ASC Safety Equipment Usage & Risk Management 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: When searching for a buried victim with an avalanche transceiver in search mode, what is the correct initial action after switching to receive?
- Immediately dig where the signal is strongest
- Move quickly across the debris field in a systematic grid pattern to acquire a signal (Correct answer)
- Call out to the victim to help locate them
- Deploy your probe before turning on search mode
Correct answer: Move quickly across the debris field in a systematic grid pattern to acquire a signal
The first step in a transceiver search is to move rapidly across the debris in a strategic pattern to acquire the signal, then follow signal strength to narrow the location.
Question 2: Which airbag backpack deployment trigger type allows the user to activate the bag with either hand?
- Fixed handle trigger
- Ambidextrous pull handle (Correct answer)
- Foot-activated trigger
- Remote Bluetooth trigger
Correct answer: Ambidextrous pull handle
Ambidextrous pull handles allow the rider to deploy the airbag with either the right or left hand, improving usability in chaotic avalanche conditions.
Question 3: What is the recommended minimum probe length for avalanche rescue according to most North American safety guidelines?
- 1.5 meters (5 feet)
- 2.4 meters (8 feet) (Correct answer)
- 3.0 meters (10 feet)
- 4.0 meters (13 feet)
Correct answer: 2.4 meters (8 feet)
Most North American guidelines recommend a minimum probe length of 240 cm (about 8 feet) to reach victims buried at typical depths.
Question 4: During an avalanche airbag deployment, the inflated bag is designed to keep the wearer near the surface through which principle?
- Hydraulic buoyancy in compacted snow
- Inverse segregation, where larger objects rise during granular flow (Correct answer)
- Reduced drag coefficient against the snowpack
- Magnetic repulsion from dense snowpack particles
Correct answer: Inverse segregation, where larger objects rise during granular flow
Avalanche airbags exploit inverse segregation (the 'Brazil nut effect'), causing larger objects to migrate toward the surface during the turbulent granular flow of an avalanche.
Question 5: What is the primary risk of relying solely on a helmet for avalanche safety?
- Helmets add too much weight during ski runs
- A helmet protects against trauma but does not help survival from burial or asphyxiation (Correct answer)
- Helmets reduce transceiver signal strength
- Helmets are not certified for backcountry use
Correct answer: A helmet protects against trauma but does not help survival from burial or asphyxiation
While helmets reduce head trauma risk, they do not address the primary avalanche mortality cause—asphyxiation from burial—making a transceiver, probe, and shovel essential.
Question 6: When performing a fine search with a transceiver, what technique is used to pinpoint the burial location?
- Perform a wide grid sweep at full running speed
- Use a cross-pattern bracket search to find the signal minimum, then mark the point (Correct answer)
- Dig a 2-meter-wide trench across the debris field
- Switch the transceiver to transmit mode to communicate with the victim
Correct answer: Use a cross-pattern bracket search to find the signal minimum, then mark the point
The bracketing cross technique—moving the transceiver along perpendicular lines to find the signal minimum—pinpoints the burial location before probing.
Question 7: What does a red LED or alarm on a modern avalanche transceiver most commonly indicate during group travel?
- Low battery requiring immediate replacement
- Another group member's transceiver is in receive mode instead of transmit (Correct answer)
- The device has detected an incoming avalanche
- GPS lock has been lost
Correct answer: Another group member's transceiver is in receive mode instead of transmit
Many modern transceivers alert the user when they detect a nearby transceiver in search/receive mode, signaling that a group member may have forgotten to switch to transmit.
ASC Safety Equipment Usage & Risk Management 2
When searching for a buried victim with an avalanche transceiver in search mode, what is the correct initial action after switching to receive?