snow shovel

del

What are you using it for? For ski touring, I don’t worry about weight, so I can’t help you there. For snow camping, I picked up an Arva Snow Plume. It weighs half as much as my Black Diamond ski touring shovel.

Arva Snow Plume

just plan on useing it for winter backpacking trips..safety and around camp

You can buy Voile blades and handles a la carte. I use an XLM blade with the extendable T handle. Good combo of light weight and good functionality.

http://www.snowclaw.com/
6oz, packable, and $20 at Rei.
Works fast. Kills your back though. Probably not so good on hard snow as it's plastic.
But ok for occasional use. Only slightly better than using a snowshoe….so not sure I'd bring it on my next trip.

I got the BCa for avy work just BECAUSE it has a smaller scoop.

If you've ever practicd digging out a well-buried beacon you know a small scoop will not wear you out in 5 minutes.

snowclaw

Better than nothing, but not nearly as good as a real shovel.

–B.G.–

I have the BCA Traverse, I have only ever used it for digging snowholes and snow kitchens.

Also have the snowclaw, I only use it when in non mountainous areas or if I know there is no avalanche risk, its good for clearing snow platforms and as a deadman, also makes a decent serving dish for crackers and cheese :-)

If you have to really dig, especially in heavy/frozen snow, the Snowclaw is just not going to be effective and will kill your back.

Dave where did you buy your Voile blades and handles a la carte, and can you choose the length of the extendable handle? How long is your shovel fully extended?

Keep in mind that some manufacturers use trapezoidal/rectangular-shaped extendable handles so that the extendable handles automatically lock into place without fumbling if you need to deploy them immediately and if you have more limited dexterity because of heavy gloves, cold, etc. With round extendable handles you can miss the spring-loaded rivets unless lined up perfectly. In non-emergency situations it won't matter if you take a few extra seconds to lock.

Also keep in mind that if you are taller and really have to dig a shorter handle will drive you crazy and tire you out. If you only have to dig for short duration a short one will be fine.

I like g3 shovels because they don't have a goose neck on the blade making them easier to pack (especially in small shovel pockets where the long neck can snag). They aren't the lightest but are made from t6 aluminum and are burly…you can jump up and down on one and I have a guide friend owns two and insists his partner uses one. The g3 avi tech and some voile shovels did the best in this test:

http://www.avalanche.ca/adx/aspx/adxGetMedia.aspx?DocID=5c956bbb-c147-4aed-a002-6b5c1fb66a0e&MediaID=86e068df-da99-4cc0-b686-c7364959c174&Filename=Manuel+Genswein+shovel+review.pdf

I actually have both the avi tech and smaller spadetech and choose which to bring depending on the trip. The spade tech has a really small blade so you need good technique to dig quickly.

You can get the avitech in a cheaper backcountry.com branded version:

http://www.backcountry.com/backcountry-backcountry-shovel

You can order separate blades and handles directly from Voile on their website. They have a couple different length handles in both T and D grips.