Signal, Coarse, Fine - Run, Walk, Crawl

There has been a change in the Avalanche beacon search terminology. Not to long ago, when searching for a buried victim, you broke down the search grid into three sections. Primary search, secondary search and pin-point search. The newest terminology is Signal Search, Coarse Search and Fine Search. I like these terms because they come directly from probing techniques. Remember, coarse probe and fine probe?

So, to re-cap. You witness a partner being caught in an avalanche. Keep an eye on him (women don't get caught, they're too smart) to determin his last seen spot. Make sure scene is safe, turn your beacon to receive and enter the slide path to the last seen spot.

First seach for the signal. This is the Signal Search phase. It's in this phase you can run. Once you find the signal you will then enter the Coarse Search phase. During this phase you slow down to a walk and follow your beacons directional arrows to within three meters of the victim. At three meters you enter the Fine Search phase. At this point you should be crawling. You will also use more of a mini grid pattern search method and follow only distance readings from your beacon. What you're trying to find is the lowest distance number.

Once you find the lowest distance number this is where you want to begin probing.

We'll talk about strategic probing and stratigic shoveling in later post.

Remember, Signal, Coarse, Fine - Run, Walk, Crawl.

To learn more details about this technique go to the Backcountry Access website and look under their education section.

JF