I almost missed this but there has been a recall on some Avalanche Airbag System gas canisters that could prevent them from inflating. The company has just sent me the full statement and letter it is sending to clients. Please be sure to check your system if you have one. ABS recalls steel cartridges for [...] Read more »
Avalanche Safety Gear: Probes, Avalanche Beacons and Shovels
I’ve written quite a bit in the past about advanced avalanche safety gear that is meant to help you survive an avalanche. These are bits of safety equipment such as the Snowpulse, ABS (Avalanche Airbag System) and Black Diamond Avalung that are all meant to help you once you have actually been buried by a [...] Read more »
Ferrino and Snowpulse Team up with Cyber Safe Avalanche Airbag Backpack
Ferrino has just introduced a new backpack with a built in Avalanche Airbag that promises to help keep people safer on the slopes. The Cyber Safe, which seems a pretty offbeat name for a backpack (does it come with virus protection and anti phishing software?) claims it is the lightest avalanche airbag system on the [...] Read more »
Avalanche provides bad start to the European snowsports season
Post-Christmas avalanches in Italy that killed 7 have provided a sobering reminder of the dangers they pose. In this instance it seems that a couple of people disregarded warnings of a high risk of avalanche and ventured out on snowshoes before being swept away. A group of rescuers including guides and instructors set out to [...] Read more »
Ski helmets – uncool but they could save your life
It is hard to think of anything less cool than venturing outdoors wearing a plastic or polystyrene dome on your head, but like bicycle helmets and hard climbing hats, ski helmets are slowly catching on.For the past couple of years parents have been putting helmets on their kids – probably because the little ones don’t [...] Read more »
Avalanche rescue by satellite and cellphone
German researchers are working on a new way to find people buried under avalanche snow by using signals from their mobile telephone and Galileo, a new European satellite navigation system, through what they have nicknamed a digital avalanche rescue dog. The avalanche rescue navigator (ARN) is intended to overcome the problem that not everyone carries [...] Read more »
The avalung vs the avalanche airbag system (ABS) – which will save your life?
The big fear many skiers have is being hit by an avalanche. If you are, your odds of surviving depend almost entirely on how quickly people can dig you out. Fortunately there are a number of new gadgets including the Avalung and Avalanche Airbag that speed up search and rescue, keep you alive longer and [...] Read more »
Avalung – an awesome survival story
Nature, in its unbridled glory, can be a bit dangerous. And travelling across snow always has an element of risk that you might be carried away and burried by the stuff you’re walking on.I’m not going to pretend to be an expert on the slopes. But this is the most awesome video I’ve seen for [...] Read more »
The $183 Climbing Rack
Backpacker Magazine has set itself a task of assembling the cheapest safe climbing rack it could.They came up with rock shoes, a harness, belay device, helmet and locking carabiner for $183 that were then tested climbing around the places including Joshua Tree.This is their selection: Shoes: Rock Pillars Snake – $80 Harness: Singing Rock Zenith [...] Read more »
Ski Safe With Arc’teryx Stingray Jacket
I’m still on the Backcountry.com newsletter and they’ve got a cool article on the four hottest items in their store for this winter season. Among their top picks is the Arc’teryx Stingray Jacket. Now this is a pretty repsectable jacket in its own right, made from Gore-Tex Soft Shell and all of the the great [...] Read more »