Etna Summit fatality 2/3/21

[Meadow Skipper]

Mt. Shasta avy center report.
https://www.shastaavalanche.org/aval...-fatality#/all

One take-away:

The survivor was swept through the trees and partially buried a distance down the slope. He immediately grabbed his avalanche beacon to prepare to search, but it malfunctioned. ...

After discussion with the victim's partner, he stated that they performed a beacon check in the parking lot before they began their tour. Both beacons were functioning and had good battery life. Further investigation found a corroded battery compartment in the beacon which likely led to the malfunction.

It might not have made a difference in the final outcome, but there’s a lesson here about closely checking your gear, specifically beacon batteries.

[FringeLife]

Condolences to the friends, families, and first responders. Some heavy days this week.

I've had more than one beacon's battery terminals start corroding. My wife and I have become vigilant about regularly opening up the battery compartment and letting it dry overnight and definitely during the off-season. Same with shovels and probes. Seen probe cables snap while assembling and shovel extension buttons break. Luckily only when doing snowpits. I do perform frequent snowpits though. But that is not the problem.

[~mikey b]

I was on a tour recently with a person with an old Tracker. I wanted to loan her a newer beacon but didn't. Did a beacon check at the trailhead and it seemed fine. Later in the day, I heard her beacon going through it's initial cycle several times. Turned out to be an old unit with a bad battery door.

[Boissal]

Another gut punch from this season. So sad.

A few years ago I was standing on top of a BCC line with a couple of buddies. We had done a beacon check at the TH and all 3 of the Pieps DSP worked fine with battery > 90%. I hadn't skied much with one of the 2 guys (brother of a good friend) and he had made a couple of oddly beaterish moves on the up, making me a bit nervous. I pulled my beacon and scanned around just for peace of mind. Only got 1 signal back. Weird. One of the DSPs had turned off and refused to turn back on. Uh-oh. We opened it and checked the battery compartment, no corrosion. Even weirder.
The 2 of us with fully functional beacons donated a battery to the cause to see if it helped. Sure enough the dead beacon turned back on, battery at 99%, then we watched it drop fast and settle at 55%. The other 2 beacons were still above 90%. We shook the faulty beacon hard, swung it at high speed in its harness, hit it a bunch of times, and basically abused it to make sure it wasn't turning off at the first sign of movement. It stayed on with no further drop in battery level. We high tailed it out of there before it changed its mind.
When we got to the car I took all the batteries out and pocketed them, no way I was trusting the 2 out of 3 that were good...

My very first beacon (Tracker 2) stopped working due to a corroded terminal. I still use it as a test unit but it's also convinced me to open my battery compartment after every tour to let things dry in there.

[Benneke10]

Very sad news. I used to live in Etna before I started skiing, that line is a very popular shuttle-assisted spot. Its far from any forecasting and very accessible.

[Dantheman]

I used to live in Etna

Now there's something you don't hear every day.

Condolences to all involved in this incident. Lot's of death this week

[Meadow Skipper]

I used to live in Etna

Now there's something you don't hear every day.

No shit. Kind of off the beaten path. I used to spend some time in that country, but I didn’t know about that bc shot.

[evasive_MT]

No shit. Kind of off the beaten path. I used to spend some time in that country, but I didn’t know about that bc shot.

Yeah, Etna is tiny. It’s not a place I expected to see an avy report from. I did my MS fieldwork in the Callahan area, and went to Etna for dinner weekly (at Sengthong’s before they moved to Redding). I’d always drive up to that ridge to watch the sunset and drink a beer.

[mackmgg]

Another gut punch from this season. So sad.
The 2 of us with fully functional beacons donated a battery to the cause to see if it helped. Sure enough the dead beacon turned back on, battery at 99%, then we watched it drop fast and settle at 55%. The other 2 beacons were still above 90%. We shook the faulty beacon hard, swung it at high speed in its harness, hit it a bunch of times, and basically abused it to make sure it wasn't turning off at the first sign of movement. It stayed on with no further drop in battery level. We high tailed it out of there before it changed its mind.

That’s a good point that I assume most people (myself included) don’t consider. Even a mostly dead battery will show full voltage after it’s been off for a while, but then quickly go back down to where it really is. Looking at battery percentage only immediately after turning on a beacon is pretty much useless.

[MakersTeleMark]

That’s a good point that I assume most people (myself included) don’t consider. Even a mostly dead battery will show full voltage after it’s been off for a while, but then quickly go back down to where it really is. Looking at battery percentage only immediately after turning on a beacon is pretty much useless.

There are ways to load test a battery, but if you are at the bar and you are turning off and see your percentage below 60%, throw them away. Batteries are cheap, less than a craft draft. A long time ago I was an idiot and would push it down to way lower, but I was cheap, and still am idiot, but not with batteries. I also always always carry a few extra in my oh shit kit for the field, for my headlamp and my transceiver.

[MagnificentUnicorn]

I usually follow manufacturer’s recommendations when to replace batteries.


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[ill-advised strategy]

Is there a reason they don’t go to a cellphone kinda sealed/embedded, plug-in-rechargeable type setup?

Apologies (and please disregard) if this is a dumb question or it’s already been beaten to death in other threads or something...

Edit: I guess you run out of charge in the field and it’s easier to resupply with throwaways than to recharge in the field?

[davjr96]

Is there a reason they don’t go to a cellphone kinda sealed/embedded, plug-in-rechargeable type setup?

Apologies (and please disregard) if this is a dumb question or it’s already been beaten to death in other threads or something...

Edit: I guess you run out of charge in the field and it’s easier to resupply with throwaways than to recharge in the field?

It's harder to replace rechargeable batteries in the field as you mention. More importantly, rechargeable batteries are less reliable in the cold. If you ski the North East you'll sometimes have experiences where your phone shuts off on the lift and then comes back with 100% battery in the lodge. Tesla's have range issues in the cold. Technology just isn't there yet.

[powdork]

I don't know what the other brands do, but I really like the Tracker3's feature of a different opening and shutdown noise when the batteries reach 50%

[mackmgg]

Is there a reason they don’t go to a cellphone kinda sealed/embedded, plug-in-rechargeable type setup?

It looks like Mammut just announced one with that, releasing for next winter. Yeah you can’t just resupply with throwaways in the field, but I know I always have a little USB battery pack to recharge a cell phone/inReach just in case, so that can be used for the beacon as well.

As far as rechargeable lithium batteries failing in the cold, that’s somewhat true, but alkaline actually perform worse. NiMH or lithium AAs (the non-rechargeable kind) will outperform both by far, but most beacons don’t allow you to use those anyway.

[MakersTeleMark]

It looks like Mammut just announced one with that, releasing for next winter. Yeah you can’t just resupply with throwaways in the field, but I know I always have a little USB battery pack to recharge a cell phone/inReach just in case, so that can be used for the beacon as well.

As far as rechargeable lithium batteries failing in the cold, that’s somewhat true, but alkaline actually perform worse. NiMH or lithium AAs (the non-rechargeable kind) will outperform both by far, but most beacons don’t allow you to use those anyway.

They work just fine with those "better" batteries, it's the drainage curve that is the problem.

[Briangle]

One take-away:

It might not have made a difference in the final outcome, but there’s a lesson here about closely checking your gear, specifically beacon batteries.

Had to clean out a corroded battery from my Barryvox at the beginning of this season; definitely going to stop storing w/ batteries installed during the offseason.

Looking at the slope-angle maps, it seems to be a decently steep slope (35-45 degrees on Caltopo). Does anyone have a good rule of thumb when it comes to analyzing risks of wind-loaded slopes like this?

[XXX-er]

depending on how much you BC ski batteries should last a season, so new batteries beginning of season, take them out at the end and put in the tv remote

batteries are a pretty cheap item to cheap out on