See an avalanche airbag in simulated use. By deploying in just a few micro-seconds, this device reduces the specific gravity of the wearer / user relative to the snowpack around them, in the unlikely event of being trapped in an avalanche. It allows a skiier or winter adventurer to be possibly jetissoned to the top of the snow mass and thus be rescued based on a visual signal or then the AM/FM transmitters that it carries on it. A helicopter rescue is also possible, as the signals can be collected from the air, and the yellow colour of the airbag immediately attracts attention.
It essentially reduces your density making you less likely to be buried by more dense snow.
Chunni Lal Thakur demonstrates the use of the airbag that Roderick Mackenzie has developed for the use of his heli-skiiers on Himacal Helicopter Skiing, in Manali, Himachal Pradesh, India.
A spade is also present in the lightweight backpack package, to help a potentially trapped skiier help his colleagues dig their way out, assuming he or she can come out in the first place!
According to Roddy Mackenzie's www.himachal.com :
"In the event of a victim being caught in an avalanche, two factors are relevant. The first is to try to avoid burial. The second is fast location and extraction of the victim in the event that burial does occur. HHA / HSS has developed two devices to improve the chances of avalanche victims.
(a) The first is a new incarnation of the well-known and proven device called an avalanche bag. These devices are based on the "lighter than snow " principle which was first publicised in 1984 in East Germany. Avalanche debris is an air-particle fluid. The lowest density of the debris is about 0.4. Humans have a density around 1.0. Therefore, we sink in the avalanche debris. The "lighter than snow" principle involves attaching the victim to a bag with negligible mass and large volume in order to reduce the net density of the victim. This principle has been shown to work well. The bag folds into a small pack and is inflated from a compressed gas source.
HHA has developed the avalanche bags beyond the existing state-of-the-art to include:
Increased air/snow filter area, over forty times larger than any other system.
No pyrotechnic triggering system (civilian flying with pyrotechnics is generally illegal).
Pressure testing can be done at our base. No error-prone weighing to confirm charge.
Each unit contains its own avalanche probe and shovel.
Light weight and small, 3.5 kg per unit.
Very comfortable. Can be worn comfortably even while seated in the helicopter.
Increased bag volume: 190 litres.
Cylinders refillable at our base. Other systems require replacement cylinders from Europe.
US Department of Transport certified cylinder, legal to carry charged in aircraft.
Can be carried in international transit aircraft without pressure inside the cylinder.
(b) In addition to the avalanche bag, we have developed a new transmitter system for avalanche rescue. This device, made specially to the design of HHA, is used in conjunction with the standard avalanche beacons.
It has a number of major advantages.
Each guest has a separate frequency which we can search for individually.
The searching range of the device is much better than any other beacon. Instead of the standard 60 metres, our new device can be directionally detected at 15 kilometres.
The device is completely waterproof with a magnetic switch that cannot be accidentally turned off in the field.
During tests, we were able to locate five units over an area of 20 square kilometres in 16 minutes STARTING FROM OUR BASE! This is an immense improvement in searching systems.
This system has a new innovation- a motion detector- which guides carry. If the motion detector is still for 20 seconds (as in the case of a completely buried person), an alarm will sound in the helicopter. This means that even if an entire group is buried without making any alarm calls by radio, the helicopter will begin a "roll-call" of the guides within thirty seconds of the avalanche stopping.
No other heliskiing operation has any of these devices. They were designed and made by HHA and no other operation is likely to get them in the near future."
This footage is part of the professionally-shot broadcast stock footage archive of Wilderness Films India Ltd., the largest collection of HD imagery from South Asia. The Wilderness Films India collection comprises of tens of thousands of hours of high quality broadcast imagery, mostly shot on HDCAM 1080i High Definition, HDV and XDCAM. Write to us for licensing this footage on a broadcast format, for use in your production! We are happy to be commissioned to film for you or else provide you with broadcast crewing and production solutions across South Asia. We pride ourselves in bringing the best of India and South Asia to the world... Reach us at wfi @ vsnl.com and admin@wildfilmsindia.com.
