If your avalanche beacon is over a decade old, it's聽time for an upgrade. You can even make money off of it, thanks to a new聽promotion from apparel and mountain-safety brand Ortovox: turn in your聽transceiver鈥攐f any make and model鈥攖o an Ortovox dealer and get a $75 credit toward the . 聽
The program aims to retire old, potentially dangerous transceivers. 鈥淏eacon technology has changed a lot in the past decade and older, two-antenna聽beacons don鈥檛 offer the reliability of newer ones鈥 says Tom Mason, a design manager at Ortovox.聽
Today, every manufacturer,聽makes聽beacons with three antennas, which are easier to use and have a broader search range than their one- and two-antenna predecessors. The problem is that as聽people upgrade their beacons, their old ones aren鈥檛 being retired from the field, and that could be fatal.
鈥淚n the climbing community, the idea of retiring gear is normal鈥 says Mason. 鈥淚 would never use a rope for 10 years then resell it on Craigslist.鈥 That鈥檚 not the case with beacons, which are expensive to buy new and can look just fine even after seasons of use. 鈥淲hen people upgrade their beacons, they sell their old ones on Craigslist and eBay.聽That transceiver, which is really unsafe to use, is being re-circulated into the backcountry. As a skiing community, we need to think about those things.鈥澛
Markus Beck, owner of Alpine World Ascents and an AMGA/IFGA聽certified guide,聽recommends skiers upgrade their transceivers every ten years, mostly because the technology is improving so rapidly. “There are still working聽one- and two-antenna beacons out there,” he says.聽“But like anything, antennas break over time. And it's very hard to tell if an antenna's broken without sending it to the manufacturer.” When guiding in the backcountry, Beck聽requires聽clients use only the new ones. “For me, it's聽not worth the risk,” he says.
Even with $75 off, a new beacon is a big聽investment. The retails for $340. Visit the for a full list of participating dealers.
“We hope that in a few years, as people understand the importance of the new technology, all older two-antenna beacons will be retired,” says Mason.