Backcountry Introduction: How to "Probe" by Lost Arrow Backcountry Ski Gear Experience

Backcountry skiing requires a variety of equipment in addition to the gear you use at a ski resort. Since
you're venturing into unmanaged snow-covered mountains and engaging in climbing in addition to skiing, equipment similar to that used for a short winter mountain climb is essential, regardless of the duration or location of your trip.

Therefore, we covered the "Backcountry Ski Gear Experience" workshop held at the end of January, hosted by Lost Arrow, a company that handles backcountry ski gear from brands like Black Diamond and Scarpa. We've extracted some footage from the workshop, which taught the proper use and handling of hike-up gear and avalanche gear, and compiled it into a collection of how-to videos for backcountry beginners. There are a total of 10 videos.

This time, we're focusing on probes.
Mr. Hashimoto and Mr. Sakamoto from Lost Arrow gave us a lecture on how to use probes.

*The content presented here is only a part of the training session.

・Gear used in this video

PIEPS iProbe BT220

The iProbe can reduce the time it takes to fine-search and pinpoint by 60%. The secret is that it receives avalanche beacon signals. A blue LED flashes and a beep sounds when the buried subject is detected at a distance of 2m. Furthermore, a blue LED lights up and a beep sounds at a distance of 50cm, identifying the buried subject and visualizing the "hit." Digging can begin even if the probe has not yet hit the buried subject, saving valuable rescue time. Although the probe is 220cm long, it can be detected at 50cm, effectively making it equivalent to a 270cm probe

Interview cooperation/Lost Arrow
Video shooting and editing/Daiki Yoshikawa
Video composition and text/Shinya Moriyama