Finding and honing in on a buried victim's avalanche beacon signal.

Credit: Backcountry Access

A well-practiced and efficient transceiver search should happen in a couple of minutes or less.  The speed and precision during the different phases of a transciever search are analogous to landing an airplane.  During the signal search, you are traveling fast and small changes in direction are of little consequence, just like at cruising altitude in an airplane.  As the plane approaches for landing, it slows down and reduces sudden maneuvers.  The coarse search and fine search are progressively slower and more deliberate.  The “Read More” sections describe each phase in more detail.

The speed and precision of a transceiver search is analagous to landing an airplane. Credit: Mammut

Credit: Backcountry Access