Other Avalanche Survival Tools

Avalanche transceivers are one tool that is designed to help you survive an avalanche. This page explains a few others.

Avalanche Ball

This is a backpack-like device that contains a deflated balloon. When an avalanche strikes, you pull a rip-cord to inflate the balloon which is tethered to the end of a 12 meter cord. The balloon remains above the snow. Rescuers follow the cord to the victim. It sounds like a lot of shoveling... Visit the manufacture's site. (Don't confuse this with an avalanche air bag, below, which prevents you from being buried in the first place.)

Avalanche Air Bags Systems

Yes, the airbag looks as if it will help you fly, but from preliminary accounts, it might help you live. The airbag contains a cylinder that inflates two bags which deploy from a special backpack when you pull a rip-cord. The volume of the airbags keeps you on top of the snow. As strange as it looks, there is strong evidence that they work. As of December 2007, 119 people wearing air bags have been caught in avalanches. Of those, 95 people were not buried or were only partially buried, 11 were buried with the bags still visible on the surface, and only one person was buried without the bags visible (due to a secondary avalanche). Of the 119 people, there were only four fatalities. The downsides are the price and extra weight (about four pounds). Airbags are used primarily in Europe at this time. Visit the manufacture's site.

UPDATE: BCA, the company that makes the Tracker avalanche transceivers, is now shipping their own air bag system. Unlike the above mentioned air bags, you can refill the compressed air cylinders using a scuba tank. Details to follow...

Avalung

The Avalung is a snorkel-like device that you put in your mouth. You then breath in oxygen-rich air from the front of your body and exhale the CO2 saturated air near your back. (The CO2, not the lack of O2, is what asphyxiates you.) The challenge might be getting and keeping the mouthpiece in your mouth, but there are several documented cases of survival due to the Avalung.

Black Diamond, the manufacture of the Avalung, also sells backpacks with a built-in Avalung. I purchased the Outlaw for the 2008/2009 season.