argued that the average dog has more going on between its ears than some boarders I'm thinking of . . .
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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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Except the very last thing you want after an avalanche has taken your mate is a dog running round with a transmitter on!
Same applies to kids IMHO.
At £66.45 including harness, it's not really a cheap device. Much better to get a simple, cheap transceiver and learn how to use it.
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Iona Lerington, do not support this cowboy and his products. His product stinks because it's either trading on scaremongering for paranoid parents or is a cheapskate alternative to a real beacon. People will die relying on this product.
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| fatbob wrote: |
| People will die relying on this product. |
More importantly, people may die as a result of other skiers using the product. I don't care how they market it, if this product does sell then users could potentially interfere with search and rescue from other users with real transceivers.
Mr Robson: please cut your loses and try a new (responsible) business venture.
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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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| Quote: |
More importantly, people may die as a result of other skiers using the product. I don't care how they market it, if this product does sell then users could potentially interfere with search and rescue from other users with real transceivers.
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^This.
the product is crap, the company is irresponsible, and anyone who buys this crap to use on the slopes is a dick head.
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Yep, Pieps freeride can be had for same price and it does search and has a harness. Its not crap as a beacon either. I own 2 of them to loan to mates and its dead easy to teach them to use and it works fine (in fact a lot better than my old F1 or M2). I'm happy to have folks in my group carry one. 10 mins of practice and they will find me as easily as someone with a Tracker
Its only slight negative is its range <30m compared to some and it doesnt deal with spikes. But as a find where to start probing guide its excellent value and easy to use and doesnt deserve the negative comments many who havn't used it give it
Its also lovely and small so easy to carry even for on piste days
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FAQ
