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ISPO News 2020 | Avalanche safety equipment

New avalanche transceivers from BCA and Arva, ABS reinvents itself, interesting snowpack scanner

by Lea Hartl 01/26/2020
BCA and ARVA will each be launching a new avalanche transceiver next season, although these are more likely to be overhauled versions of familiar models than fundamentally new inventions. The various airbag systems remain unchanged and are merely packaged in new colors. The only completely new feature appears to be a microwave scanner that records "snow profiles".

BCA - New: Tracker 4

Backcountry Access (BCA, part of K2) presents the fourth generation of the Tracker. The Tracker 2 is now a thing of the past and is no longer officially part of the product range. BCA's avalanche transceiver range now consists of the Tracker S, Tracker 3 and the new Tracker 4, whereby the Tracker S is a cheaper, functionally slightly slimmed-down version of the previous top model Tracker 3. With the Tracker 4, there is now a new high-end model that is equipped with various updates and improved features, but is deliberately based on the previous models in terms of handling and design: "Anyone who can operate a Tracker 3 should be able to use the Tracker 4 as before without having to get used to it."

The core of the innovations in the Tracker 4 is a faster processor that keeps the "Real Time Display" running even in the event of multiple spills. The range is the same as the Tracker 3. Apart from the processor update, the Tracker 4 has a brighter display compared to the Tracker 3 and the beeps are louder and clearer. There is also an optional autorevert function. An app for device management is currently being developed, but is not expected to be ready until 2022.

The BCA Float airbag backpacks have new colors but no major changes.

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ARVA - New: Neo Pro

The Evo 4 and 5 models will continue as before at Arva, but the Axio will no longer be available. The reason given for discontinuing the Axio was its expensive production and the problem that, although Arva manufactures in France, it purchases the small electronic parts it needs from the Asian market, which is designed for much larger order quantities than Arva requires. Instead, the Neo Pro is a new device that has been developed in close cooperation with the pisteurs of Tignes in Val D'Isere and is based on their wishes in some details. As there are several hundred guaranteed customers, this obviously pays off.

The most important innovation is the ability to switch flexibly to analog mode at the touch of a button. The reasoning behind this is that the signal search in analog mode is less susceptible to ghost signals. So if you don't have a signal immediately in an emergency, you can - as recommended - start searching for signals in analog mode and switch to digital mode when a clear signal is present. Being able to switch between modes quickly and easily at any time was probably a specific wish of the pisteurs. It is clear that this is less interesting for the average user: The Neo Pro is the high-priced model in the Arva LVS range and is aimed specifically at professional users. For comparison: With Mammut, the signal search initially takes place in analog mode without the user having to do anything. When searching further, it is possible to switch to analog mode if required, although this is not quite as easy as with the Arva Neo Pro. With Pieps, you first have to activate the analog mode with the app and can then also switch back and forth as required.

Other than that, the Neo Pro has the usual features for high-end models, as well as an autorevert function, a "stand-by mode" and the option to select a specific victim in the event of multiple burials. Similar to the Axio, a search strip width of 70m is specified for the Neo Pro and "slightly more in analog mode". As with all devices, it certainly makes sense to carry out a practical test to check how the range behaves in poor coupling conditions. In analog mode, as we know, only one antenna is searching.

The Reactor airbag system from Arva has not changed. There are now additional backpack models with interchangeable attachments and a corresponding base unit, a type of vest with a built-in mini backpack and special models for carrying explosives. The latter have bright orange attachments (no other differences to the other models were apparent to me) and are also primarily produced for mountain rescue and pisteurs in Tignes and Val D'Isere.

Arva also has revised shovels and probes in its range. The changes here are primarily of a color nature.

Expanded product care

At Pieps, we are primarily continuing with tried and tested products, for shovels, probes and other accessories as well as for the Jetforce backpacks and avalanche transceivers. In addition to the "big" models and DSP successors Pro BT (successor to DSP Pro) and Powder BT (successor to DSP Sport), there are still both the Pieps Micro Sensor and the Pieps Micro Button. Apparently there is a sufficiently large customer base for both the Button and the Sensor to offer both. Internally, too, it was not certain whether the Button would completely replace the Sensor and it was assumed that ski touring beginners in particular would like the Micro Sensor. Apparently, however, the opposite is now the case and many professional users prefer the Micro Sensor, for example when guiding.

In addition, from this season there will also be a Pieps Micro Race, which differs from the Micro Button only in a small color detail, "so that it visually matches the Race product range". The Race product range includes a minimalist lightweight backpack, a shovel without a telescopic style, etc.

All Pieps electronic devices (avalanche transceivers, i-Probe, JetForce) are now Bluetooth-enabled and, depending on the device, individual settings can be made and device updates carried out via the Pieps app. This offers various possibilities and advantages for different user groups - ski schools and mountain guide offices appreciate the option of saving the results of device tests as a pdf as additional security (proof that you have used functioning material) and the possibility of carrying out software updates without visiting the service center is pleasing for everyone.

Black Diamond continues to offer relabeled JetForce backpacks and avalanche transceivers (Pieps Pro BT = BD Guide BT, Pieps Powder BT = BD Recon BT)

There are no changes to the avalanche transceivers from Mammut and Ortovox and the airbag systems (Light Protection Airbag/ Removable Airbag at Mammut, Avabag at Ortovox) have not changed either. Mammut has new colors and a new 28l airbag model with a shorter back section (Light Protection Airbag), which is therefore more suitable for smaller wearers. Ortovox also has new colors and minor design changes to its backpacks.

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ABS - new look

ABS has been part of the Spin conglomerate since it was sold by the original owner and appeared at ISPO this year with a new look and in a kind of loose unit with clothing manufacturer Pyua and the Freeride Film Festival. The ABS airbag system has not changed, but the manageable backpack collection and the rest of the products have been completely redesigned as part of the rebranding. ABS has two new backpacks in its range, the A.Light and the A.Cross. Only the A.Light (10l, modularly expandable to 25l) has an airbag system. The well-known S.Cape and P.Ride models remain in the product range, but were not shown. Helly Hansen is the only manufacturer to install the ABS airbag system (in an airbag vest) in addition to ABS itself.

Both the A.Light and A.Cross have a special compartment in which you can stow a shovel, probe and first aid kit. You can open the compartment without taking off the backpack by pulling on a loop. If you use the ABS own shovel, probe, EH pack combo, the probe and EH pack can be clamped into the shovel blade so that everything falls out of the compartment at once and the individual parts don't fly around. The carrier system seems unusual, but I was assured that it works well.

Other than that, ABS has introduced a so-called "beacon". This is a kind of button that you can stick on skis, shovels or other equipment and which communicates with an app. This allows you to "track the location of your equipment", which is useful for checking whether you have packed everything in your car via the app, for example. However, this would probably require a beacon for each piece of equipment that you don't want to forget. The more interesting application option is probably searching for skis in deep powder.

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The others

The Alpride airbag system, which is mainly used by Scott, has not changed either. The various manufacturers have made minor changes to the backpacks that house the system. Ferrino exists as before and offers the usual backpacks with airbag, breathing system and Recco. As usual, Recco also offers various options for attaching Recco reflectors anywhere on the equipment, as well as the handheld Recco search device and the large, more powerful one that hangs on the helicopter as a large ball.

The Polish company Aerosize, which has already been represented at ISPO in recent years, has now finished developing its product and is only waiting for TÜV certification, which should come "in two to three weeks". It is an airbag system that makes do with a very small gas cartridge because only one type of frame is inflated with the cartridge. The remaining, unusually angular balloon is filled with aspirated air. Aerosize packages this system in a kind of backpack carrier without a backpack, which is intended to be worn in addition to other backpacks. We are curious to see whether Aerosize will actually make it onto the market soon and whether it will be well received there.

The very different: Avametrix

The American startup Avametrix with the AvyScanner was completely new and also well in the running in terms of new ideas. A mixed team of ski-touring, snow-loving entrepreneurs and young scientists at the University of Oklahoma's Radar Innovation Lab, which is quite large and reasonably well-known in specialist circles, have jointly developed a device that uses radar (ultra-wideband microwave) to scan the snow cover at the touch of a button, converts the result into an easily interpretable hardness profile and shows it on a display. According to Avametrix, the device has a range of at least 2 meters into the snow and sufficient resolution to detect thin, weak layers.

Aside from this core competence, the Avametrix gadget is also a GPS, inclinometer, compass and, with the help of a small extra part, a kind of mini weather station that measures temperature, humidity and theoretically even wind force. You should hang the "weather sensor" on the outside of your backpack so that you don't have to measure the weather in your jacket pocket. From a meteorological point of view, the weather outside your rucksack is indeed more representative than the weather in your jacket pocket, but it is not necessarily an optimal measurement either. All the information that the device measures is thrown into an artificial neural network, which then performs a bit of black box magic and somehow improves the hardness profile by a further step.

The main advantage of the AvyScanner over digital penetrometers (such as the Avatech probe) is said to be the comparatively lower price and the fact that you only have to hold the AvyScanner towards the snow. The American developers - who by nature are much more focused on snowpack analysis than on rule-based methods with 3x3 or Stop or Go - imagine that anyone who digs snow profiles could use an AvyScanner. However, there is probably most potential in the operations of ski resorts, which, as is typical in the USA, have to secure a lot of "inbounds" terrain.

The AvyScanner fits in normal jacket pockets and is about the size of a smartphone, but is heavier and slightly thicker. This is mainly due to the built-in Li-ion batteries, which are designed to ensure that the device works reliably even at very low temperatures. The broadband microwave scanner itself is small enough that it could be attached to a smartphone, for example, but according to the developers, this was not done because the battery drains too quickly on smartphones in outdoor use. The AvyScanner is currently undergoing various certification procedures. Allegedly, it will be launched on the market immediately afterwards; according to the company, the necessary capital is available. The device is said to cost around €700, or "about as much as an airbag backpack".

We are a little skeptical about the AvyScanner's suitability for mass use and would like to try it out for ourselves before we really believe in it. If it really works as advertised, it may not be able to replace manual profile digging, but it can provide very valuable additional information. The purpose of the neural network was somewhat vaguely defined. Either it's more about the buzzword, or they don't want to burden customers with the theory. However, the basic principle of the device seems conclusive, at least in theory, and if the whole thing can be implemented in a handy size (or perhaps at some point as a cell phone add-on) and reasonably affordable, that would be pleasing. We are eagerly following the further development of Avametrix.

Conclusion

After a fairly rapid development towards ever lighter airbag systems in recent years, things seem to have calmed down for the time being, or rather the cartridge systems are now all in a comparable weight range. In the case of avalanche transceivers, the reinvention of the wheel is also a long time coming. Although there are some optimizations and updates this year, there are no big leaps in new directions - in the past, things have gone wrong here and there and perhaps everyone has learned not to lean too far out of the window. What seems interesting is the partial return to the advantages of analog mode, which is now available as an optional feature from many manufacturers. As an independent avalanche transceiver manufacturer without a major clothing line or group of companies behind it, Arva seems to have to calculate carefully if it wants to keep going in the long term.

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This article has been automatically translated by DeepL with subsequent editing. If you notice any spelling or grammatical errors or if the translation has lost its meaning, please write an e-mail to the editors.

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