The top dogs of the snow and avalanche field gather every two years at the International Snow Science Workshop. This year the ISSW was held in October 2010 in Squaw Valley, California. Practitioners and academics from around the world discuss the latest knowledge and technology, and this year, the dominant topic was avalanche airbags.

Avalanche airbags are backpacks worn in avalanche terrain. If the airbag wearer gets caught in an avalanche, they pull a trigger on the backpack’s shoulder strap and a compressed gas cylinder inflates a balloon. The inflated airbag increases the victim’s volume to keep them from being buried. The process works like shaking a bowl of mixed nuts – the larger Brazil nuts rise to the top. See JB Brockman’s review of the three main airbag manufacturers.

Airbags dominated the ISSW because they work. Consider this: If you’re avalanched and get buried you have a 48-percent chance of surviving. If you’re avalanched and don’t get buried you have a 96-percent chance of surviving. In other words, to survive an avalanche, don’t get buried.

Avalanche Witch Doctor
Recent statistics show that airbags effectively prevent burial. Bruce Tremper, in his impressive book Staying Alive in Avalanche Terrain, notes that normally 10-percent of people caught in avalanches die. With avalanche airbags, only 1.5-percent die. Some ways of viewing the statistics show airbags work ten times better than beacon, shovel, and probes combined. The ABS website boasts that of 106 people avalanched with airbags, 105 survived. Ten percent were fully buried, yet their airbag was visible, and the victims were quickly recovered. The single airbag fatality occurred when a subsequent avalanche buried the victim.

Airbags also reduce death by trauma by protecting the head. In the US, 25-percent of avalanche victims die from trauma. Airbags keep victims floating higher in the moving debris, further from rocks and trees. Snowpulse airbags wrap around the victim’s head with a horseshoe collar, adding more trauma protection than ABS or BCA airbags.

The Obvious Problem
Airbags are not a panacea though. They have obvious problems. While the ABS airbag has two independent airbags, the BCA Float 30 and Snowpulse airbags have a single air chamber. When tumbling down an avalanche it’s easy to see popping one bag on a rock or tree. Another problem is the airbags restrict your field of view, especially with the wraparound design of the Snowpulse airbag. Wide peripheral vision is important for escaping an avalanche once it’s started.

If you’ve just triggered a slab avalanche the first step is to try and escape by skiing or riding off the slab. If that’s not possible, then hold onto the bed surface or fight your way to the edge. Don Sharaf, an Alaska heli-ski guide and owner of the American Avalanche Institute said, “I’ve been caught five times, but I’ve always been able to get out.” This becomes drastically difficult with a 150-cubic liter balloon attached to your pack. “They have so much surface area for the snow to push on. You’re going as far as that debris is. I’d rather focus on staying out of them.” On a more humorous note, Sharaf said, “There are certain situations where deploying it may not be a good thing. We’ve had clients engage them in a slough.”

The Not-So Obvious Problem
When avalanche beacons were introduced in the 1970’s people thought they would save lives. But avalanche deaths increased. Why? One explanation is risk homeostasis, where people maintain a constant level of risk in their activities; too little risk and things get boring, too much risk and things get scary. If people get airbags they will up the ante and ride more avalanche-prone slopes. They might say, “I have a beacon, shovel, probe, avalung and airbag. For sure I’m hitting this powder-covered avalanche terrain.” We could take comedian George Carlin’s advice for safer driving: Instead of seatbelts every driver should have a sharp knife pointing from the steering wheel toward their chest.

What To Do?
If you can afford an airbag, and have the strength to haul it up the mountain, or have mechanized access to the off piste, then yes, get an avalanche airbag. But keep in mind, airbags won’t save your life. If you think like a human, and put “airbag” into your Go/No Go equation for skiing a 38-degree field of blower powder, then you’ll gain no additional help from an airbag.

If you ask the heaviest of heavy dogs at the ISSW about airbags, you’ll get some form of this answer: Have the latest avalanche safety gear, including an airbag. Practice using this avalanche safety gear like your life depends on it. Then travel in avalanche terrain like none of it works.

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