Snowboarder survives avalanche using airbag

I found this interesting.

http://www.grindtv.com/snow/blog/32605/s...ploying+airbag/

Was the "airbag" the BD Avalung, or are there other rigs on the market?

I don't know. I just saw the video on the news and thought it as interesting. Avalanche surfing might become a new sport...until people start hitting trees.

Whoever made the airbag, it is a pretty good testimonial for their product...

The airbag is made by BCA (Backcountry Access). They have this airbag mounted in different sized backpacks. The BCA website has all the info and videos showing how to set it up and deploy it. They are not cheap and I'm not sure how well they would work in a really big slide. BCA also makes beacons and other avy gear.

Its funny, they have something similar for big wave surfing to get you back to the surface quicker. Its all about the buoyancy.

Well, that's one way of putting it

The video is impressive. It doesn't make me want to try it, but it's crazy as can be to see someone that did.

I wonder if that would work the next time I fall off my bicycle?

I posted something in winter travel about a backcountry snowboarder not surviving an avalanche on 2/13/12. Preliminary reports have him expiring not from asphyxiation, but blunt trauma, it should be noted.

One of the survivors of the big avalanche in Washington over the weekend that killed 3 skiers was wearing this-
http://abs-airbag.de/us

I saw her on a clip from a morning news show-
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national...ticle-1.1025658

Thats a larger sack and they are trying to say it will "float" in an avolanche - well maybe - ok, but still being swept over a cliff is kinda terminal and blunt trama is the general killer more so than suffocation. I mean being smashed by ice isn't that different than being hit by a rockslide.

Except for the snow experts and people who groom slopes at ski areas, people do not take seriously the threat of avolanche slopes. I think being so cavalier as to wear one of those vests and then skiing across an avolanche prone slope believing that this baloon will save you from your folly is like speeding in your BMW because it has 7 airbags.

Jim

These people were all experts. One of the victims was the marketing director at the ski resort, the others were guides or pros, including the woman with the airbag. It is a bit of a mystery why they thought the slope was not risky. Someone like me wouldn't know better, then again, I'm a bunny hill skier so I wouldn't be there in the first place.

Different sport, but over the weekend, a skydiver with 8000 jumps who had trained Navy Seals was killed at Perris (east of LA) when he was trying a close to the ground manoeuver (skimming across a pond) and hit the water. Shows that even experts get killed regardless of skill level and experience.