Avalanche Cord — String of Life or Placebo of Sad Demise?

And to think they used these around helicopters in the early days! There are also several historical accounts of climbing teams being caught in avalanches and the climbing rope was followed to locate buried people. I wonder if that simply led to the “invention” of the cord…

Ah…the old avalanche cord that for most of us was a tangled ball of cord we kept wadded up in a pocket. It didn’t work as a rescue tool, but it was effective as a mental cue. It made us think avalanche, and since it was such a hassle to use, it was easier to decide to stick to the less steep slopes rather than messing with the cord.

For interested folks I have a history of the avalanche cord (in Colorado cords were first mentioned in 1908) in The Avalanche Review, v27, no 3 p 26. Here’s the link: <>

About live rescues because of an avalanche cord. In the US there has been only one.

On Christmas Day, 1969, a Breckenridge ski patroller out inspecting a fracture line (4-7 ft deep by a half mile across) from an explosive release earlier in the morning was caught and completely buried when the slope released a second time. He was saved when a companion spotted a bit of his orange cord on the surface of the debris.

If you’re wondering how common is a second release after an explosive release, well, it’s rare but it happens. That day 5 patrollers and Forest Service staff went out to inspect the avalanche. At the fracture line they found the avalanche ran on top of a 3-foot hard slab still perched on thick layer (15-30 inches) of depth hoar. While checking out the fracture line and the slab and depth hoar still underfoot, the slope collapsed with “a sharp sound, like a clap of thunder.” The second avalanche released 200 feet above the earlier avalanche and swept down four of the crew. It buried one whose cord was found. Two others were partly buried. That time the cord worked as intended, but such a result was the exception.

I still, fondly, recall the idea that one of the brilliant academics who were active in the Varsity Outdoor Club had. Get some helium filled weather balloons from Geography and tie a balloon to the loose end of the avalanche cord. Given the right atmospheric conditions…

Just the image of a …party…of ragged skiiers, as many were in those days, sliding along on our Vinersa skins, riding an inch or two of snow built up under the skins, dragging vertical cords (umbilica) ,sic, has entertained me during a few slogs.

I’d be interested in other trips into nostalgia as we enter the beautiful
autumn months.

Related-I remember watching on tv Jean Claude Killy with others skiing with helium balloons floating behind them and the voice over saying it was to help find them in case of avalanche.

I have yet to find a case, although I have not searched that hard, of someone dying when using an avalanche cord. In discussions I’ve had with a lot of old timers (Older than Lou even) no one could remember a case. However, at those ages, memories could be bad.

So I think the question is not, did the avalanche cord save anyone, but rather has anyone died in an avalanche using avalanche cord?

Dale can you email the link and I’ll re-post it for you.

By the way, how come you don’t accept pillow case for the anti-spam quiz……?

The 40 yard range of a beacon is pitifully small in a big mountain environment. Last seen evidence is critical. What if we carried confetti or an orange day glo paint bomb that streamed color out and expanded the last seen chances.

An interesting look back at a rudimentary technology. Snowy Torrents I documents an avalanche on Cardiac Pass (near Alta, UT) on Dec. 14, 1969 in which the 5 skiers were using “special ski poles supplied by the International Vanni Eigenmann Foundation”. The unique feature of these poles was an avalanche cord coiled inside the pole handle. The one skier caught by the slide (fortunately not buried) had deployed his avalanche cord before the slide, but the cord was completely buried–along with his skis and poles. Another case in which the avalanche cord was totally ineffective. Transceivers certainly eliminated the hassle of the trailing cord tangling around and snagging trees–which the “special” poles were designed to prevent. Unfortunately, the cord (even when deployed) was completely buried in this case.

@Jim… The misconception — no one died with an avi cord — was reinforced and the myth perpetuated by Wastl Mariner of Austria (one of the two grandfathers of modern mountain rescue) when he wrote in the late 1960s that “Until now, there exists no known case…where someone who was buried and had used an avalanche cord was recovered dead.” But he had no data to support his supposition. His view was disproved — but not before it found its way to the US — in the early 1970s when the Swiss (SLF) did a thorough survey of Swiss accident records and then field tested avalanche cords on dummies. In 1975 the Swiss reported cords were not reliable, but that message took another 20 years to be heard. In the US there was only one accident reported that the victim, actually victims, died while using avalanche cords. On 21 Jan 1978 near Turnagain Pass, AK. 4 backcountry skiers with avalanche cords deployed were buried and killed. Their bodies were found months later after the snow had melted away. I mentioned it in the article — http://www.americanavalancheassociation.org/pdf/TheAvalancheReview/TAR_27_3_Feb_2009.pdf.

There are couple of other anecdotal reports of US deaths where the victim’s cord was buried, but they were never confirmed.

@Dave Smith… The ski pole you mention was named the Gramminger-Hauser Rescue Pole, named for Ludwig Gramminger of the German Bergwacht (the other grandfather of modern mountain rescue) and Christian Hauser of the Swiss Retungsobmann. In the spring of 1968 150 test pairs were passed out in Europe and some to the US. Skiers were generally favorable with the prototypes; however, the big rescue services in Austria, Germany and Switzerland were “absolutely negative.” Oddly, but not if you know the history and circumstances of early mountain rescue in Europe, the rescue services’ criticism was not about the usefulness, rather it was about the appearance of the poles. The function of the poles and their appearance were improved. In March of 1969 version 2 rescue poles were passed out in Europe and few were sent to the US (to Alta). I am not sure, which version was used on the Cardiac Ridge tour. But their experience was consistent to what happened when the Swiss tested cords in the early 1970s.

While Wastl Mariner was very pro avalanche cord, some in Europe, especially at the Vanni Eigenmann Foundation were suspect. In February 1970 the first “rescue pole” tests were done in Zermatt, more were done in Davos a month later. A ski pole with its avalanche cord deployed was tied to plastic dummies (or sacks) filled with sand and sawdust. In those early tests the “cords were never found above the dummies.” If the dummy was buried, so too was the cord and at the same depth as the dummy. If the dummy was partly buried some of the cord was also on the surface. These early tests with their under performing avalanche cords meant the end of the avalanche cord ski pole.

Interestingly, an improved ski pole strap developed for the Gramminger-Hauser Rescue Pole in 1969 was suggested by Fanco Malnati (Italian Alpine Club). In the late 1990s Leki introduced their “Trigger System” straps, and it looks almost exactly like the 1969 G-H Rescue Pole strap.

@Lou… looking forward to seeing you and Lisa at CSAW!

Dale:

Thanks for the additional information!

Lou,

Would you like another vintage avalanche cord that was used in Alaska during the early 70’s for your collection?