Monday, October 30, 2017

Tech Tips: The EXTENDED REFERENCE GUIDE

Your new Mammut avalanche transceiver  comes with a user manual printed in several languages, but if you like to get the most from your equipment it's worth going online to download a copy of the Barryvox S Extended Reference Guide (link) or the Barryvox Extended Reference Guide (link).  
The Extended Reference Guide is available online as a PDF, and contains additional information on advanced searching that is not found in the basic User Manual included with the beacon.


The Barryvox S Extended Reference Guide contains the basic User Manual that came with your beacon, but also contains additional comprehensive information for your BarryvoxS on device settings, advanced search and rescue techniques, and in particular the "Pro Search" option and the alternate search mode, which are not contained in the more basic User Manual.  Anyone who will ever practice alternate search strategies such as micro strips, micro-box or 3-circle should consult these instructions on utilizing the advanced search functions of the Barryvox S.  It is an important and valuable resource for advanced recreational and professional users—and all educators.

The Barryvox Extended Reference Guide contains additional information on conducting Group checks before a tour, more comprehensive rescue strategy, and more comprehensive information and guidance for conducting multiple burial searches and companion rescue guidance.  

If any of the above describes you, you can download a copy of the appropriate Extended Reference Guide directly at the links above, or through the Beacon Info landing page on this blog (along with other resources).  


Tuesday, October 10, 2017

Where did the "Barryvox" get it's name? Barry the rescue dog!


Picture yourself in the Swiss Alps in the year 1810.  Small farming villages dot the landscape below the high, glacier-covered Alps.  In fall, farmers move their herds from the high alpine meadows full of  grasses and flowers, to the lower elevations to escape the first snows of the season.  Travel between valleys means crossing the high passes at altitudes up to 8000feet, on paths and rough roads, some of which, like the Great St. Bernard Pass in Southwestern Switzerland, were built by the Romans.  Unlike the modern paved roads and tunnels underneath the passes we see today, simply going to the next valley was a difficult and sometimes risky journey subject to sudden storms, snowfall in any month of the year and frequent avalanches.  When a traveler or a herder went missing in the high alpine, if they were lucky one of the rescue dogs was turned loose to perform a rescue.  These dogs, the ancestors of today’s St Bernard, were able to follow a person’s scent through deep snowdrifts and hopefully make a rescue.

The most famous of these dogs was Barry Der Menschenretter or “Barry the people rescuer” from the Great St. Bernard Hospice.
Barry the rescue dog is the namesake of Mammut Barryvox avalanche transceivers 
Barry, who lived from 1800 to 1814, is credited with about 40 rescues, the most well-known