I have heard of a product called avalung which enables one to have more breathing time if buried in snow. I have not personally used this product.

I have seen a POV video on the net where a skier is buried (and dug out) and is breathing under the snow with his avalung.
Here is the link to the video http://vimeo.com/6581009 and here is the link to the avalung product at REI http://www.rei.com/product/705146?cm_mmc...CFQ975Qod3i4FTA

Another piece of equipment which may be of interest is an Avalanche airbag system. There is some physics rule that allows larger objects to "flow" on the top of the moving snow. It is essentially a back pack with air bags that inflate when activated to make you a "larger object" and thus stay on top (or at least closer to the top) of the moving snow.

I know very little about avalanche search/rescue/survival and I am sure there are others around here who can speak more intelligently on the subject matter then myself.

And I agree with PackRat about taking an avalanche safety course. Which is something I would like to do one day.

The avalung does has a flaw, how do you stick the tube in your mouth on time and how do you keep it there during tha avalanche...?

It won't connect to SARSAT. Period. Orientation doesn't matter - bury a PLB under compact snow and I will be utterly, completely and absolutely stunned if it can transmit to the satellite.



Exactly. The only radio equipment designed to work under snow are the avalanche beacons and RECCO equipment. Those are not exactly long range transmission....

The ugly truth: If no one sees you being buried in an avalanche you're dead. Period. If someone sees you and can find you within 30 minutes you may or may not survive - depends purely on luck and chance (are you one of those blunt trauma victims, have you suffocated from snow in your mouth and nostrils, can someone dig you out quickly?). Spend more time buried and your luck runs out pretty quick. There is no go-lucky-be-happy equipment that can save you. All those gadgets and trinkets can do is to improve your chances a little bit under a limited set of circumstances.

An avalanche course is really an excellent idea! It is all about risk assessment and avoidance.

I believe the avalung allowed the skier in the video to breathe under the snow even though it was partially near his mouth. I would imagine your point is a good case for avalacnhe training which can help teach one to identify the risks and anticipate accordingly.

Why is there this reliance on technology? Out of the five piece of technology the original posters listed in the circumstances described the avalanche beacon would be the most important.

The reason for this is; even as a soloist, if caught in an avalanche there is a good chance that others have been caught in or have at least seen it and some sort of search would be put in place to look for casualties just in case someone was caught in it. In the case of an avalanche there is a 90% chance of survival 15 minutes after the event but only a 10% chance after 90 minutes.

Carrying a beacon will just give you that little bit of a chance of being discovered quicker. Not many of us travel to remote enough places to be caught in an avalanche without someone noticing it. Secondly, we need to remember our friends and family. That beacon may not save your life but it may speed up the recover of your body. I would prefer my family having to deal with the tragic consequences of the aftermath instead of having to worry about the unknown and uncertainty until your body has been discovered after the thaw. I personally am happier for my family to see my battered and broken body after a tragic demise than for them seeing my stinking decomposing and possibly half scavenged body months later.

One would hope that as a ‘mountaineer’ you would have the skills and experience to enter an area safely with the correct knowledge to asses the avalanche risk, recognise areas prone to avalanche and to avoid them if possible.

Your navigation skills with a map and compass should be at least on par with the accuracy of a GPS, if not more accurate. The information available on a map really ties you into the landscape, even the best GPS’s don’t.

Cell phones are great when you have a reception but pretty much useless in an avalanche. Even if you find yourself floating on top of the debris once the avalanche has stopped and your pack and clothes have not been shredded in the process and you are not too badly injured you may find the avalanche has pushed you to far into a valley or depression that you cant get a reception. Worth carrying and checking for a reception though, in any incident.

PLB are great and worth carrying in more remote locations but in many high activity areas someone will be on location and there is a very good chance that your rescue will be well and truly in progress by the time the EPIRB system has taken full effect. It is still worth carrying one as you never quite know if it might be your only chance of getting your distress out. But, in most land based recreational sports in relatively high visited areas they are not essential.

One would also hope that all the normal planning and information is left with a responsible person before the start of an activity or trip is started.

I've read the survival rate of not getting buried in the first place is around 98% so I'm with you on avoiding areas of risk.

Yeah, I was wondering if the 457 kHz signal of the avy beacon was specifically chosen because snow was most transparent to that frequency as opposed to the 406 MHz PLB.

Hey, this website is called "equipped to survive", we're talking gear here. But, granted, nothing substitutes for common sense, training, caution, experience, preparation, situational awareness, and all of that other essential stuff. I've always travelled with a topo, a compass, and a backup compass.

So the consensus seems to be that each of the five pieces of tech I first asked about have a unique, nonredundant application that adds an increment of safety to my backcountry skiing expeditions. I was afraid of that, my pack's already too heavy.

This is also interesting: http://www.skiingthebackcountry.com/beacon_malfuction.php, these folks have been testing cellphone and GPS interference with the avy beacon signal, seems to be substantial in some cases. Need to keep other powered-up electronics away from your beacon.

No piece of gear trumps common sense and experience.