ditto jefe009

this post in kinda weird – i only ride with partners i trust (part of that trust is knowing they have adequate gear and know how to use it).

Years ago I totally got called out for riding with a cheap shovel, one of those Lifelink lexan things. I bought it partly due to their claim that the blade wouldn’t break. It didn’t occur to me that it wouldn’t chop through icy avy chunks, either. Needless to say, I purchased a beefier shovel. The same case can be made for beacons. Would you rather your partner ride with something all tricked out and complicated with a shorter range, or something simple that works at greater distances? As mentioned above, choose partners wisely, hopefully ones with quality gear and the mountain sense to keep out of situations where that gear is needed.

@shredgnar wrote:

What shovel do you guys use?

Voile Telepro D-Handle: http://www.voile.com/voile-avalanche-shovels/voile-telepro-t6-avalanche-shovel.html

Very burly, came highly recommended by a lot of avalanche professionals (patrollers, avy center folks) I know.

Winter or multi-day trips = older Voile T6 w/snow saw

Spring daytrips = Ortovox Grizzly 1

Ortovox Kodiak. Very solid and has a ho option for when things get lonely. I also carry an ortovox probe w/ steel cable. I don’t mind the extra weight of either of these items considering their purpose.

@HBob wrote:

Why isnt it common practice to give your shovel to whoever you are riding with?

I understand where you are coming from and it makes sense to an extent. It still doesn’t change the incentive structures; unlike mandatory auto insurance which covers the other guy, swapping shovels does not reduce moral hazard. In addition to the “it’s my shovel. Get your own” factor. . .
I ride with mittens and can’t use T-gripped shovels well.
I don’t know how to put your shovel together as well as mine.
Not all blades fit in all packs.
Why should I carry 96avs01’s saw?

Other factors go into purchasing a shovel too. They’re used for more than digging out your friends: snow stability tests, platform for a stove, building kickers, holding snow saws, etc.

I happen to like trailhead ritual shaming of the party member without a proper shovel. “Dude. You’d leave me there buried to die? You used to be cool.” As we all turn our backs to him in disgrace.

This is, of course, all in good fun to emphasize the importance of having the right tools and attitude to save a life…and to pressure the bloke to get a frakking shovel.
But seriously, we make him carry the heaviest shovel among us. Fortunately, I keep an E-tool in the back of my car for emergencies (and just this situation 😆 )

@shredgnar wrote:

What shovel do you guys use?

G3’s AviTECH w/D-grip. It’s burley and the handle has a waterproof stash compartment. :doobie: (but I’m not cool and use it to hold nuts and bolts to turn my board into an emergency sled.

My slacker pack has an old Ortovox lexan bladed shovel and an a 230cm probe but I’m never out of sight of the ski area with that kit. My reason for the plastic blade is that it hurts less when I fall. 😀 I have been digging in the snow for over 20 years and have yet to break a lexan shovel but it’s always been in wet maritime snow. Every aluminum bladed shovel that I’ve ever spent much time digging with has been bent and flattened out.

My touring pack has a 300cm heavy duty probe and an aluminum shovel mostly because I can set my stove on the shovel blade and it won’t melt into the snow when I’m using it. I don’t build too many kickers any more so that blade is only used for digging pits and leveling tent sites. I haven’t flattened it yet but might pick up either a Brooks Range shovel with the shark teeth or something that has a hoe option with a metal blade.

Knowledge and practice is more important than shiny tools and fitness is more important than hardness of boots.

As I understand it, there’s a place for both shovels in an emergency. Teams work best when they have both and exploit each shovel’s comparative advantage.
While both shovels can do all jobs, large scoopers (and serrated blades) break more debris faster while smaller blades paddle it along, out of the way faster.
In the “V” of strategic shoveling, the large shovel is “on point” while the smaller blades are on the wings.
Now an argument can be made that smaller blades focus your swing energy onto a smaller edge, thereby breaking hard snow better. I don’t really know.

If all things were equal, I’d rather travel in a crew with an assortment of shovels than all big or all small.

@ieism wrote:

But most important of all is to practice this in real packed snow. Stick a probe 150cm deep and try to dig it out as fast as you can.

Practice each time you dig a pit.