LEXICON: bracketing

Bracketing is a technique used for conducting the fine search in an avalanche rescue. Once you are within 5 metres of an avalanche burial victim, slow your search and get down on your hands and knees. This way you will be able to place your beacon right on the snow surface. Now you can begin bracketing.

The victim is just 5 metres away, buried somewhere beneath the snow surface. You're looking to establish the lowest reading on your transceiver, bearing in mind this will not be a zero reading. Keep moving steadily forward in a straight line with your eyes glued to your transceiver distance readings. This is now your sole focus – do not allow yourself to be distracted.

As you get closer your readings will go down, but at some point you are going to pass over the victim and your readings will start to go back up again. Stop. Return to the lowest reading and mark that point in the snow. Now, move the transceiver either 90° left or 90° right of that point, keeping a close eye on the distance readings as before. This is known as bracketing. Continue this process until you have established the closest or lowest reading. Make a mental note of the lowest distance (eg 1.5 metres) and mark that point. If you've searched correctly,the victim is directly below this point.