New Advances in Avalanche Safety Gear Save Lives
Posted by: Brad
Tags: avalanche, avalanche beacon, avalanche beacons, avalanche safety, digital avalanche beacon, digital avalanche beacons, safety
If one looks back over the last couple of years and sees how many lives have been saved by avalanche beacons and other advanced safety gear it is hard to believe that these devices were only really invented just a couple of decades ago. In the 1930 and 1940s a lot of work was done, mainly in Switzerland, by the army to try to figure out how to protect people from avalanche slides. The reason was that the Swiss never viewed their mountains as hostile. In fact their entire plan to defend the country against a Nazi invasion was based on the idea that the army would retreat into the mountains and fight from them. Any attackers foolish enough to follow them would soon be surrounded by thousands of crack shots skiing down from the tops of the peaks.
So it is not surprising that the first avalanche beacon was developed in Switzerland in 1940. This had a very short range and only picked up a signal at a range of about 10 meters. It took another 25 years for the technology to mature and in 1969 the Swiss did the first comparative test of some of the early models out there. The Swiss army paid for more research to produce what was eventually to become the Barryvox beacon, at the time the most powerful snow and avalanche rescue tool available.
Since those early starts the technology has moved forward in immense bounds and leaps. Today’s modern avalanche beacon has powerful digital processing and up to three antennae. This allows it to locate not just the direction but also the distance of an avalanche victim. The most advanced digital avalanche beacons can also sort through different signals, which is essential when several people have been buried. Some can even give an indication as to whether the victim is still alive. With such advances it seems that countless lives will be saved in future.