The New Generation of Avalanche Rescue Kit (And Why It Matters)
As a skier, if you venture off-piste, even “just a little way”, then avalanche safety is a necessity, not a nice to have, and definitely not something you worry about further down the line when you get a bit more experience.
It’s a given.
Transceiver, probe, shovel: every time, all the time. Not because you anticipate a problem, but because when a problem does occur, you don’t get a second chance. In a rescue situation, minutes count, and between a close call and tragedy, seconds count.
That’s why Pieps is important.
Pieps has long been a major player in providing safety equipment for ski touring, freeriding, and other mountain sports, and this is because their equipment is built for the mountains, for cold hands, for stress, for bad visibility, and for a fast-paced situation in which no one is functioning anywhere close to optimally.
For this season, Pieps is really going all in on a simple concept: making rescue equipment more effective in a modern world in which skiers are skiing in a different way.
The new PIEPS MINI IPS transceiver
First off, the big news is the PIEPS MINI IPS transceiver, which is priced at £280.
It’s a small, lightweight transceiver, designed for a serious skier who wants a serious safety device but doesn’t want to have to compromise on weight, whether you’re a dedicated ski tourer, a skier who likes to venture off-piste a little, or a beginner putting together your first serious avalanche safety kit.
The key change is the IPS, which is an abbreviation for Interference Protection System.
This is not a gimmick. It is a response to the changes in the way that avalanche rescue is carried out.
Skiing today is a complex environment for interference. Phones, radio, heated clothing systems, cameras, smart watches, Bluetooth connectivity, ski boot electronics, and a lot of metal – bindings, buckles, zips, tools, etc. – all contribute to noise in the environment that the transceiver is trying to function in.
The key change is that the IPS is a system to protect the quality of the beacon signal even in the presence of interference. Pieps still recommends that you observe the distances between your transceiver and your electronics, but the IPS is a further step towards a transceiver that will function as it should, even in the messy reality of a mountain day.
The iPROBE BT+: faster confirmation when seconds count
The probe is the simple part of the avalanche rescue kit. Or is it? In the reality of a rescue, the probe is where the seconds are won or lost.
Pieps offers the iPROBE BT+, which is a digital probe that will cost £140. The key change is that the iPROBE is a tool to make the final stage of a rescue – the stage where you are almost there but still need to be absolutely sure – faster.
Where the iPROBE BT+ does not rely solely on the user’s sense of feel to confirm a hit, but rather has both acoustic and visual confirmations of a hit when the probe actually touches something. This might not seem like a big improvement, but in the midst of a real search with adrenaline pumping and hands shaking, it can make a big difference.
The new electronics also boast a far higher processing capability than the old ones and come with a highlighted 150cm marker to aid in judging the depth of the burial.
The information about the depth of the burial is important because it immediately influences the shovel technique. It lets you know whether you’re in for a quick dig, or a long and arduous excavation that requires skill and teamwork.
The PIEPS Shovel T: the shovel that does the hardest work
If there’s one unpleasant truth about avalanche rescue, it’s the following: the shovel is the most important piece of equipment in the rescue.
Most of the time spent in a companion rescue is spent digging, not searching.
The PIEPS Shovel T, which is now priced at £65, is a shovel for ski touring and high-mountain sports. It boasts a T handle, a large blade, and a built-in saw. This is a shovel built for efficiency. This is because in the case of an avalanche, the snow doesn’t act like normal snow. It acts like concrete.
The shovel needs to be strong enough to tackle that kind of stuff without bending, breaking, or wearing you out before you even reach the point where it’s needed.
The MINI IPS Ultimate Set: the cleanest way to build a full kit
For those skiers out there who want to build a full avalanche equipment kit in one go, the PIEPS transceiver, the iPROBE BT+, and the Shovel T can be had in the MINI IPS Ultimate Set.
Why this new generation of kit matters
It’s easy to think of avalanche kit as something that’s bought, and then forgotten. It’s a transceiver, it’s a probe, it’s a shovel. They’re not exactly the most glamorous bits of gear to carry, after all.
But the world’s changed. We carry more electronics than ever, and we’re increasingly venturing into uncontrolled environments with freeride gear, touring gear, and gear that was never designed to function in the same way that avalanche rescue systems were originally designed to function, in the absence of any electrical interference at all.
So the work that’s gone into the development of the IPS, and other features like it, isn’t just technical. It’s practical. It’s about making sure that the gear we carry works, even in the real world, not the ideal world that we wish it were possible to operate in.
One last thing, and it’s important
Avalanche rescue kits are essential, of course, but they’re not there to save you. They’re there to rescue you. They’re the last step, not the first. They’re the thing that gets used after absolutely everything else has gone wrong, and there’s still one thing left to do, and that’s to dig yourself out of the snow, or to search for your buried partner, or to call for help, or to do all of those things at once.
The only thing that really can save you is your head, and your education, and your experience, and your ability to understand the people you’re skiing with, and the snow that you’re skiing through. But if you do want to venture into the backcountry, and you do want to do it responsibly, then this is the sort of kit that you need to carry. Not because it will save you, because it won’t, but because it will give you the very, very best chance of surviving the one thing that you can’t afford to be without, and that’s time.
For more information, visit pieps.com.