I have friends who regularly go ski-touring (well actually off-piste nordic skiing—whatever thats called) in Norway. I dont go with them but have tried to tell them that they should all have beacon, probe and shovel each. I think they have a couple of shovels and probes between about 6.
They tell me there is no need to carry avvy gear as nobody in Norway carries such gear and the risk is minimal. I know that the first thing that you should be concerned about is not getting caught in an avalanche in the first place, but isnt it a good idea still to carry gear just in case?
Here in France (Pyrenees) all my co-skiers carry ARVA, probe, shovel as a matter of course.
Is it true that no one carries avvy gear in Norway?
How should I persuade my friends that 400Euros investment is worth it?
cheers,
pat

I’ve heard the same about off piste / touring skiers and boarders in New Zealand - an almost across the board opinion that it’s just not needed.

Perhaps lack of the scale of access to high mountains that the Alps / Pyrenees have reduces fatal incidents / reporting?

In the past I’ve always found the most persuasive argument towards friends and colleagues has been the rather grim habit of letting them know every time I read (on this site) about another fatal avalanche in the Alps.

Perhaps similar information on number / circumstances of deaths in Norway could help persuade them?

Did some digging (on the internet) and found this statistics report. OK so Norway is nowhere near as bad as France (but Im guessing they have many fewer skiier visits than France too). But they seem to have about 1-2 back-country skiing deaths a year due to avalanches:
http://www.ikar-cisa.org/eXtraEngine3/WebObjects/eXtraEngine3.woa/wa/menu?id=298&lang=en

You could show ‘em this video:

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=DeoMsrHVYk8

They may only be hills… but there’s more than enough snow and steepness in places!

I already did send them that video—scares the cr@p out of me, but apparently did not phase them. Their response was that they dont ski extreme conditions like that (they are doing more nordic x-country rather than free-ride) but when they recount their adventures, sounds like they are not keeping off the steep slopes!