ISSW 24 Speed Dating Round Three: Avalanche Airbags

We’ll continue our ISSW speed dating. Here’s round three. In this episode of ISSW speed dating, we focus on a presentation by Dr. Christopher van Tilburg titled “Should Airbags be Standard Safety Equipment for Professionals and Recreationalists?” The author is no stranger to the airbag or no-airbag debate. In 2021, Van Tilburg penned a…

Responses

Patrick Fink

September 28, 2024

Anyone curious to read the WMS guideline on avalanche hazard can find it for free, in full text, here: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1016/j.wem.2023.05.014

The recommendation regarding airbag use is as follows: “We recommend that travelers entering avalanche terrain should use airbags. Familiarity and regular practice with airbags are essential. Strong recommendation, moderate quality evidence.”

Slim

October 4, 2024

Same here: last spring our guided ski trip with 4 clients using airbags, the guide was not. Except on the final day, which was lift served powder skiing, so we had no overnight and no climbing gear, the guide traded his big ski pack for a smaller airbag pack,

One factor that might influence the fact that in the above situations the guides were not wearing an airbag, and the clients were, is that there are not that many large volume backpacks with airbags.
This is probably because cost and weight are already high for airbags, so keeping them smaller keeps those numbers low when someone is shopping for one.
The other reason for that is that by far the biggest market for airbags is lift served skiers in Europe. Those users want a small pack that doesn’t stick up high, but don’t care too much about weight.
Guides on the other hand, tend to have to carry more gear than their clients, so need a large volume pack, and need it light.