Avalanche shovels are pretty utilitarian. You have a shovel blade, a telescoping handle and a grip. As long as your avalanche shovel is metal and not plastic, there’s nothing to see here… move along. Unless of course, that shovel is the Black Diamond Evac 7. Why is this shovel so special? Because it’s more than just a shovel, it’s also a hoe. I’ve had the Evac 7 in my backcountry pack all season, and used it to dig pits and practice avalanche burial rescue. So is the hoe option enough for you to trade your old shovel in? First the details:
The Black Diamond Evac 7 shovel features:
- Aluminum blade and shaft
- Telescoping handle
- Converts into hoe mode
- D-shaped handle with dual-density grip
- Black Diamond snow saw attaches to shaft (sold separately)
- MSRP: $79.95
The Evac 7 is pretty basic and works much like other avalanche shovels on the market. The blade attaches and detaches from the handle using a spring-loaded push button. The same attachment system is also used to telescope the handle from short to long. The handle becomes twice as long in extended mode, which I found to be ample length for digging pits. When collapsed, the handle fits perfectly in my BCA Float 32 pack, but if you have a smaller pack and need the space, the telescoping handle gets even shorter with the option of collapsing it into the D-grip. This gives you about another inch of wiggle room.
The D-grip is ideal, especially when wearing mittens. It is very ergonomic and has a rubber grip to prevent slippage during rapid shoveling.
The blade has four holes (one on each corner) for use with a rope sling to wear on your back, or as a rescue option for victim extraction. The shovel blade is nice and sharp. I found that it makes a much more even and straight cut when making snow columns for stability tests. The 45-degree angle between the blade and shaft also helps in this regard as it allows you to keep your hands away from the column wall when shaving it down to perfection.
The biggest feature that sets the Evac 7 apart from the crowd is the hoe mode. When finished with my pit, I was astounded how much faster and easier it is to fill the hole with the hoe. A hoe moves snow a lot faster than shoveling and is much less physically demanding than throwing snow over your shoulder, or making long reaches to excavate with a normal shovel. In a rescue situation where there are multiple people digging to a victim, the folks in the back moving snow away from the hole would be much better served with the hoe mode as it literally sweeps the snow away. This is a huge plus if you are looking to buy a new shovel for your backcountry kit.
The only issue I’ve had with the Evac 7 is that I keep getting the shaft stuck inside the D-grip handle when I collapse it. Once it’s in that position, it’s very difficult to extract it, especially on cold days when I don’t want to take off my gloves for emergency shovel surgery. As a result, I’ve made it a habit to bring a long screwdriver along to force the handle out of the D-grip.
The Good: Light. Packs down small. Blade makes beautiful snow columns and pit walls. Hoe mode is unbeatable and should be a feature on every avalanche shovel.
The Bad: Difficult to get shaft to come out of D-grip when in shortest collapse mode.
Final Word: The Black Diamond Evac 7 is a major step up from the average snow shovel. The Hoe mode alone makes it worth ditching your old shovel for an upgrade.
A larger size shovel, the Evac 9 is also available.