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In avalanche burials in the United States since 1950, the survival rate has been 63 per-
cent for companion rescue but only 19 percent for organized rescue (
Table 30-1
)
. In the
United States overall survival of avalanche burials has been 40 percent, which is identical
to the 40 percent survival rate from Austria. The Austrian study found an increased surviv-
al rate of 46 percent when avalanche transceivers were used for rescue, as compared to 32
percent for other methods of rescue. Another study combining data from Switzerland and
Austriaconfirmedthesefindings:a45percentsurvivalratewhentransceiverswereusedto
locate totally buried persons as compared to 30 percent survival without transceivers. The
difference in survival was primarily the result of shorter burial time: 25 minutes as com-
pared to 125 minutes.
Rescue transceivers are an efficient method to locate buried individuals, but two prob-
lems have limited the number of survivors who were wearing transceivers. First, few who
wear transceivers are well practiced in using them instantly and efficiently for rapid loc-
alization; and second, even with a quick pinpointing of the burial location, extricating the
person from deeper burials may take too long.
Table 30-1
Survival by Type of Rescue for Individuals Buried by Avalanches 1950-2004
Recovering a person buried 3 feet deep (1 meter) requires removal of at least 1.5 tons
of snow. Recent attention has focused on developing an efficient shoveling technique to
decrease the time consumed by this stage of rescue. The current technique calls for at least
twotothree shovelers toworkslightly downslopeoftheprobestrike tocreate astairlike or
platformapproachtotheburiedindividualandtooptimizeworkefficiency.Thefinalshape
of the rescue pit allows access for more rescuers and a reasonable work area for medic-
al assistance. As with transceivers, this method requires some practice but can be learned
easily. It avoids the tendency to dig straight down into a tight hole that excludes multiple
rescuers.
Since the first transceiver rescue in 1974, only 40 percent (55 of 138) of buried indi-
viduals in the United States found with transceivers have been recovered alive. However,
prior to the year 2000 only 30 percent of transceiver users survived; since 2000, 57 percent
have survived. The year 2000 marked the beginning of widespread employment of digital
avalanche rescue transceivers that most inexperienced people find easier to use. Increased
awareness,accesstoautomatedtransceiverparks,andteachingseminarshavealsocontrib-
uted to this statistic. Transceivers give no guarantee of live rescue. Regular practice and
training are essential for saving a life with a transceiver with a target of localization in un-
der five minutes.
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