 Poster: A snowHead
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ABS (Avalanche Balloon System) have another 'world first'. To supplement their existing 'emergency inflation' airbags, designed to float you above an avalanche by pulling a trigger, ABS have introduced a method of remote electronic/radio triggering so that the user does not have to pull the trigger.
Another member of a ski group, quite possibly spotting the avalanche before the ABS-wearer can react in time, hits the remote to save his/her colleague ahead. Here are the details from the ABS website:
http://www.abs-airbag.com/wireless_activation_eng.php?chid=1327&lang=uk&sid=366db3f3b7fa67e1da33a31705c8f398&m=17
Anyone used the ABS system? Ever used it in an avalanche or seen it used in this situation? Any views on this?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Never seen one used in anger but in the comfort of a very nice restaurant yesterday I saw a guide wearing an ABS backpack. Not sure that if I were his client, I would have felt overly comfortable. Am I being mean?
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Instructor of my group had one. He said if there was an avalanche and we were caught he could help us, whereas if he was caught in it we were all dead anyway. Fair enough!
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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cp1000, are you serious? A guide is f&%king crazy if he doesn't wear an airbag. Guides can get caught like anyone else and as they're off piste all day, every day the law of averages says it's probably going to happen one day however careful they are.
Would you hesitate to get in a taxi if the driver was wearing a seatbelt?
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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One of my friends who lives in Lech said a couple of her friends who are both instructors were caught in an Avi a couple of years ago, one was wearing an ABS system, he got caught so quick he didn't actually have time to 'deploy'! Both were buried but uninjured.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Trouble is... when you need the remote in a hurry it'll be jammed down the back of the sofa.
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cp1000, another point is that the guide goes first and might not have full confidence in his client's ability to find him should he get buried.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Can I make a long range transmitter on the same frequency and pop it when a full gondola of people wearing ABS backpacks passes overhead? 
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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The photo really is chilling. Nobody stood a chance there.
I figured that my post might get provoke debate! I agree that guides are entitled to do everything they can to ensure their safety in their inherently dangerous profession. It was odd seeing one wearing the ABS though (first time for me) - particularly when I have never ever seen one wear a helmet and yet every guide/instructor I have skiied with this year has taken a tumble or two in off-piste.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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| Bode Swiller wrote: |
| Trouble is... when you need the remote in a hurry it'll be jammed down the back of the sofa. |
Very witty, Swiller. To wipe the smile off your complacent face, could I remind you that Cairngorm - your imminent destination - has been subject to avalanche control recently and that part of the mountain has been closed. If you're proposing to take your sofa up the hill, I'd remind you:
a. that chairlifts no longer exist on Cairngorm (at least any that are working). If you're proposing to take your living room suite up the funicular then you may not be very popular.
b. you should be skiing with a shovel, transceiver, sniffer dog, probe and - of course - avalanche cord. If you don't have the latter, I can make arrangements (with John Lewis).
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