New Backpack Aims To Delivers Air If You’re Buried In An Avalanche
Backpacks designed to help skiers and boarders caught in avalanches have been with us for some time now.
The most common innovation is a backpack containing and airbag designed to inflate in an avalanche, with the idea that it helps keep you on or nearer the surface, more likely to be upright and, if you still end up buried, gives you a potential air pocket.
However a new product on the market this winter aims to take a different approach, the Safeback SBX avalanche survival system is designed to deliver an air supply to avalanche burial victims under the snow, extending their likely survival time.
The reality behind the Safeback SBX avalanche survival system’s creation is that once engulfed by 500kg per cubic metre of snow and mountain debris, victims have, at best, just 15 minutes to be rescued before asphyxiation. As a result, three out of four avalanche fatalities are due to suffocation beneath the snowpack.
Using groundbreaking technology and a design with only three moving parts, the system is designed to extend the window of rescue for skiers and snowboarders caught in an avalanche or tree well from 15 minutes to over 90.
Once activated the system uses a fan-based air pump stowed in a Safeback-compatible backpack and retrieves fresh air from the snow (which contains at least 50% air, even when densely packed) around riders.
Fresh air is then released from outlets mounted on the backpack’s shoulder straps, replacing the air users breathe out with a continuous supply of breathable oxygen and reduced CO2.
The SBX was designed by Safeback co-founders, engineers and backcountry freeskiers Tor Berge, André Mjølhus and Sigmund Andreassen who carried out extensive testing and data analysis, plus live R&D in the field courtesy of, among others, the Norwegian Army’s School for Winter Warfare.
“I used avalanche rescue equipment throughout my childhood, and my education in engineering opened my eyes to the fact that most products focused on helping users above the snow make a quick rescue,” says Tor Berge, who adds, “There were no innovations for prolonging the life of a victim buried below it. My connection to this problem combined with an understanding of the tech required to solve it is the main inspiration that led us to invent SBX.”
The simple design incorporates an activation handle that hangs down by your arm like a chunky parachute rip cord (the same as most airbag systems), test/off button and battery compartment. The bag weighs in at just over half a kilo with the control unit taking up roughly 0.75L of space in the main compartment of a compatible backpack, leaving loads of space for everything else you need on a freeride or ski touring/splitboarding adventure.
Safeback say that the cost and weight of their bag averages about half that of most airbag systems.
The bag has already won ISPO and Red Dot innovation awards and been approved by riders including Estelle Pensiero and Sage Kotsenburg.
Fully charged, the Safeback SBX can run for 90 minutes at -22°F / -30°C and uses easy-to-source Energizer Ultimate Lithium AA batteries – the best-performing batteries in extreme cold. Safeback has also partnered with Bergans of Norway and Db on compatible freeride and avalanche backpacks.
Only certified use in backpacks that follow the Safeback integration guidelines:
• Safeback SBX x Db Snow Pro Vest 8L – £549 / €599.00 / $699
• Safeback SBX x Bergans of Norway Y MountainLine Daypack 40L – £549 / €629.00 / $699
