Avalanche Shovels

Shovel Information

Having the correct shovel and shovelling technique is a crucial, yet often overlooked, part of avalanche rescue. After all, it is no good locating a victim very fast if it then takes you an hour to dig them out. A lot, of course, will depend on the type of snow in the avalanche as well as the depth of burial, but being armed with a strong shovel and being practised in using it is vital.

Statistics show that over 90% of victims buried in an avalanche will still be alive after 15 minutes. After this, however, the chances of survival plummet dramatically - after 45 minutes only around 25% are pulled out alive. Time really is crucial in an avalanche rescue and quite literally every second counts.

Avalanche debris can often set rock hard immediately after it comes to rest and the rapid deceleration involved when a slide stops will compress down the loose snow into a solid mass. This hard snow can make for very tough and tiring digging, especially if the victim is buried far beneath the surface. With a flimsy shovel you really will be struggling. The main dilemma when choosing a shovel is strength versus size and weight. You should carry your shovel every time you venture off the marked trails so obviously a light and compact one will be preferable. However, if you ever have to use it, you are really going to want it to perform.

The plastic Ortovox shovels - the Orange, the Economic and the Cougar, are among the lightest shovels available and their lexan blades are very tough.

However, if you don't mind a bit of extra weight, nothing quite matches a large, strong aluminium blade when it comes to digging. The Grizzly 2, Prof Aluminium II and Alaska D PB , all from Ortovox, are perfect for shifting large amounts of snow fast with their burly blades with long telescopic handles. The Transfer 3 and Transfer 7 by Black Diamond are also powerful aluminium shovels with telescopic handles.

For more of a compromise there are several great lightweight metal shovels on the market. The BCA Tour Shovel is in fact lighter than even the plastic models and comes with an integrated probe making the lightest and most compact shovel/probe setup you can find. Ortovox's Grizzly 1 is another compact and lightweight metal shovel. The Deploy 3 and Deploy 7 shovels by Black Diamond are great tools; lightweight, strong and compact and with a curved shaft for more efficient use.

Take a look at our comparison table to compare our extensive range of Ortovox, Black Diamond and BCA shovels

Shovelling Techniques:

Shovelling is commonly an area where a lot of time is wasted during an avalanche rescue. It is often overlooked in avalanche safety courses as well. Any avalanche rescue practise should involve not only transceiver use but also probe and shovel use as well.

Obviously the ease or difficulty or the shovelling faze will depend a lot on the hardness of the snow, the depth of the burial and how many people are digging. Extracting a victim by yourself under 2 metres of hard set snow is going to be very hard work for example. But a good shovel and a proper technique will go a long way to helping you - madly flailing at the snow is not an efficient approach.

There are two main techniques for shovelling. The cone technique involves digging straight down around the probe. This is a technique is ok for shallow burials but has some notable disadvantages especially on deeper burials. That is you are right above the victim so run the danger of trampling their airway and compressing down the snow around them increasing the risk of suffocation.

The more measured technique is terrace shovelling. This involves beginning your dig at a point one a half times the burial depth (your probe will indicate this to you) downhill from the probe. Although this technique involves removing more snow, means that you approach the victim from the side rather than above negating many of the problems of the cone technique. Also it is a much easier system for two people to dig in tandem and it is far easier to remove the snow from the hole.