MSR data logger in use for avalanche airbag test

Can special backpacks prevent avalanche victims? A test by the Swiss consumer magazine K-Tipp shows: The emergency systems are perfectly usable.

Anyone who gets caught in an avalanche and is buried has poor chances of survival. This is shown by figures from the WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research (SLF) in Davos GR: if the head is buried in the masses of snow, every second victim suffocates. In the last three years, 68 people have died in avalanches in Switzerland. Victims have the best chance of survival if they are found and rescued within the first 15 minutes. It is therefore crucial that avalanche victims are found quickly. And they must not be buried too deep in the snow. This is where the two modern avalanche emergency systems tested by K-Tipp come in:

• The airbag system: it works with inflatable air cushions. They ensure that the victim floats on top of the masses of snow, i.e. is buried less deeply. K-Tipp tested two products in this category: the ABS model inflates two side airbags, while the Snowpulse creates a neck/head ruff. Both models have to be deployed manually. They are carried in special backpacks.
• The Avalanche Ball: According to its own advertising, the Avalanche Ball is "the world's fastest locating system for avalanche victims". Anyone caught in an avalanche must also pull a ripcord. A spring then deploys a red ball. This is connected to the buried victim with a cord. Because the ball remains on the avalanche surface, the victim can be found quickly.

But how good are these lifesavers, which cost up to 1200 francs? K-Tipp wanted to find out in a large-scale practical test (see "How we tested" below). The result: both airbag models performed well. On the one hand, this is due to their good visibility, i.e. the fact that the airbag plus at most one part of the body was always clearly visible when the testers were searching for their dummies after the avalanche had subsided. The airbag systems are also a useful survival aid in terms of burial depth. However, they cannot always prevent a life-threatening burial - even if the manufacturers suggest the opposite.

However, the test showed that only in 6 out of 14 cases was the head of the test dummies - and thus the mouth and nose - buried deeper than ten centimeters. In two cases, the maximum burial depth was 40 centimetres. ABS spokesperson Julia Schmideder says: "Test dummies are more likely to be completely buried as they cannot move." By comparison, the test dummies without an emergency system were buried to a depth of 85 centimetres. In most cases, no part of the body protruded from the snow - search and rescue would therefore have taken much longer. The avalanche ball cut off just enough. It was immediately visible in each case. However, because the ball cannot flush the avalanche victim upwards, the mouth and nose were between 10 and 70 centimetres deep in the snow.

"The avalanche ball was developed so that everyone can find everyone immediately," says avalanche ball spokesperson Daniela Venier. Another result of the test: the Snowpulse airbag can at best protect against injuries in the neck area. This is indicated by the measurements with sensors. Its airbags are not positioned on the side of the body, but around the neck and head. The risk of losing consciousness may be lower with the Snowpulse than with the ABS airbag and the avalanche ball. This is why they were downgraded by a quarter of a grade.
All of these devices have to be triggered manually. This is a disadvantage: anyone who panics when an avalanche starts or is unable to pull the release handle for other reasons loses the benefits of their emergency system. Furthermore, neither system can prevent injuries caused by stones being carried away. Nor do they offer any protection if the avalanche hurls the victim down a rock face. It is much more important not to take any unnecessary risks and to avoid an avalanche accident as far as possible.

The K-Tip test is the world's largest independent test of avalanche emergency systems in the last ten years. It took place over two days at the end of February in the Flüela Pass area. The test was carried out in collaboration with the WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research (SLF).
Human-sized mannequins weighing around 80 kilograms with movable limbs served as test objects. They were each exposed to an avalanche four times (on four different slopes). The Davos/Klosters rescue team triggered the avalanches with explosive charges.
Three manikins were each equipped with one of the test systems, one comparison manikin was not wearing an emergency system. The three dummies were exposed with the airbag triggered or with the avalanche ball deployed. After the avalanche, the SLF experts assessed the visibility of the emergency system, body and head and measured the burial depth.
The risk of injury was also assessed. Special MSR145 data loggers measured the acceleration in the neck area.