anyone considering buying an airbag pack?

anybody / anything will have problems with hard slab

In case someone is researching - seems it's better to have a dual bag design, as there are reports that a single bag can get punctured and fail. Plus most of the research data is based on ABS

Cheers
Ivo

The other challenge with airbag packs is that you have to pull the ripcord for them to be effective.

The patroller was carrying an ABS Avalanche Airbag System, a backpack a skier can use to release an airbag during an avalanche to keep him- or herself on top of the snow. Ski patrollers at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort wear the backpacks during certain high-risk operations.

The airbag did not deploy because the patroller was unable to grab the cord, Billimoria said. The avalanche center reported that he was swept roughly 1,000 feet down the chute.

www.jhnewsandguide.com/article.php?art_id=6800

The other challenge with airbag packs is that you have to pull the ripcord for them to be effective.

www.jhnewsandguide.com/article.php?art_id=6800

In the article I reference in my post above...this was an issue for that guy as well and he failed in his first attempt, put his avalung in because he was choking and then successfully pulled the cord the second time.

My Snowpulse ABS  bag is an older version now and just has a webbing loop to pull..... the later versions have a handle attached that makes pulling the cord easier.... I'm considering how to attach a handle to mine because of this very issue.

As with anything and any piece of equipment... practice is required.
I suggest disengaging the firing mechanism and practicing pulling the cord while skiing.

I'm sure this link has been posted on TAY before, but I thought I'd go ahead and add it to this thread. WildSnow.com's avalanche airbag overview is probably one of the most comprehensive out there...

www.wildsnow.com/5014/avalanche-airbag-backpack-overview/

Also, I do have an avalung pack, but after reading this article about what it's like to be buried in a (controlled and simulated) avalanche conditions with an AvaLung, it really made the whole experience sound really awful, as in die quick or die slow. It kind of further sells me on the idea having an airbag pack.

www.earnyourturns.com/4321/buried-alive-couloir-v18/

EDIT: One more pro-air bag video I just found

Andy at Backdrop Sports in Everett has been getting a lot of orders for the BCA Float 30. If we can get a group together big enough we can get a discount and you will be helping to support a local brick and mortar. 425.374.3122 (Shop) or PM me.

From Scotsman's post upthread (quoting an avalanche survivor who had airbag, avalung, and helmet):

"If you are going to wear emergency preventative equipment, methinks a helmet should top the list."

I once read through all of the avalanches in the Canadian Avalanche Incident book available on line. I didn't keep count but it appeared more deaths were trauma than were due to burial. Not that helmet would solve all trauma issues, but it would solve some of them.

For the weight, helmet is #1 for me.

avalancheinfo.net/Newsletters%20and%20Ar...ancheAccidentsV4.pdf