Probe Length Question...

[dieselcruiserhead]

I just bought a new probe for my wife and its 265cm... My old one that I've never had to use, luckily, is a 185 (one of the BCA type that fits into a shovel handle...

Is 185 adequate? The length of her new probe has me re-thinking...

I get out quite a bit out of bounds or backcountry, pushing about 30 times a year so I think it's important...

Thanks, Andre

[DropCliffsNotBombs]

When it comes to probes, go long. I think that 185cm is just too short... so are any of the ski pole probes for that matter.

[Core Shot]

i just wish this question had been asked here before

[DropCliffsNotBombs]

i just wish this question had been asked here before

Keep in mind that those with less than 6,000 posts might not have seen every possible topic addressed already.
On the other hand... SEARCH JONG!

[Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer]

185 seems very short to me. That is 6 feet deep when completely maxed out. Even in a 3-4 foot burial, you would be on your knees or hunched way over to get the probe in deep enough to hit.

I have a 240 cm and think that is adequate, but would even go longer if there was a good deal. Around 250cm seems to be pretty popular.

[upallnight]

I just bought a new probe for my wife and its 265cm... My old one that I've never had to use, luckily, is a 185 (one of the BCA type that fits into a shovel handle...

Is 185 adequate? The length of her new probe has me re-thinking...

I get out quite a bit out of bounds or backcountry, pushing about 30 times a year so I think it's important...

Thanks, Andre

your gut is right to question the length of that (short) probe.

my recommendation is to get a probe of 300 cm. 300 cm translates to less than 10 feet. imagine a 6-foot burial and you're probing while hunched over but not laying on the ground -- you'd be using ~9 feet of that 9.8 feet length. you can figure out what can happen with a deeper burial.

terrain traps could easily produce a burial >6' deep without entraining all that much snow.

240 and 265 cm seem to be fairly common sizes offered -- particularly for some "weight saving" carbon probes. in my opinion, a probe is not a place to save weight. that extra few feet (and few ounces) can make the difference in saving a life.

of course, if you really are on the scene with a burial approaching 2m or more (and alone), you better be in good shape & dig efficiently. even doing a beacon search for deep burials may be tricky for those expecting their beacon to kick into 'grid search' mode for them (or to see a "0.3" on the display)...it can throw people off trying to do a fine search when the lowest number they'll ever see is ~2.0m. but that's another topic...

a question to ask oneself: would YOU want your touring partner to be carrying ________? (in this case, a probe = 185 cm / 6.1 feet)

When it comes to probes, go long. I think that 185cm is just too short... so are any of the ski pole probes for that matter.

i agree that a ski pole probe is not sufficient for a primary probe. however, they can be quite valuable as a backup. it's never bad to have redundant systems, and if one is carrying poles anyway, why not carry a set that can act as a probe (albeit a short one) in a pinch?

(they also often take longer than a dedicated probe to set up, too.)

[My Pet Powder Goat]

Kind of a personal question, 'dre.


6ft IS to short.

with that said, it's what i'm rocking too (it came with the BCA shovel)

[dieselcruiserhead]

What up Toby, sounds like we have the same setup...

Anywhoo, noted.. Pretty psyched to get up to Cardiff today if even just for the exercise, very very sketchy, basically pulled the plug and just came back down on the Alta side. Even so managed to still kick off a good 2' about 15' wide and 12-15' long or so that was luckily above a little 4' cliff so it didn't go anywhere... Luckily didn't get taken but 3 core shots and one edge pulled out. Bad news...

And time to get a new probe as well... There must be a reason BCA discontinued it...

[Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer]

240 and 265 cm seem to be fairly common sizes offered -- particularly for some "weight saving" carbon probes. in my opinion, a probe is not a place to save weight. that extra few feet (and few ounces) can make the difference in saving a life.

Agreed, if my original post above didn't catch the inflection. I have a 240cm Orthovox carbon and have actually felt that I think it is too short. Have been wanting to get a 300cm guide for the very reasons you note.

[nomensteven]

I never understood the "our snowpack reaches only 200cm so therefore I only need a 200cm probe" argument since, as upallnight pointed out, the debris can easily build up. I really love my 300CM guide probe from Black Diamond. It feels really solid.

[farmer]

Complete backcountry jong here, I've got a 320cm G3 probe. Its what they reccomended when I took my AST-1 course. hopefully I never need to use it, but if I do I want to be able to reach as far as possible, and as efficiently ie not on my knees probing. Our snowpack on the coast is often much more than that length anyways/

[Hugh Conway]

ythat extra few feet (and few ounces) can make the difference in saving a life.

of course, if you really are on the scene with a burial approaching 2m or more (and alone), you better be in good shape & dig efficiently.

Yes it can. Will it? Probably not.

Ton of other safety gear (that people don't perhaps think of as such) that people cut corners on to save a few oz/a few $/a little pack space.

[DropCliffsNotBombs]

I never understood the "our snowpack reaches only 200cm so therefore I only need a 200cm probe" argument since, as upallnight pointed out, the debris can easily build up.

Yeah, no kidding. I have seen debris piles that I estimate to be 70 ft.
Down here in the San Juans, we grow 'em big!

[_Aaron_]

Go 300cms or more.

[Red Peekay]

I carry a 3.2m probe..... recommended for industry use. Comes in handy when digging pits and having to measure snow pack depths etc. I agree with an earlier poster, if you can go longer do so, afterall if your going to use it in anger, then its someones life you are dealing with!