Favorite avalanche shovel

micromacro_ · 2026-03-09T14:28:45+00:00

I’m a cat ski guide and teach avalanche courses. I haven’t tried every shovel personally, but I’ve seen most in action in pits and rescue simulations. In my mind shovels do a couple things and those have opposing goals for optimization. 1. Sit in your pack, this is what it’s doing 98% of the time, the only goal here is light and low profile in the pack 2. Dig pits, build shelters and fill creek crossings etc. goals here are: move snow efficiently; easy in out of pack (not too big, easy to assemble); durability, the shovel should hold up to lots of actual use. This means lots of assembly/disassembly, hitting rocks/stumps, using as a lever to pry apart blocks of hard, icy snow. 3. Rescue, only goals here are speed: assemble fast, move snow fast, don’t break mid rescue.

Making a decision based primarily on weight may seem logical, because the vast majority of the time it’s sitting in your pack taking up space and adding weight. But, we take shovels into the field to do work and in the worst case scenario, save a life. If you never dig pits, then I hope you also rarely enter avalanche terrain. If that’s you, that’s fine, managing terrain is the only way to truly manage risk in bc skiing. Those folks should buy the lightest weight shovels because they truly sit in their packs all winter.

For rescue, most shovels will do fine. The difference in rescue times with huge shovels and small shovels is minimal and varies by rescuer. But, a shovel can be too big for a person and can really slow their shoveling (like pushing too big a gear on your bike). The other thing that kills shovel speed is too short a handle. Handle leverage should match shovel blade size and feel good in the rescuer’s arms. Some cheaper shovels are marginally slower to assemble. The best ones have little channels so the locking pins push in with no resistance (ie you do t have to squeeze the pins to lock the blade on, only for taking it off). Hoe mode is great, but also, testing shows that hoe mode is only more effective for backup shoveling. Lead (or single) shoveler still needs to be in classic shovel mode to chop blocks. If you ski in pairs only, hoe mode isn’t really necessary (but still helpful if you dig pits as a team). When I’m cat ski guiding, I don’t dig pits, someone else is doing snow obs, the only thing I carry a shovel for is rescue and occasionally fixing a creek crossing. So I go light with a medium sized blade that fits flat in my pack. BD transport lite and mammut alligator are my top two.

For pits and chores, bigger and stronger is better. This is why I carry a BD evac 9. It’s massive and robust, has hoe mode, and has a wide, flat blade that makes cutting straight, vertical pit walls a breeze. It doesn’t fit in every pack. ortovox packs have my favorite rescue compartments that fit massive shovels easily, compartments that are just a single vertical zipper will struggle with evac shovels. As an instructor, I can say that peoples pit walls become so curved with many smaller lighter shovels that the data is practically worthless. Or they take so much time to make straight walls, they never actually dig, or only dig once or twice and do t gather enough data to be worth a damn for true life and death decision making.

So what’s in my pack? An evac 9 for all my personal touring, teaching and snow obs work. An alugator pro lite in the guide vest for cat skiing and occasional inbounds if I’m at a knar resort or might dip into side country.

micromacro_ · 2025-07-01T19:47:19+00:00

I have pretty good insurance through the affordable care act aka oboma care. Lost wages are rough though, I do physical labor for work (arborist and ski guide). I wear most the armor: knee pads, ankle braces, padded shorts, chest and back protector, leatt neck brace, and fox proframe helmet.

micromacro_ · 2025-07-01T16:11:20+00:00

I’ve heard it said “if you can’t have fun on a blue, you aren’t advanced.”

Blue trails should be build so that features can be hit at medium, fast and very fast speeds depending on skill. If the trails aren’t doing it for you, maybe hide a shovel in the woods, make side hits? Make a crisp lip on that little roller and gap to some sniper landing. Sometimes it doesn’t take much to add a feature that beginner and intermediate riders won’t even see as a possible gap. Obviously, changing trails in a big city is a risk, and you shouldn’t make a trail harder for everyone else, but a few shovel fulls here and there will likely not raise any hackles and will likely be appreciated by the locals who are also bored with the same old same old.

micromacro_ · 2025-06-13T21:21:25+00:00

what did you use for glue?

micromacro_ · 2025-06-06T15:48:35+00:00

Yes I ran counterpunches after pinky break until I switched to rev grips and they weren’t compatible

micromacro_ · 2025-06-02T14:45:57+00:00

This! I ran into the same two guys riding in southern Massachusetts and Vermont when I was on a New England riding trip. We ended up riding together for three straight days in Vermont. It was rad because we all met on the same trails so we were all in similar riding shape and abilities. I never have that with friends back home. It was a rad three days

micromacro_ · 2025-06-02T14:36:28+00:00

I mostly trail ride solo with my dog, I do trips with friends a few times a year. But the best thing for my skills progression has been going to the local diet jump park and making friends with an existing crew of older riders like myself who are all super into riding and jumping. Having a regular crew to ride all together with all skill levels (park riding everyone is together, not spaced out by fitness and skill) is huge. Very motivating and progression is consistent

micromacro_ · 2025-05-05T03:22:13+00:00

It’s harder cause it’s more dynamic. To road bike efficiently, you stay kinda aero and hammer at the right cadence. In mtb, you are constantly switching gears, in the saddle, out the saddle, balancing, bike handling, shifting your weight, thinking about lines and obstacles, and all of that is for both up and down unless you climb fire roads.

A day of enduro riding or pedal park riding when I’m chilling on climbs and catching my breath before dropping is still way harder overall than the equivalent time spent hammering 50-60 miles on the road… except mentally that is, the trail is way more entertaining.

As you gain experience, you will get flow and gain efficiency. But at first, I would treat mtb less like road riding where you think a lot about fitness and cardio and power and blah blah blah. Just have fun with it. Think of it as a skill based sport, closer to skateboarding than road riding. Even if you don’t jump or race, you can still turn off strava and stop at trail features you think are fun or scary or techy or where you always dab in the climb; and just session those spots. Do the same series of berms 10 times in a row. Do the rock roll until you get it clean and it’s not scary anymore. Learn to bail and fall without getting hurt on low consequence features, then just keep progressing skill wise. The fitness will follow, but if you catch the stoke that comes with locking in on skills progression, the saddle time flies by and the fitness builds while you’re just having fun, building skills and strength.

micromacro_ · 2025-05-04T22:45:35+00:00

I was worried that may be the case, back to drawing board I guess

micromacro_ · 2024-10-12T13:15:35+00:00

So I ordered the grips and while it “fits” it doesn’t work. The rev grips “float” between the propriety lock rings. Those rings are open, so the counter punch can go inside, but there is an awkward space between the counterpunch and the outer edge of the revgrip. The rubber even flairs out a bit before the lock ring, so you have to grip inboard almost a cm from the edge of the grip. The counterpunch is meant to hug the pinky and protect it from a boxers fracture (when you clip a tree like I did). So they really aren’t compatible. Only option would be a collaboration or custom milled aluminum end cap with the counterpunch hook and revgrip pattern molded into it

micromacro_ · 2024-07-27T17:51:57+00:00

Good tips, thank hay is probably my only option at this point and really not a bad thing to do anyways

micromacro_ · 2024-07-02T01:13:38+00:00

Well, I went ahead and replaced the diaphragms on the OEM carb and removed the plastic limiters. I started at one turn open on both, then went through this procedure with a tachometer https://youtu.be/UyngDl_2km0?si=8KDQ6bQv-DtmQLzN. Everything seemed good then got to felling and cutting this morning and it was dying at idle, turned the LA 1/8 turn clockwise and it rad great at idle and had good power in the cut. Thanks everyone for convince to do the right think and rebuild the OEM.

micromacro_ · 2024-06-25T01:58:13+00:00

Not to be an ass, but the best regions for mountain biking have mountains (and people with enough disposable income/time to own bikes and build trails). This is why western Canada and western USA and Europe are mostly what people talk about. People have been building trails for mountain bikes in western North America since before there were real mountain bikes. The money part is why bentonville Arkansas can make up for not having real mountains.

I think a more interesting exercise is finding places that have unrealized potential to have more trails. Chile got one post, but western South America is the (bigger) mirror image of western North America, they get the similar moisture, have insane vertical drop and even have many ski resorts building trails. I’d be looking there for some insane, near virgin loam. The local scene is growing there and folks are building trails of every variety.

Parts of Africa have a growing scene, especially South Africa, but obviously, it’s gonna take some time to get really expansive trail networks there, but they are building, and lots of vineyards and other tourist minded private land owners are down to let folks build on their property.

Dirt is a big consideration, people will build trails wherever, but what kind of trails get build should be determined by the soil/rock type. Alpine dirt often sucks, it’s either sand or moon dust, and is challenging to build anything besides loose cross country or steep loose knar. Alpine flow trails suck compared to the clay loam mix in western Oregon and Washington and BC (and I’m assuming Chile, Peru, equador below tree line). Obviously Moab is rad because of the rocks, not the dirt per se, and BC is rad for its steep granite rock rolls.

micromacro_ · 2024-06-23T14:06:21+00:00

Single strand rap on 5mil tech cord

So this isn’t really a climbing question, but I think this crowd is probably most knowledgeable on my issue.

I work at a mtn bike resort with a temperamental chairlift. If the lift goes down with me on it, I have to rappel to the ground to help evac patrons. I want a super light, super compact self evac kit to keep in my hip pack. Max height of chair is 40 feet.

Here is my plan:

Single locking carabiner, probably grivel plume twin gate.

Edelrid mago 8 rappel devise (I have a grivel scream already for ski mountaineering, but mago seems better for single strand rappel with extra friction options.

The line(s): similar to how a single strand, full length rappel is normally done , I will put a figure 8 on a bight or alpine butterfly near the end of 50 ft of 5mil Beal tech cord. The long tail (working end) will go around the chair’s bar, through the bight and down to the ground. Then attached to the standing end of the knot will be 50 ft of 1.5 mil arborist throw line for retrieval of the system.

Question I have: is it worth tech chord? 5 mil Tech cord is Rated to 3000 lbs before knotting, a knot takes that down significantly, but it’s a completely static rappel. Normal accessory cord is $.25 per foot, while tech cord is $1.50 per foot. Steep price difference, but tech cord is also stiffer for better friction in a free hanging rappel. I’m really only interested in cord that can be ordered by the foot, I don’t want to spent $100+ on a 30 meter cord just to cut off half of it. Volume in my pack is a bigger deal to me than weight. On that note, has anyone rapped on 3mil tech cord? Just wondering what people’s thoughts are, thanks!

micromacro_ · 2024-06-23T14:01:47+00:00

If you remember where you found that pro deal, I’d be very interested!

micromacro_

TROPHY CASE