Beacon Check & Companion Rescue Timer
The trailhead beacon check, a phase-by-phase rescue drill timer, and the survival curve you are racing.
A practice timer, not a rescue aid. If you are reading this during an actual burial, stop and dig. Companion rescue is a physical skill learned on a course and kept sharp by drilling it — this page exists so you can time your drills and see where the minutes actually go.
Trailhead beacon check
Every day, before anyone leaves the car park.
Hit “Next phase” as you complete each step. The clock keeps running so you can see the total against the survival window.
The phases
These targets total about 15 minutes for a single burial around a metre deep — which consumes essentially the whole 15-minute window in which survival is still high. There is no slack anywhere in that, and that is the argument for drilling it rather than reading about it.
The survival curve
Survival sits around 90 percent for the first fifteen minutes and then collapses — down to roughly a third by thirty-five. Organised rescue cannot arrive inside that window from anywhere. The people who dig you out are the ones who were standing next to you when it released, which is the entire reason companion rescue is a discipline.
How much snow you are actually moving
What people get wrong
- Survival is roughly 90 percent at fifteen minutes and about a third by thirty-five. Organised rescue cannot arrive inside that window, so the people who dig you out are the ones who were standing next to you.
- Digging is over half of a real rescue and the part nobody practises. A one-metre burial means moving well over a tonne of set avalanche debris, and debris sets like concrete within minutes.
- Dig in from downhill rather than straight down. A vertical shaft leaves you standing in a hole with nowhere to put snow and no room to get a casualty out or start airway care.
- Turn every recovered beacon off, or to search, once its owner is out. A found beacon still transmitting is the classic reason a second burial takes far longer than the first.
- Practise with the gloves you actually ski in. Every button on a transceiver is harder with cold hands, and the first time you discover that should not be during a rescue.
How to use
- Work through the trailhead beacon check before anyone leaves the car park.
- Start the drill timer and hit “Next phase” as you complete each step.
- Watch the live survival percentage against your elapsed time — that is the point of the exercise.
Frequently asked questions
How long do I have?
Survival sits around 90 percent for the first fifteen minutes and then collapses to roughly a third by thirty-five. Organised rescue cannot arrive inside that window from anywhere, which is why the people who dig you out are the ones standing next to you when it released.
Which part of a rescue takes longest?
Digging, by a wide margin — over half of the total, and the part almost nobody practises. A one-metre burial means moving well over a tonne of debris that sets like concrete within minutes of stopping.
How should I dig?
In from downhill, starting about one and a half times the burial depth back from the probe, moving snow out and behind you. A vertical shaft straight down at the probe leaves you standing in a hole with nowhere to put snow and no room to extract anybody or start airway care.
What does the trailhead check involve?
One person switches to search and stands clear; everyone else walks past in send while the checker confirms each transmits. Then the checker switches to send and walks past somebody else, so nobody leaves unchecked. Confirm everyone has a probe and shovel too — a transceiver alone locates a body it cannot reach.
Is this a substitute for a course?
No. Companion rescue is a physical skill learned in person and kept sharp by drilling. This page exists so you can time your drills and see where the minutes actually go — which is usually a surprise the first time.
🔒 This tool runs entirely in your browser. Nothing you enter is uploaded, logged, or stored.