It'll do

By Sean Mumm Ranked #16 - Shovels March 14, 2011

This is a small easily packable shovel that will do the job it was designed to do. That being said I have a few issues with it.
1) It has a pretty small blade so moving snow will take a bit more time.
2) Although the shaft extends to a nice length and the fact that the shaft stays attached to the blade is great, but how it slides out from the blade is not designed to my satisfaction. The tolerances between the blade and shaft are so tight that the shaft can become sticky and requires allot of force to open.
3) The number of pins you have to push to get it fully extended is confusing the first few times you use it, which to me could become an issue when the user is panicked.
4) The design on this shovel is on the right track to a great system, but again it's not fully developed. An easy change to the blades design would allow the user to extend the shaft out to it shorter setting with one quick pull. How it is now the user has to push in a pin in order for the pins to clear the blade. Something so simple yet BCA over looked it.

Don't get me wrong, this is still a good shovel that will work when you need to preform a rescue. It's built strong and will last a long time. With a few small tweaks this could be one of the best shovels on the market, it's just a shame they didn't, and it isn't.

View Details: Backcountry Access Traverse EXT Shovel

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