Avalanche Safety Basics
Edit on GitHubThe fundamentals of avalanche safety for beacon users: the danger scale, the terrain, and how the beacon relates to a transceiver.
Avalanche Safety Basics
The beacon is not an avalanche transceiver, and confusing the two is dangerous. This page is the honest distinction, plus the avalanche basics every beacon user in the mountains should know.
The critical distinction
| Device | What it does |
|---|---|
| Avalanche transceiver | Transmits/receives on 457 kHz, buried-victim search standard |
| Aegis-Beacon | 433 MHz voice/Morse beacon for position signaling |
The beacon does NOT replace a transceiver for avalanche burial search, and a transceiver does not replace the beacon for position signaling. They are different tools for different emergencies.
The danger scale
The European avalanche danger scale runs 1 (low) to 5 (very high). The beacon does not change the danger: it changes the response if the worst happens. Terrain choice is still the primary safety tool:
- Slopes over 30 degrees with snow loading are the risk zones
- Recent snowfall, wind loading, and warming are the trigger factors
- The local avalanche bulletin (every Alpine country publishes one daily) is the field reference
If you are the rescuer
The avalanche rescue response is trained, not improvised: transceiver search, probe, shovel, in that order, with the clock running (see Avalanche Rescue Operation). The beacon’s role in that scenario: mark the team’s position and summon the wider rescue network while the on-scene rescue proceeds.
Related pages
- Avalanche Rescue Operation for the full procedure
- Winter Operations for the season
- Emergency Response Scenarios for the plan