Why is there this reliance on technology? Out of the five piece of technology the original posters listed in the circumstances described the avalanche beacon would be the most important.

The reason for this is; even as a soloist, if caught in an avalanche there is a good chance that others have been caught in or have at least seen it and some sort of search would be put in place to look for casualties just in case someone was caught in it. In the case of an avalanche there is a 90% chance of survival 15 minutes after the event but only a 10% chance after 90 minutes.

Carrying a beacon will just give you that little bit of a chance of being discovered quicker. Not many of us travel to remote enough places to be caught in an avalanche without someone noticing it. Secondly, we need to remember our friends and family. That beacon may not save your life but it may speed up the recover of your body. I would prefer my family having to deal with the tragic consequences of the aftermath instead of having to worry about the unknown and uncertainty until your body has been discovered after the thaw. I personally am happier for my family to see my battered and broken body after a tragic demise than for them seeing my stinking decomposing and possibly half scavenged body months later.

One would hope that as a ‘mountaineer’ you would have the skills and experience to enter an area safely with the correct knowledge to asses the avalanche risk, recognise areas prone to avalanche and to avoid them if possible.

Your navigation skills with a map and compass should be at least on par with the accuracy of a GPS, if not more accurate. The information available on a map really ties you into the landscape, even the best GPS’s don’t.

Cell phones are great when you have a reception but pretty much useless in an avalanche. Even if you find yourself floating on top of the debris once the avalanche has stopped and your pack and clothes have not been shredded in the process and you are not too badly injured you may find the avalanche has pushed you to far into a valley or depression that you cant get a reception. Worth carrying and checking for a reception though, in any incident.

PLB are great and worth carrying in more remote locations but in many high activity areas someone will be on location and there is a very good chance that your rescue will be well and truly in progress by the time the EPIRB system has taken full effect. It is still worth carrying one as you never quite know if it might be your only chance of getting your distress out. But, in most land based recreational sports in relatively high visited areas they are not essential.

One would also hope that all the normal planning and information is left with a responsible person before the start of an activity or trip is started.