Companion rescue: the only rescue that happens in time
Companion rescue is the rescue carried out by the people standing next to the buried person, and it is the only rescue that happens inside the survival window, which declines steeply after roughly ten to fifteen minutes. The sequence is mark the last seen point, check for further hazard, switch everyone to search, signal search, coarse search, fine search, probe, then dig from downhill toward the probe.
This page is a description of a sequence, not a substitute for learning it. Reading it will not make you capable of a rescue, and that is not false modesty: the difference between a party that finds somebody in eight minutes and one that finds them in twenty-five is almost entirely practice under pressure, which cannot be transmitted by text.
Why nobody else is coming
Published survival curves for completely buried avalanche victims decline steeply after roughly ten to fifteen minutes. Organised rescue is measured in tens of minutes to hours: somebody has to be called, a team has to assemble, and they have to travel to a place that is by definition difficult to reach.
Everything else on this page follows from that. The people standing next to you are the rescue. That is why every member of the party carries a transceiver, probe and shovel, why the beacon goes on your body rather than in a pack that can be stripped off you, and why practice is the step that decides outcomes rather than equipment choice.
The sequence
1. Stop and watch
Watch the person until they disappear and mark the last seen point. That single observation narrows the search area more than anything else you will do, and it is the thing people forget in the first three seconds.
2. Check for further hazard
Is another slope loaded above the debris? Is the party spread out somewhere it can be caught again? A second avalanche onto rescuers is a recognised pattern in accident reports.
3. Switch everyone to search
Every beacon in the party goes to search mode. A transmitting beacon in the searching party is the fastest way to waste the window you have.
4. Signal search
Move across the debris in a pattern until a signal is acquired. Coverage width depends on your beacon and is typically 40 to 50 metres, so search strips accordingly, starting from the last seen point and working downhill.
5. Coarse search
Follow the direction arrow and the distance number, moving quickly and smoothly. Do not run and do not swing the beacon; hold it flat and let the numbers come down.
6. Fine search
Inside about three metres, slow down and bring the beacon close to the snow surface. Bracket in a cross pattern to find the lowest reading, keeping the beacon in one orientation.
7. Probe
Probe perpendicular to the snow surface in a spiral from the low point, 25 cm apart. A strike feels distinctly different from ground or rock. Leave the probe in place; it is your depth gauge and your marker.
8. Dig
Start downhill of the probe, roughly one and a half times the burial depth away, and dig in toward it rather than straight down. Move snow out to the side and behind you, and rotate diggers. This is where almost all the time goes.
9. Airway first
Once you reach the person, clear the airway and the chest before anything else, and be careful of the head and spine. Then call for organised help, keep them warm, and treat for trauma and hypothermia.
The last seen point is worth more than any equipment
In the first three seconds of an avalanche the instinct is to look away, to shout, or to move. What actually matters is watching the person until they disappear and fixing that spot against something permanent, a rock, a tree, a ridgeline. The search starts from there and works downhill, and a good last seen point can cut the search area by most of its size.
It is also the thing that is easiest to practise and almost never practised. Every party discussion before dropping into a slope should include who is watching, and the answer should be everybody who is not moving.
Digging is the part that decides it
Almost all of the time in a companion rescue goes into moving snow. A burial at one metre means excavating on the order of a tonne of debris that has set like concrete within minutes of stopping, and doing it while your heart rate is already high and your hands are cold.
The technique matters enormously and it is counterintuitive. Do not dig straight down at the probe. Start downhill of it by roughly one and a half times the burial depth and dig in toward the probe, creating a ramp rather than a hole. Move snow out to the side and behind you rather than lifting it over your head, because lifting is what exhausts you. In a party of three or more, work in a V with a lead digger and rotate every couple of minutes before anyone burns out.
This is also the argument for equipment specification. A plastic blade is not an avalanche shovel, because set debris is not soft snow. A shovel that flexes wastes energy on every stroke. A medium blade you can keep swinging for twenty minutes beats a huge one that exhausts you in five.
The three items, and what each is doing in the sequence
| Item | Its job in a rescue |
|---|---|
| Digital transceiver | A three-antenna digital beacon, worn on the body under an outer layer, switched to transmit, and checked at the trailhead against every other beacon in the party. A beacon in a pack pocket is not a beacon. |
| Probe, 240 cm or longer | A beacon search finishes at roughly a two to three metre circle. The probe converts that circle into a point, and a strike tells you the exact depth to dig to. 240 cm is the practical floor and 280 to 320 cm is better in deep snowpacks. |
| Metal-bladed shovel | Avalanche debris sets up like concrete within minutes and plastic blades fail in it. The shovel is where almost all of the rescue time goes, and a burial of one metre means moving roughly a tonne of snow. |
Note how the three hand off to each other. The beacon gets you from a hillside to a circle two to three metres across. The probe converts that circle to a point and gives you the depth. The shovel does the work. Missing any one of the three breaks the chain, which is why a party with two beacons and one shovel is not a prepared party.
Once you reach them
Clear the airway and the chest first, and take care with the head and neck, because trauma is common and a spinal injury is possible. Keep them warm: a buried person is losing heat rapidly and hypothermia becomes the problem the moment the asphyxia one is solved. This is the point at which a call for organised help matters, and the point at which a satellite messenger earns its place in the pack.
Wilderness first aid training is the natural companion to an avalanche course for exactly this reason, and a wilderness first responder certification appears as a line in the expert touring build on this site rather than as an afterthought.
How to practise, specifically
- Single burial, timed. Bury a beacon in a pack 30 to 50 cm deep in a flat safe area. Time from signal acquisition to probe strike. Under ten minutes is the working benchmark for a recreational party.
- With gloves on. Everything is harder with gloves, and taking them off in serious cold is its own problem. Practise the way you will do it.
- The whole sequence, not just the beacon. Most people practise the search and stop. The dig is the part that takes the time.
- With your actual partners. Rescue is a team activity with a communication problem in the middle of it. Practising alone misses most of the difficulty.
- At the start of every season. Skills decay, batteries die, and beacon firmware and interfaces change between models.
Many avalanche centres and some resorts run free beacon parks with buried transmitters and a control panel, which is the easiest possible way to do this. Use them.
Related
How to use a transceiver covers the search phases in more detail. Avalanche safety basics covers the order that keeps people alive, of which this page is step three. The shovel and probe roundup covers the specifications that matter for the part that takes the longest.
Frequently asked questions
What is companion rescue?
The rescue carried out by the people who were standing next to the person when the avalanche happened. It is the only rescue that happens inside the survival window: published survival curves for a completely buried victim decline steeply after roughly ten to fifteen minutes, and no organised rescue team arrives that quickly.
How long do I have to find a buried person?
Roughly ten to fifteen minutes before survival probability falls steeply. That is the entire budget for a signal search, a coarse search, a fine search, a probe strike and a dig, which is why practising the whole sequence against a stopwatch matters far more than which beacon you own.
How long does digging take?
Longer than anyone expects and it is the dominant cost in the whole rescue. A burial at one metre means moving on the order of a tonne of snow, in debris that sets like concrete within minutes. That is why the shovel must have a metal blade, why strategic shovelling technique is taught in courses, and why diggers rotate.
Should I call for help first or search first?
Search first. Organised rescue will not arrive inside the survival window, so the phone call does not change the outcome for a burial and the minutes spent making it do. If the party is large enough that one person can call without slowing the search, that is the exception. Call once the person is located or the search is resolved.
What if there are multiple burials?
This is exactly what an avalanche course teaches and what modern beacons have marking or flagging functions for. Broadly, locate and resolve the closest signal, mark or flag it, and move to the next. It is significantly harder than a single burial and it is the strongest argument for practising with your actual party and your actual beacons.
How do I practise companion rescue?
Bury a beacon in a pack 30 to 50 centimetres deep in a flat safe area and time a single searcher from signal acquisition to probe strike, wearing gloves. Under ten minutes for a single burial is a working benchmark. Then practise the shovelling as well, because that is where the time actually goes. Many avalanche centres run free beacon parks.
How we choose: we compare published manufacturer specifications, published certification standards and verified owner reviews across retailers. We do not test equipment in person, and every figure quoted here is the manufacturer's published number unless we say otherwise. This is researched buying guidance and not professional instruction: binding release values are set by a certified technician on a calibrated jig, and avalanche terrain requires formal training and a current regional forecast that no article can replace.
