Geargals

All right, women’s gear even men can use! Just kidding, everyone can and should use an avalanche beacon when traveling and recreating in avalanche zones. Beacon, probe, shovel, the skills to use them and an equally-equipped partner are mandatory for avalanche terrain. Many people shy away from buying a beacon because of the hefty cost. Yes, beacons are pricey, but they can save your life or the life of your partner, so it’s a no-brainer. Us ladies are blessed with a certain je ne sais quoi that statistically makes us less likely to be caught in an avalanche, but it can happen, and it can happen to Other People too, so we’d better be able to help when we can. So, smart Geargals carry beacons and don’t go into the backcountry with people who don’t.

The DTS Tracker is the cheapest and therefore most accessible and most-used beacon (also called a transceiver by the coolest of the cool in the backcountry set), but cheapest doesn’t mean bad. I’ve heard it said that the Tracker is the beacon of choice for beginner users because it is almost entirely intuitive once it’s in search mode. The display indicates the approximate distance to the subject along the flux line (it’s going to be up to you to read and learn about flux lines and proper beacon use) and the five LED lights indicate which approximate direction the user needs to walk to get to the victim. Follow the lights until the numbers don’t get any smaller. Easy enough. It takes a little practice to become proficient, and proficient you must be when lives are on the line, so please don’t shirk your responsibility to get out there and learn the ins and outs of your beacon.

There are a few things about the Tracker that I don’t like. First, the LED lights are seriously bright. So bright that they pretty much blind the user if it’s dark outside. For this reason alone, I am switching to another beacon, but I practice beacon skills many times a week for search and rescue training, and it’s dark in Alaska a lot in the winter which means I end up using my beacon in the dark all the time. I get tired of walking around with a big white spot in my vision for an hour after a beacon drill. It would really be a bad situation to have to try to dig someone out of an avalanche while trying to recover one’s night vision, but most people will not be conducting a beacon search after dark.

The other issue is the harness. Does any manufacturer make a comfortable harness, especially for women? The answer is probably no, but that didn’t stop me from contacting DTS to discuss the possibility of designing a better harness for female users of the Tracker. DTS evidently wasn’t interested since they didn’t write back, so I feel very free to complain about the dreadful harness that comes with the Tracker. It goes over one shoulder and then attaches around the waist. It’s not so bad if that’s all you’re carrying and you have a shirt with a high neck, but if you either carry a lot of stuff (pack, radio harness, etc.) or have the great fortune to ski in weather good enough for T-shirts, you will suffer with the Tracker harness. And if you need to wear the Tracker, you also need your pack with your probe and shovel in it, RIGHT? Without a high-necked shirt, the abrasive nylon strab rubs my neck raw and more importantly, annoys the hell out of me. Because the harness is made for larger people (read: men), it doesn’t allow much room for other things like backpacks and other gear to be worn at the same time as the beacon. The beacon wants to sit right where your pack waist strap is supposed to go. With a radio harness and pack on in addition to the beacon, the beacon gets pushed down by all the other straps and starts dragging at my shoulder, which is seriously uncomfortable over a full day of skiing or training. My MO has been to remove the Tracker from its harness and drop it into the velcro pocket of my radio harness, which isn’t the safest option but that’s how I roll, y’all. It’s better than walking like Quasimodo at the end of the day. In any case, if you’re wearing the Tracker in its harness even under the most benign load-carrying conditions, the poor design of the harness makes it guaranteed to sag, shift, get in the way, and generally annoy you. If you’re really, really small, the harness probably won’t even adjust small enough to fit you even remotely decently. DTS has also kindly sewn a big ol’ label onto the shoulder strap that interferes with adjustment for smaller folk. I’ve even had other skiers look at the harness askance and comment that the harness doesn’t fit me very well. Yes, I know, thank you – now, DTS, how about doing something about it?

One more thing (soapbox alert!) for those of you tempted to find a good craigslist or eBay deal on a beacon – don’t. This is your life and the lives of your loved ones (or at least, people you like just enough to go to the backcountry with). Don’t risk a malfunctioning beacon. Lay down your hard earned cash for a new beacon, and always practice with it and test it every time you use it.