The Smartest Avalanche Beacon

[rider26]

Hey Paul,

Have you heard of the WARY Avi Vest?

http://www.thewary.com/vest/index.php

I was wearing one yesterday. Very impressed with the fit and function.

[Paul Oberin]

Hey Paul,

Have you heard of the WARY Avi Vest?

http://www.thewary.com/vest/index.php

I was wearing one yesterday. Very impressed with the fit and function.

They sound good, they appear to have the same features and function as the BCA ones.

[Paul Oberin]

A lot of people are concerned about taking an Avi pack through an airport, I had it explained to me at the recent Denver trade show how the system works, and it is basically a small cylinder with a screw top lid, this cylinder get filled up with clean breathable compressed air, and when the system is triggered the air cylinder rushes out and fills the airbag, no explosives are involved, the cylinder with out the lid screwed on looks a lot like an Aluminium drink bottle and should appear quite safe to take in you carry on luggage.
The good thing about using clean compressed air, is the air bag slowly deflates over a few minutes, and if trapped under an avalanche the extra air this provides can keep you alive for a fair bit longer, the two main benefits of an airbag though are they tend to keep you close to the surface, and they are also very bright in colour so tend to be highly visible.

[rider26]

Check this out.

[Paul Oberin]

Check this out.

The type of terrain he rides, it was only a matter of time before he got caught out, where he is smart though is he spends very little time in any one chute, he crosses over quickly into the next one where he can, he also tends to ski the ridges a bit, that way if a chutes slides you are usually much safer up on a ridge.
Like he said though there were warning signs he should have taken into account, and in hindsight there usually is with most slides, it was a warmer day, so the snow crystals are less likely to bond to each other, there was a known layer of snow that was likely to slide, yet they still went out.
As this guy said also his mouth was full of snow, which is quite common, maybe the addition of an Avalung could have helped here, hopefully one day some company will find a way of having an Avalung / airbag combination in a lightweight pack.

[rider26]

That would be sick. Pull the ripcord and put it in your mouth in one clean motion.

[Paul Oberin]

The Tracker 3 is still a few months off, so I have just got in a few more of the current Tracker 2, for those going overseas soon, I am fairly sure that the best price in Australia for one of these right now is on the Snowatch shop.

[Paul Oberin]

I have noticed at this time of year the two most clicked on items on my online shop are the Black diamond Avalung II and the BCA tracker 2 avalanche beacon, I had the guy from BCA ask me how come I only buy BCA beacons for our summer and not for our winter, I had to explain Aussie resorts don't have avalanches and even those venturing out back country rarely see an avalanche.

[Vet]

I had the guy from BCA ask me how come I only buy BCA beacons for our summer

Ever since you started selling these in summer, we haven't had any avalanches!

[Paul Oberin]

Once again the hottest selling item in my shop this summer.

[Paul Oberin]

The Tracker 3 is not that far away now, Australia may be the first country to get them while there is snow on the ground, last I heard is they probably won't be released until the USA season is over.
I have pics and info on the new Tracker 3 on my online shop, I like the way it tells you how many are buried, and then when you find the first person and mark the location, you can mask that signal and while another person digs them out, you can move onto the next location without getting the signal from the person you just located.
20% lighter and smaller than the tracker 2, and pretty well the same price of around US$345 or Au$335

[John Deere]

Used an ortovox transceiver whilst heli skiing, I have to say that the BCA Tracker 2 is a fair bit more fool proof to put into search, and a bit smaller too!

On the BCA airbag packs, they are exceptionally good value compared to an ABS. It is worth noting that you can't travel with the canister charged, but any dive shop, fire station or hospital can charge it, dive shops charge around $20. In the US also many ski areas have a ski shop that can charge them.