In reply to Toreador:
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Sorry but, especially at this time there are going to be lots of people worried about avalanches and looking for information about them and some of the things that are being written here are going to give people a false impression of what avalanche safety is about. So, Toreador, I don't mean to pick on you but there are some points in your post I want to follow up on.
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> A transceiver is of little use unless everyone carries one. And 99.9% of walkers/climbers do not. They are also of limited use unless you're in an area with lots of other people; this is true of a few climbing areas, but head outside these and you're largely on your own. So they'd help in those cases where only part of a party was avalanched.
Sure - transceivers are no use if all of the party is buried. But if you're buried your absolute best chance of being dug out alive is someone in your own party finding you with a transceiver. This is well documented from hundreds of incidents. Yes - they help where only part of the party is avalanched which is why one of the safe travel techniques we practice in avalanche terrain is moving one at a time between islands of safety on exposed slopes. All this stuff is totally under your party's control - there's no need for anyone else in the area to be wearing a transceiver for it to make sense for a party to do so.
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> Personally I never carry a probe. A walking pole could be used if necessary, UK avalanches are rarely deeper than this (prepares to be proved wrong).
Try probing avalanche debris with a walking pole sometime. And it doesn't take a super deep avalanche to pile up in a terrain trap (gully, bench, boulder etc.) to give you some pretty deep debris.
Sorry again if any of that sounds a bit blunt and I'm conscious that there's going to be lots of sensitivity about this topic right now and I hope this discussion in parallel with the other thread isn't upsetting anyone. But please, people - there is a lot of very good information out there on avalanche safety. Please go and seek it out and make sure you're learning the right story.