gear rumors 18/19

[Ghini]

Yeah, my understanding from talking to the girl at the booth is that you get two pulls on a fully charged system, then you need to recharge it either by replacing the AA batteries or plugging it in with a USB cable. Supposedly you'll be able to charge it on a power pack or Goal Zero type device.

Only one pack body for next year, and it's a pretty slimmed down/minimalist 30L version. No separate avy tools compartment, not much suspension, etc. They clearly wanted to publish the lowest possible weight on the first iteration. Still, cool technology, and I'll be interested once there are more choices for pack bodies.

I send Alpride a message and got a reply from the founder Marc-Antoine. He gave me this info:
" ~, with two alcaline AA battery you can charge 2 time the supercapacitors, it means 3 inflations if you put new AA battery after full charging of the supercapacitor. If you use two ithium AA (non rechargable) you can charge 5 times = 6 inflations. Best Regards Marc-Antoine"

This is impressive stuff. Other electric airbag designers should scratch their heads..

[smooth operator]

There is also a V-werks mantra. But looking at the description on the picture it seems they went for the new M5 shape, with rocker/camber/rocker. Too bad.

[TahoeJ]

The black crows regular Corvus goes reverse camber next year. will the freebird version too?

Their freebird line tends to always match, so I'd say it's highly likely. It's a smart call - I was literally just choosing between the Anima freebird and Corvus freebird and went with the anima because of the reverse camber since it's for a strictly powder BC setup. The Corvus 109 underfoot was appealing but I didn't want that much camber on a ski being used for that purpose.

[grskier]

There is also a V-werks mantra. But looking at the description on the picture it seems they went for the new M5 shape, with rocker/camber/rocker. Too bad.

As opposed to all rocker?

[dcpnz]

New Fischer Ranger Free announced today. Looks to be pretty good competition for the Atomic XTD.

https://www.fischersports.com/us_en/...ts/ranger-free

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using TGR Forums mobile app

Curious if this boot was on display at sia.
Anyone see it or better get to try it? Reports? Impressions (vs XTD, new tecnica zero g)?

Edit: that link doesn’t go where it used to go - maybe this one better.

https://www.fischersports.com/us_en/...18#ranger-free

[ryan b]

new ATK wizzardry
https://www.instagram.com/p/BegLyWEBm4D/

That big vertical pin in the heal piece must be what keeps the heal in laterally? And require a hole drilled or socket installed in the bottom of the boot heal?

Interesting and simple approach but I definitely wonder about boot compatibility and ice/mud packing in the hole.

[Andyski]

So like a fatter daemon?

And stiffer tip. Haven’t handled the Daemon, but all reviews say the tip is super soft. A Corvus flex profile on a fatter version of that shape would be sweet. Perhaps really similar to a Volkl BMT 108, which is also reverse camber, for the freebird version and a metal katana in the standard layup.

[smooth operator]

As opposed to all rocker?

yes or the old cambered profile. I am really digging the v-werks katana profile. Could see a place for a similar, but narrower ski. Not when it has tail rocker though.

[zion zig zag]

That big vertical pin in the heal piece must be what keeps the heal in laterally? And require a hole drilled or socket installed in the bottom of the boot heal?

Interesting and simple approach but I definitely wonder about boot compatibility and ice/mud packing in the hole.

I just assumed that was for demo purposes to push the boot out of the heel. They had something attached to the toe to show release too.

[grskier]

yes or the old cambered profile. I am really digging the v-werks katana profile. Could see a place for a similar, but narrower ski. Not when it has tail rocker though.

The tail rocker in rocker - camber - rocker skis is usually pretty minimal...
I still think rocker and camber skis are the most versatile that I've skied, especially in that high 90 to 110mm ish range.

[mtnjam]

So with the airpack industry going toward a multi use system, what are the odds that BCA has something new in their bag of tricks. All I could find out so far about BCA is that they have a 2.0 Float Engine (whatever that means).

So, will BCA get on board the electronic inflation market or still be stuck with their single use/recharge canister system? Maybe a combination of some sort of compressor on the pack that recharges a cylinder, seems heavy though.

[adrenalated]

I'm not sure I would say "the airpack industry is going towards a multi use system." Most manufacturers for airbag packs continue to use compressed gas systems.
BCA, Mammut/Snowpulse, Ortovox, ABS, Arva, and Scott all still make cartridge packs. Except for Scott, they are cartridge packs exclusively.
BD, Arc'teryx, and Scott are the only ones with fan based systems.

I don't have any idea if BCA is developing a fan system or not, but next year is still compressed air cartridges.

What is new for BCA next year is discontinuation of the Tracker 1 (fkn finally), a new Tracker S beacon (slightly simplified Tracker 3, will be offered along with the Tracker 2 and Tracker 3), and a revised BCA-Link radio (changes to the mic attachment and controls)

[mtnjam]

^^ gotcha, seems to me like the trend is going that way though...

Next few years should be interesting for airbag packs.

How about a drone rescue pack...flys you out of a slide and back to a safe zone and automatic skins

[summit]

a revised BCA-Link radio (changes to the mic attachment and controls)

and smaller

[TahoeJ]

They say a huge percentage of those caught in slides never deploy their bags due to lack of practice. So being able to do that without ridiculous canister re-fills makes a hell of a lot of sense.

[summit]

They say a huge percentage of those caught in slides never deploy their bags due to lack of practice.

Source?

[bodywhomper]

YUGE

[adrenalated]

Source?

Yeah this is news to me.

I deployed my bag the other day in preparation for a trip. I've test deployed the bag many times, but this might have been the first time I did it with all my gear on, while skiing. I did miss the handle on the first try but still got it very quickly. So there's something to be said for practice (REAL practice), for sure.

That said I am unaware of statistics stating that a "huge percentage of those caught in slides never deploy their bags due to lack of practice" and even if there is one, it's very likely unreliable since slides that don't result in serious injury or death are massively under-reported.

[TahoeJ]

Ok, huge was an overstatement you drama queens. Pretty sure the study I read said 25% which is still pretty substantial- I will try to find it.

[I've seen black diamonds!]

"Overall non-inflation rate is 20%, 60% of which is attributed to deployment failure by the user.

https://www.wildsnow.com/18262/avala...stics-metrics/

[summit]

"Overall non-inflation rate is 20%, 60% of which is attributed to deployment failure by the user.

https://www.wildsnow.com/18262/avala...stics-metrics/

Those are still quite significant numbers... next I am curious to know if failure by the user means failure to maintain the pack, failure to wear the pack correctly, failure to unstow and arm the trigger, or just failure to pull the trigger.

Unfortunately I can't access the actual article (ERC Journal Resuscitation) until tomorrow.

[I've seen black diamonds!]

Those are still quite significant numbers... next I am curious to know if failure by the user means failure to maintain the pack, failure to wear the pack correctly, failure to unstow and arm the trigger, or just failure to pull the trigger.

Unfortunately I can't access the actual article (ERC Journal Resuscitation) until tomorrow.

"The overall non-inflation rate in the sample of airbag users was
20% (61/307). Information on suspected causes of non-inflations
was available for 52 cases: 60% (31/52) were attributed to deployment
failure by users, 12% (6/52) to maintenance errors (e.g.,
canister not attached properly), 17% (9/52) to device failures
(i.e., performance issues that resulted in design and/or production
revisions) and 12% (6/52) to destruction of the airbag during
involvements. Relative to the total number of users, the rate of
airbags destroyed in involvements was 2% (6/307) and the rate of
device failures was 3% (9/307)."

"The absolute mortality reduction was −23 percentage
points for users with inflated airbags and −17 percentage points
when non-inflations were taken into account"

"Avalanche airbags are a valuable avalanche safety device, but
the impact on mortality is lower than previously reported and
they do not guarantee survival. Non-deployment remains the
most considerable limitation to effectiveness."

[I've seen black diamonds!]

Happy to send the article PDF to anyone who wants it.

[TahoeJ]

Right. So while I said huge because I was drinking a beer and typing on my iPhone I should have said significant. That’s a significant amount in my book.

[I've seen black diamonds!]

Right. So while I said huge because I was drinking a beer and typing on my iPhone I should have said significant. That’s a significant amount in my book.

Yup. Would love to see if it varies by brand. Is there a handle design that works better? Do people hesitate to pull electric bags less?