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 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. (See the details
here.) 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.
Avalung
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Avalung
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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. There is also evidence to imply that the reduced CO2 will slow the
onset of hypothermia. Visit the manufacture's
site.
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