
How avalanche air bags work in theory/ABS Technology
Possibility safety gear might up danger
Thirty-two-year-old Eric Walter was wearing an avalanche airbag when he triggered a snowslide in Denali National Park early this month, National Park Service officials have now revealed.
He did not survive despite being outfitted with what has been a widely considered a revolutionary piece of avalanche safety gear.
The story paid lip service to the fact that “the best way to survive an avalanche is to prevent being caught in one altogether by applying proper decision-making skills when selecting descents.” but added that “this is not always the case due to the extremely unpredictable nature of avalanches.
“That’s why having an avalanche airbag is so crucial. Because although they tend to be pricey, no amount of money is ever too much when you consider the fact that it could be the deciding factor as to whether you live or die.”
Early data on airbags coupled with regular reports of airbags saving lives have led some, if not many, to think of the bags as near foolproof.
The story came complete with Wessel’s self-shot video of her being caught in the snowslide.
“Looking back, I am grateful for this experience, and everything I learnt from it,” she said. “I am grateful to come out of this with no injuries. I am grateful to have equipment I trust and know how to use. I am grateful for my team who makes me feel safe and supported.”
Far from perfect
There is no doubt airbags have saved lives, but as James Pavelick writes at Rise & Alpine, “airbag marketing companies latched on to the 97 percent survival rate of those wearing an airbag. But, these numbers can be spun in all sorts of different ways….”
And newer research has raised questions about just how effective the bags.
The latter issue – risk compensation – is a problem too often ignored with safety gear in general though it has often been noted in studies of why safety gear isn’t working as well as hoped.
Researchers who in 2007 ran children ages seven to 12 through an obstacle course with and without safety gear concluded that “the time it took the child to run through the course and the number of reckless behaviors (e.g., falls, trips, bumping into things) that the child made while running the course…indicated that children went more quickly and behaved more recklessly when wearing safety gear than when not wearing gear, providing evidence of risk compensation.”
The researchers reported conducting “an extensive online survey including a discrete choice experiment to approach the topic of avalanche airbags and risk compensation from multiple perspectives. Our study sample consists of 163 airbag owners and 243 non-owners mainly from Switzerland, Germany, and Austria.
“The analyses of the survey responses provide both indirect and direct evidence that risk compensation in response to avalanche airbags is likely within at least certain segments of the recreational backcountry and out-of-bounds skiing population.
“Finally, our analysis of avalanche involvement rates with and without airbags offers the most direct evidence that more thrill-seeking backcountry users are taking higher risks when equipped with airbags.”
Vital equipment but….
The researchers conceded that the airbags designed to float their wearers to the surface in the event they are caught in an avalanche are one of the best means of preventing deaths in such incidents.
But they went on to warn that because of the way airbags are viewed “the topic of risk compensation should be included in avalanche awareness courses and discussed in avalanche airbag support documentation and user manuals to increase the awareness of the potential among users.
“Risk-taking in the backcountry is a personal choice, but recreationalists should have the necessary information about the direct and potential indirect effects of safety devices to make informed decisions.”
The researchers noted that 96 percent of the airbag-owning skiers and snowboarders asked their reason for buying a bag responded that a “higher chance of survival (WAS) important or very important for their purchase.”
Walter would likely be classed among that group. All indications are that he obtained an airbag in the interest of safety, but it couldn’t save him.
Walter’s cause of death has not been reported. He could have died as the result of blunt force trauma in being tumbled down the mountain or ended up suffocating face down in the avalanche rubble even though his airbag deployed.
The latter would be especially unfortunate given that in such situations people are regularly saved by their ski and snowboard companions. Walter was alone, but he probably thought he was safe right up until the time he wasn’t.
He was skiing a north-facing slope, according to reports, and north-facing slopes, which are exposed to less sunlight than south-facing slopes, are generally the safer slopes to ski in Alaska in May, and he was wearing that airbag.
He had reasons to believe he’d minimized the risks of dying in an avalanche. But, as it turned out, he hadn’t. Unfortunately, no one will ever know how much the airbag influenced Walter’s decision to challenge a slope along the Denali Park Road on the day he died because he isn’t alive to answer that critical and lingering question.
Categories: Commentary, News, Outdoors
I purchased an inflatable vest for horseback riding after falling the past couple years and breaking bones in legs, back, ribs & clavicle. I don’t know anyone here whose had them deploy but those in my 60+ group are going more towards them for same reasons. I’m more careful but more accident prone lately.
Maybe you should amp down the horseback riding. It’s way more dangerous than cycling from my experience with a daughter who rode jumpers at the 5-foot fence level, which always looked like an ideal way to break bones. And I know you like to cycle!
The most exhaustive airbag study to date, by Pascal Haegeli et. al., concludes that an airbag will double your chances of survival. Basically, 1 in 10 will die if wearing one and 2 in 10 will die without wearing one, according to that study. In a subsequent study on risk compensation, Haegeli concluded that the benefits of airbags outweigh the effects of risk compensation, a behavior he said was limited to the “thrillseeking” user demographic.
The most important piece of “safety equipment” to bring along is a partner. This is stressed in all avalanche courses and safety equipment user manuals. Sometimes an airbag simply reduces the burial depth so your partner can excavate you in less time. But in this case there was no partner. I will never ski tour without an airbag or a partner. It’s not fair to blame the airbag manufacturers, if that’s what you’re trying to do.
Who said anything about blaming manufacturers? And I seriously disagree with your opinion as to the “most important piece of safety equipment.” That would be good judgment. I’ve been with partners that increased rather than decreased the risk. And everyone in the guide business is familiar with those sorts of partners/clients.
Well said Mr Medred!
As youth I would go anywhere there was snow rocks or dirt recklessly.
An avalanche would have just been a good time.
If Id used an air bag it would have just encouraged me to max my risk taking to the ludicrous. Fear did not exist.
I was certain I could sprout wings and fly in a pinch.
What I needed was good judgment.
That’s even more important than training.
Now I don’t need an air bag because im just not going to do something where an avalanche has odds of occurring. Why be stupid and tempt fate.
If i took a bag it would just lure me into doing stupid stuff again.
I suspect this is part of why motorists drive stupid.
Airbags and full coverage insurance. Idk
Exactly!
Partners could also trigger the avalanche that kills you… it’s a double edge sword.
Not as many successful dig outs as the avalanche course people would like you to believe.
As an ex-enjoyer of motorcycles and a survivor of dumping two, I vaguely remembered talk of “airbag” motorcycle jackets. I’m very content to no longer ride.
“Motorcycle airbag vests, jackets, and suits utilize cutting-edge technology and materials in order to detect a crash and deploy a protective system within fractions of a second. Explore our full airbag race suits for use on the track and aggressive, high-speed riding. These leathers offer the comprehensive protection of a full race suit along with the added benefit of an airbag system, so you have the best armor against abrasion and impact without sacrificing performance.”
Wonder how many “Crotch Rocket” owners believed these contributed to their invulnerability rather than to their deaths?
So Walker was wearing an airbag. But did he actually deploy it?
That’s what the NPS says.
Well written. See the earliest study in this field by Gerald Wilde in a book called Target Risk.
Very nice article.
Thank you.