The boom in the winter backcountry over the past few decades has resulted in a corresponding golden age of new snow safety products, including avalanche transceivers with improved search capabilities, inflatable airbags, and even advanced communication systems to help more users coordinate their mountain adventures.
All of this has helped raise awareness of the importance of training in safety equipment and working with off-piste colleagues to maintain a shared sense of out-of-bounds.
People still trap slides, often with dire consequences, but also with greater chances of survival.
That’s what makes the latest news from Bolzano, Italy from avalanche safety gear brand Safeback so remarkable. Based on the results of clinical trials of its SBX avalanche survival system, published in Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA)people who use the program can greatly increase their recovery window after burial.
Changing the game
The study, led by Eurac Research’s Institute for Mountain Emergency Medicine, showed that the SBX system can increase the survival time of people buried in an avalanche by five times.
Admittedly, this depends on whether the victims of the slides are “spontaneously destroyed,” as the avy phrase says, due to severe trauma. Asphyxiation is a major cause of avalanche death, which the SBX system is designed to reduce.
According to Safeback, “SBX is a patented, battery-powered air pump system that uses the natural energy of snow to circulate fresh, breathable air from an ice bag behind the back buried in its face with the bag’s shoulder straps. This continuous air flow delays asphyxia, even in the absence of an air pack in recent studies, as shown.”
“Safeback was founded with a vision without a goal: a world without avalanche deaths,” said Tor Berge, Safeback’s CEO and co-founder. “By providing burial victims with continuous clean air, SBX helps buried victims stay alive longer, giving rescuers more time to reach them.”
“We know that survival depends on more than one tool,” said Berge. “That’s why SBX stands by continuing education, advanced security measures, and state-of-the-art rescue technology.”
Lesson
Conducted in 2023 with complete independence from Safeback, the study involved 24 volunteers being buried face down under 50 centimeters of frozen snow, which in itself sounds pretty terrifying.
Participants were randomly assigned to either a control group, using placebo SBX devices, or an SBX group, fitted with active SBX devices.
Key Findings from STOP-The research report published that in the control group, four of the 12 volunteers asked for the test to be stopped due to stress, and seven had their burial terminated after 6.4 minutes due to oxygen saturation falling below 80 percent, as required by the protocol.
In the SBX group, no participant buried with an active SBX device had the test stopped due to low oxygen saturation. Their average burial time was 35 minutes, reaching the length of time planned for the experiment.
The researchers noted, “In real-world situations, emergency responders or the victim’s friends would have had about five times as much time to respond (with SBX), and cardiac arrest would have occurred much later.”
Read the results of the JAMA study here.
Gear
Designed for convenience and reliability, the lightweight SBX unit (520g) has only three moving parts, taking up about 0.75L of the main compartment of the corresponding backpack.
Equipped with a T-shaped handle, similar to avalanche airbags, the SBX operates for 90 minutes at -22°F / -30°C using readily available Energizer Ultimate Lithium AA batteries.
The SBX is integrated with avalanche backpacks developed by leading outdoor brands. In a clinical trial, volunteers wore the Snow Pro Vest 8L from Db.
Currently, SBX-equipped backpacks are available from Db, Raide Research, and Bergans of Norway through specialized dealers. In February 2023, Safeback was granted a US Patent for the SBX Avalanche Survival System.