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| Probing for a Victim |
After completing the transceiver pinpoint search, it is time to begin
probing for the victim. Pushing a stick into the snow might seem archaic, but it is extremely reliable. Although it is possible that you may think you hit the victim when you haven't
(a false positive), your probe will never pass through the victim (a false negative).
Once you start probing, stick with the probe and avoid the temptation to return to your transceiver. The time you "waste" probing a
larger area is usually small compared to the time you will waste returning to a beacon search.
 Hold the probe firmly with both hands (don't hold onto
your transceiver with one hand--you are probing now). Insert the probe at 90° relative to the snow, not relative to gravity. This is because your transceiver will take you to the
closest location relative to the transmitting transceiver, which is not necessarily directly above the victim (see illustration).
The exception to probing at 90° to the snow is when an organized group of rescuers is doing a probe-line that is not based on a transceiver
search.
 Your first probe should be at the location where
your avalanche transceiver gives the strongest signal (i.e., the shortest distance). Subsequent probes should be in circles (or a spiral as proposed by
Manuel Genswein in 2002) from this center point at no more than
25 cm (10 inches) intervals. This small distance ensures that you will not miss the victim. It is better to "waste" a little time probing tightly than to miss and have to
repeat the probing.
Even if you encountered a spike and your first probe is not over the victim, continuing
to probe every 25 cm (10 inches) will eventually locate your victim. For most people, this approach is faster than trying to interpret the spikes (my rough
time estimate is that the extra probing will take up to five minutes).
When you hit the victim with your probe, leave the probe in place and begin shoveling.
(The Pieps iProbe is a unique solution to probing. Learn about it here.)
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