Not exactly an essential item, but if you have an extra $19 and want to encourage yourself to do more stability tests, then it's a good purchase.

Useful cord, does a great job sawing through cornices and getting the job done. Does what it is meant to do, however if you are doing a rutschblock test, you really need 2 people and 2 probes to get this cord to cut correctly. Great and strong, no problems where I've had a p-cord break before.

The G3 cord works fine if you know how to use it properly. Either your poles were cheap and or they were damaged& ready to break. Previously I carried a nylon cord that had knots, it works just fine in snow with soft layers- almost every season ends up with buried ice layers though. If theres been rain or a sun crust formed and got buried which is usaully the case, the nylon cord sucks- good luck getting through ice with a knoted cord!

This is a fun tool to use in avalanche awareness. I brought mine to use for a class and my teacher liked it so much, I purchased one for him too. Fun snow toys that will help save you from avalanches!

This is a great fun tool for backcountry. I climb and really need to know the snowpack of the area I am going into. This is a great tool for me to see how much it will take to avalanche an area. That way I can decide if this slope is good or not to traverse. It gives me options to be safe in the backcountry. I purchased my cord a couple of years ago and my mountaineering guide liked it so much, I purchased this one for him as a present.

I haven't had a chance to use this yet, so I may need to update once I have. I got a couple of these for stocking stuffers, and they look to be well made and helpful for cutting through harder layers of snow. G3 has put together a nice, lightweight package with this Rutschblock Cord and stuff sack. It looks like it will get the job done. I'll be glad to keep one in my pack and try to get myself to do stability tests more often.

Since I ski in the Southwest, we get a lot of wind/sun crusts and the knotted rope just failed when sawing through these layers....This thing put an end to that. I've seen reviews knocking the cord because of damage to poles...and I can see that this would be the case if you are using carbon fiber poles in conjunction with this cord to carve out a block....but since I use aluminum poles...no problem. The only complaint I have is that it tangles easily given it's permanent storage inside the provided sack....the sack forces you to coil the cord rather tightly and it can be a pain to undo any tangles. I would suggest storing it in bigger loops somewhere inside your pack rather than the sack it comes with...this will make it easier to handle.

Works great but doesn't coil back up the way it came, which is ok 'cause it needs to be straighter to work anyway.

Using this cord simplifies cutting out Rutschblocks. The only stipulation is that two people in your group have probes to put in the back corners of the Rutschblock. While everyone has shovels, transceivers, not everyone carries a probe, which makes using this cord tough. So consider who you'll be skiing with and whether they carry a probe. Also the cord produced slight wear on my probe when I used it...It was mostly comestic.

This cord failed at one of the loop ends the first time I used it. Also it trashed both probes - one probe was carbon fiber & it got shredded and snapped due to the damage. Save your money and buy a 4mm cord & put knots every half meter! This is what the guides use & b/c this option is more versatile, cheaper & it won't damage your probes.

The very first Rutschblock I tried this on, the cord broke. It also broke a probe pole and messed up another one. I then switched to my nylon cord with knots tied in it, and it worked much better. So save your money and use 4 mil nylon cord with knots tied about every 8 inches. Then put a loop in both ends and you are ready to go.

I bought this for a friend as a birthday present.
He loves it as it's really easy to use and light.
Another piece of back country gear that you must have.