Airbag rescue

Avalanche Safety Reaches New Heights

For the off-piste adventurer, avalanche safety is always of prime concern and with 28 avalanche fatalities last season in France alone it is hardly surprising that preventative measures are increasingly being taken by backcountry sports enthusiasts. The just-released Backcountry Float 30 is unique in that it not only helps victims rise to the surface of an avalanche, but it also protects their head and neck from trauma while helping to maintain peripheral vision.

With rescue response times of over 45 minutes in most well-equipped countries and the standard time a victim can survive buried being only 15 minutes, the market has welcomed the introduction of airbag systems in the past few years in addition to the shovels and probes that make up the more traditional avalanche safety kit.

Working like a parachute, the airbag is deployed by pulling a cord attached to the pack. This allows the victim to increase their volume and subsequently rise to the top of moving snow. This is currently the only preventative measure that off-pisters can take to survive an avalanche, with EPIRB distress beacons and other tracking systems only aiding rescue after an avalanche has buried its victim.

The Backcountry Float is contained in a backpack which also holds all the typical features of a good snow pack such as shovel and ski straps, room for boots, and a bladder pack.

Backcountry Access is the first snowsports outfitter to release its own model. Already standing out at the trade shows the Float 30 is due to hit shops in December at just $500, half the price of other leading brands. As wearing an airbag can actively increase avalanche survival rate, climbers and skiiers say a new, more affordable and re-usable product that deploys in only three seconds can only be a good thing.