Always deploy your airbag in an avalanche?

Very interesting.

Until now, I would have been inclined to not deploy in trees but seems I need to think some more - would be great to hear from people who understand the physics... manufacturers should do some tests re: speed with or without, can't be that hard...

Cheers
Ivo

Deploying while in the trees is similar to driving without a seat belt; it's better to get thrown from a rolling vehicle than to be trapped in it when it gets wrapped around a telephone pole.
That's why I never buckle up.
I also don't wear a helmet while riding a bike because it would really suck to break your neck in a wreck.

This thread is a massive dose of funny in an otherwise boring day.

butferserious, here's some logic-based thoughts from a sciency-kinda guy:

1. avalanches have different methods of running based on the density of the snow involved. An avalanche is a semi-solid mass behaving like a liquid. if it is a large slide entrains an air bubble underneath it (the longest running slides that surprise everyone) it will run fastest near the bottom. If it is connected to the ground it will run slowest at the bottom (wet slide), and if has significant drag from air turbulence and bed contact it will probably run fastest about 30% below the surface (using river flow dynamics as an analogy here).

2. Snow is heavy. Especially in the pacific Northwest. Ask yourself this question: would you rather: A) run into a wall as fast as you can (15mph), or have a pickup truck squish you into the wall at 10mph?

Conclusion: even if I KNEW (which I don't) I was going to go faster on top, and the ONLY thing I was worried about was running into a piece of old growth, I'd still pull that damn cord every time.

Besides, it makes for a better movie on the GoPro!

This thread is a massive dose of funny in an otherwise boring day.

butferserious, here's some logic-based thoughts from a sciency-kinda guy:

1. avalanches have different methods of running based on the density of the snow involved.  An avalanche is a semi-solid mass behaving like a liquid.  if it is a large slide entrains an air bubble underneath it (the longest running slides that surprise everyone) it will run fastest near the bottom.  If it is connected to the ground it will run slowest at the bottom (wet slide), and if has significant drag from air turbulence and bed contact it will probably run fastest about 30% below the surface (using river flow dynamics as an analogy here).

2. Snow is heavy.  Especially in the pacific Northwest.  Ask yourself this question: would you rather: A) run into a wall as fast as you can (15mph), or have a pickup truck squish you into the wall at 10mph?

Conclusion: even if I KNEW (which I don't) I was going to go faster on top, and the ONLY thing I was worried about was running into a piece of old growth, I'd still pull that damn cord every time.

Besides, it makes for a better movie on the GoPro!

QFT!
/thread

Yea, the better Gopro drove the message home

Cheers
Ivo

I think the point being missed is that in ANY avy in treed terrain, you have a very good chance of dying from trauma whether you have an air bag or not and that if you manage to miss the trees by chance , by luck whatever...it would better not to be buried but on the surface.

That is a good common sense analysis, and if I had an airbag and got caught in a slide, at this point I'd deploy it even in trees. But it is at least worth noting that common sense does not always nail reality, and these bags are pretty new on the scene (at least in volume, and certainly in our area) so it will be interesting to see what the data shows in a few years WRT to different terrain situations. Hopefully it will be all good news.