Compact, foldable snow saw with a serrated stainless steel blade that can be attached to adjustable ski poles.
The Snow Saw Pro from Black Diamond is a compact snow saw for anyone venturing off-slope—from ambitious ski tourers to snowshoers and freeriders, as well as all who deal extensively with snow and avalanches or work in this field professionally. It’s especially valuable when you need to assess avalanche danger on your own—whether on an expedition or in areas without an avalanche bulletin—and also when you want to verify an existing avalanche report on-site and compare it with your own observations.
Its primary use is snowpack analysis. It allows you to cleanly separate snow columns and blocks—for example, for stability tests such as the Extended Column Test (ECT), the sliding block test, or the Propagation Saw Test. Such tests reveal whether there are weak layers within the snowpack and how easily a fracture propagates through them. This allows you to determine at what depth a critical weak layer is bedded and how likely a fracture is to propagate over a large area—information that directly influences the assessment of avalanche danger. When analyzing a snow profile, you use the saw to expose a clean profile wall and assess the individual layers based on hardness, moisture content, and crystal shape. A smooth, straight cut is essential for meaningful results.
You can also use it to cut blocks for building an igloo, a snow cave, or for biwak—uniformly cut blocks can be stacked and worked with more stably. The serrated stainless steel blade is 35 centimeters long, cuts cleanly through snow layers of varying hardness, and is designed for reliable cutting performance. The foldable design takes up hardly any space in your backpack and can be transported safely.
Using the included, interchangeable connecting pins, you can attach the Snow Saw Pro to almost all adjustable Black Diamond ski poles. This noticeably extends the reach and makes it easier to cleanly cut out blocks of any size—such as when dealing with a sliding block, where the back of the column must be severed. The only exception: Pure Carbon poles are not compatible.
Unlike avalanche transceivers, shovels, and probes, the Snow Saw Pro is not part of standard emergency gear—it is an optional, specialized tool for anyone who wants to assess the snowpack themselves and delve deeper into avalanche awareness.
