Where do you wear your transceiver?

[2FUNKY]

Chest harness, I don't like climbing with much hardware in my pants pockets due to thunder thigh syndrome.

This. Maybe I should do less squats, yeah fuck that. Hate anything in my pants pockets. Wear the harness over my base layer slung so the beacon rides more under my left pec muscle about 2 ribs down. Just takes two quick down zips of outer shell and insulation layer to access it. It may take me a millisecond longer to access it than a pant pocket carry but I have yet to see it.

[reckless toboggan]

Chest harness.

Peoples jackets and pants have been ripped off in avalanches. I'm not aware of a chest harness being ripped off in an avalanche (not one where the person survived anyway). I don't want to be digging for you, and risking other people's lives, only to find your pants.

Phone powered off in pants right leg cargo pocket.

[PNWbrit]

Peoples jackets and pants have been ripped off in avalanches. I'm not aware of a chest harness being ripped off in an avalanche (not one where the person survived anyway)..

Are there any pants torn off survivors?

[reckless toboggan]

Are there any pants torn off survivors?

Yup. Pants ripped to shreded on rocks and tree trunks (as far as we could tell, got sieved through a zone with blowdown) but buddy survived.

[bodywhomper]

Don’t people ski naked anymore?!

[Bruce Springskiin]

I don’t give a beacon harness exposed outside of a base layer any better odds of staying on than my pants in an avalanche. I am also often in the situation of a radio worn on my chest so the beacon goes in the pants.
I’ll just have to start attaching it to my climbing harness by two pieces of dyneema.


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[Foggy_Goggles]

Personal preference. Just make sure you develop good habits around use. I'm a chest harness guy to I were pants not bibs and can't remember skiing in a base layer only. That said, I think a lot of harnesses suck. The old F1s with the strap system connected to the on button were the best.

[Foggy_Goggles]

For example, with my DSP, I can't see the light that indicated "on/send" when the beacon is in the harness. This combined with the beacons reputation to slide to "search" inadvertently and the fact that I was a long time Tracker user bugs the shit outta me.

[Bunion 2020]

The old F1s with the strap system connected to the on button were the best.

Truth.

On 3-4 occasions I have been ready to start into hazardous terrain and found that I had forgotten to on switch. Where I work now there are beacon checkers you must pass before entering avy terrain. It is an ingrained habit to get a beep from them every time you walk past.

[PNWbrit]

Truth.

On 3-4 occasions I have been ready to start into hazardous terrain and found that I had forgotten to on switch. Where I work now there are beacon checkers you must pass before entering avy terrain. It is an ingrained habit to get a beep from them every time you walk past.

Truth x 2

It's so easy to get complacent about this.. and to forgo a group beacon test with a "you're beeing right?" I try and stick firmly to it being turned on whenever on my person (usually in pants) and not turning it off until I am absolutely not skiing again for the day.

Batteries are cheap.

[Gepeto]

...The old F1s with the strap system connected to the on button were the best.

those straps were weightless if you could keep them flat

Where I work now there are beacon checkers you must pass before entering avy terrain

saw my first checker ever for a lift load at your home hill

i pieps strap; straps aren't bad, but the bag is ridiculously over engineered - to much material - imo

Tried the leg thing - no likey - and i have trouble keeping my pants on

[Foggy_Goggles]

It's so easy to get complacent about this.. and to forgo a group beacon test with a "you're beeing right?"

Just be that guy. I'm that guy. If you don't like that guy, fuck you. Go ski touring with someone else. A true beacon check has huge safety benefits and is a great way to check everyone's attitude regarding group safety. This is hugely important in side country and informal group situations where people may have different protocols.

[PNWbrit]

This is hugely important in side country and informal group situations

^ Yep.

Just the different dynamic of that side country situation compared to "a ski tour" with the trail head organization, faffing around and the opportunity to do one as you start out skinning.

[Foggy_Goggles]

faffing...salopettes...crumpets

[TahoeJ]

We should probably all be better about trailhead beacon checks. Reminder for this season.

[PNWbrit]

salopettes...

Like finger nails down a blackboard.. I hate that word.

[Foggy_Goggles]

We should probably all be better about trailhead beacon checks. Reminder for this season.

Just make it non-negotiable. Be that guy. If you get flack, find new people to tour with. My advise...the first person goes a 100'ish up the skin track and turns his beacon to "search". The rest of the group proceeds by one at a time. Last guy checks first guy. Done.

[dunfree]

If you don't have a ski uniform a chest harness is an easier memory device. It's also slightly more protected, or at least if it takes a heavy hit, so do you. I also think skiing down a debris field searching an avalanche is easier from my chest harness than it would be from my thigh.

[TahoeJ]

Just make it non-negotiable. Be that guy. If you get flack, find new people to tour with. My advise...the first person goes a 100'ish up the skin track and turns his beacon to "search". The rest of the group proceeds by one at a time. Last guy checks first guy. Done.

I like that method. Not an issue with peeps I ski with, just habits.

[GeezerSteve]

the first person goes a 100'ish up the skin track and turns his beacon to "search". The rest of the group proceeds by one at a time. Last guy checks first guy.

we do that every mid-winter tour

[PNWbrit]

If you don't have a ski uniform a chest harness is an easier memory device. It's also slightly more protected, or at least if it takes a heavy hit, so do you. I also think skiing down a debris field searching an avalanche is easier from my chest harness than it would be from my thigh.

Thigh?

Front, waist, crotch pocket.. not a cargo or hip pocket.

I've not noticed any problem searching using that.

Actually the opposite..

Anyway.. The pros and cons of either are so minimal in the bigger decision making picture that it's not worth worrying about..

[dunfree]

Front, waist, crotch pocket.. not a cargo or hip pocket.

I've not noticed any problem searching using that.

searching a beacon field? or skiing down a shitty debris field? I'm stating my experience with the latter - where having something centered on the body near the face was nice - and other things and it's just an opinion.

I agree with your last line, I mostly think these arguments signalling for people who think they are cool for aping what pros do.

[goldenboy]

Pro Tip: Put a Koozy over the beacon if you keep it in your pants pocket so it doesn't wear a hole through the pocket.

Pants pocket: more secure when you're skinning in just a shirt (as is typical), more comfortable, easier access, one less thing and less weight. Can't imagine going back to a harness.

[summit]

Yup. Pants ripped to shreded on rocks and tree trunks (as far as we could tell, got sieved through a zone with blowdown) but buddy survived.

Buried?

[summit]

The theory that you’re easier to find and quicker to resuscitate if you’re wearing a chest harness isn’t based on any evidence that I’ve seen, and is intuitively of potentially only minor benefit in very specific situations (and may be detrimental in others).

Face harness or die!