Avalanche Transceiver – Chest Harness or Pants Pocket?

November 22, 2020 in Features, General

Chest Harness or Pants Pocket – What’s the Best Place to Wear Your Avalanche Transceiver

Standard protocol for wearing an avalanche transceiver has long been strapped to your chest in its harness. In the last handful of years, more and more skiers are moving to storing their beacons in a pants pocket. Using a pant pocket makes for convenient access when doing morning transceiver checks, can help keep transceivers a safe distance from a VHF radio or phone and offers quick access in the case of emergency use. However, not all pant pockets are created equal. Some pants feature pockets with transceiver clips, but most pockets are not suitable for transceiver storage. Backcountry Access recently published a good article covering the topic of where to wear your avalanche beacon, featuring a cautionary tale of what can go wrong when using the wrong type of pocket.

The following excerpt is from Backcountry Access:

Chest or Pants – Where to Wear Your Avalanche Transceiver

Last season, a skier on the Bugaboos to Roger Pass traverse took a ride in an avalanche. He pulled his airbag and was fortunately not buried, and he suffered only a minor knee injury. The skier was quite shaken up, though, and early the next morning, he realized that his avalanche transceiver was missing. He had been carrying it in the side pocket of his ski pants–and the avalanche had ripped the pocket, and the transceiver was never located. They called for a helicopter and abandoned the rest of the traverse.