Avalanche Safety Device tested

[WARY]

Hello All, newbies here.

Last Sunday Feb 5 through Friday the 10th we conducted testing of an avalanche safety device in the Selkirk Mountains near Revelstoke, British Columbia. The device we were testing was a 3 cubic foot inflated nylon bladder attached to a crash test dummy by a chest harness. Last year in three separate class 2 avalanche tests we found our dummy partially buried on the surface of the avalanche debris field with the nylon lift bag completely exposed on the surface. This year’s test results were quite different.

In the first avalanche the two dummies (one dummy with an attached lift bag, and a control dummy with no lift bag) were placed on the top of the mountain, just beneath a rather large cornice. We bombed the cornice and dropped the snow just uphill of the dummies. Unfortunately the result was a rather large class 3 avalanche. The dummy with the lift bag attached (Adam) traveled approximately 3000 feet downhill at approximately 110 miles per hour. He slammed into a 4 foot diameter pine tree, wedged against it and was buried by 2 meters of very heavy snow. It took several hours to extract him. His head was completely torn off, his legs were both missing from the knees down, and both arms were torn off. The lift bag was still attached and torn open. The speed and the size of the avalanche were estimated by the avalanche control people we hired for the bombing, so we feel those estimates are good. The dummies we use are the same ones used by Fire Departments for training purposes, so they are quite durable.

Eve, the dummy without the lift bag attached, was found 100 meters straight uphill from Adam. She was face down, head uphill, and completely buried under one foot of snow. Both of Eve’s legs were torn off, as well as both her arms. The avalanche snapped off several 40 foot pine trees, and everyone agreed it was not a survivable avalanche for a human. The debris field was about 400 meters across down in the valley.

We can only surmise that the lift bag carried Adam further down the hill before he slammed into the tree and stopped.

The second avalanche test produced another class 3 slide where the dummies took another 3000 foot ride while dropping down a 100 meter rock chute before launching off a 100 meter cliff. The dummies were found 50 meters apart with Adam uphill from Eve, and both dummies buried under 2 meters of snow. The lift bag was missing from Adam, and his torso was retired from service.

The third and final avalanche test produced a class three avalanche with a 4000 foot runout. Unfortunately, after several failed attempts to bring down the mountain, the 50 pound bomb punched through the cornice, landed right next to Eve and blew her to kingdom come. A team will be flying into the area this spring before the grizzly bears emerge to locate and remove the various arms, legs, torsos and heads. We spotted Eve’s airborne torso in one frame of film, so we do think she will be recovered.

We dropped our lift bag strength from 420 denier nylon (420 cross stitches per square inch) to 200 denier this year in order to conserve weight, and we put our dummies in unsurvivable locations. The plan is to return to 420 denier nylon, and to place our dummies lower on the slopes, rather than at the tops of the mountains. Although skier and snowmobile triggered avalanches often place the victim at the very top of the avalanche as it starts, we start our slides by dumping cornices, and we just don’t feel that dropping tons of snow onto test dummies is realistic.

Any comments would be appreciated.

[Core Shot]

The third and final avalanche test produced a class three avalanche with a 4000 foot runout. Unfortunately, after several failed attempts to bring down the mountain, the 50 pound bomb punched through the cornice, landed right next to Eve and blew her to kingdom come. A team will be flying into the area this spring before the grizzly bears emerge to locate and remove the various arms, legs, torsos and heads. We spotted Eve’s airborne torso in one frame of film, so we do think she will be recovered.


Please post pics.

How does your product differ from the traditional Lawinen airbag? Is your attachment system not as strong? what failed that caused the bag to be ripped off (sounds like the bag itself shredded)?

Number one lesson: Large Class 3 avy's are freaking powerful.
How deep was the crown? how wide was the slide?

[FrankZappa]

Please post pics.



Seconded.


Will there be a memorial service for Adam & Eve?:wink:

[L7]

We can only surmise that the lift bag carried Adam further down the hill before he slammed into the tree and stopped.



Although this is a strong possibility would it not be more prudent to assume this is only one possibility and needs more study. There are many variables although the lift bag could be the problem. A still inflated bag would likely decrease the travel and maybe testing of the effects of a torn bag vs inflated vs no bag would help to prove that. While the benefits are what you want to prove the hazards are something you also should be fully aware of. I'm sure the heavier bag prevents most or all deflations but knowing the effect of the deflated bag would still be beneficial. Perhaps a smaller bag of the lighter material would still offer the benefits and be less likely to tear and pose less of a problem if it did deflate.

I have no real idea and you may have considered all of these things already but you asked so I'm just brain stem storming.

[TurxSki]

Any comments would be appreciated.
Wow ! :eek:
Wouldn't want to be a dummy for you guys.
So you don't want "da bears" playing with the dummies parts ? Could make for some fine news photo's ;)

I guess the bladders described are similar to the self-inflating avi-backpacks mentioned elsewhere on these forums ?
Expensive ($500US or so ?), and Canadian.

[bad_roo]

"Adam traveled approximately 3000 feet downhill at approximately 110 miles per hour. He slammed into a 4 foot diameter pine tree, wedged against it and was buried by 2 meters of very heavy snow. It took several hours to extract him. His head was completely torn off, his legs were both missing from the knees down, and both arms were torn off."

But apart from that he was OK? This bag system sounds a winner. Where can I buy one?

[jtwassoc]

This is a much smaller version of an avalanche lifting system than what is currently out there in backpack form. Last year we had great results with three class 2 avalanches and our dummy ended up on "top" of the debris field after the slides. This year our equipment got tooled by the slides. We cut back on the thickness of our lift bag in order to conserve weight and it cost us. Next year we will return to the thicker 420 denier nylon lift bags.

[jtwassoc]

.....more pics......

[jtwassoc]

...one more, more to come.....

[FrankZappa]

Thanks for pics!
Yikes!

[Core Shot]

http://tetongravity.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=10582&d=1140562636

http://tetongravity.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=10583&d=1140562655

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[bad_roo]

Adam's looking a bit down on his luck in that picture.

[Core Shot]

Adam's looking a bit down on his luck in that picture.

Its only a flesh wound.

[Free Range Lobster]

Were they "testing the device" or trying to blow up the mountain?!

[Arno]

Were they "testing the device" or trying to blow up the mountain?!
whatever, it looks like fun:D

[jtwassoc]

Avalanche Three was a big bust. We retired Adam after avalanche test number two and went with just Eve wearing a lift bag for the third avy. Unfortunately the bomb landed right next to her. You can see her torso taking a ride in this pic......

[jtwassoc]

closer look at Eve's torso.....

[LeeLau]

This stuff is killer. Maybe an inflatable sumo suit would work?

[berko]

So, if I may, it seems that your results point to the fact that in the event of a large avalanche, blowing oneself up will reduce the chance of burial.

Way to think out of the box. :D

[FrankZappa]

I think Eve's gonna need a new Bogner.
& is Adam using the latest Pantsuit for convicts?

[Steven S. Dallas]

Way to think out of the box. :D

I'm pretty sure they blew up the box, too.

[berko]

http://www.mustangmods.com/data/10900/brilliant.jpg

Brilliant!

[jtwassoc]

Here's a sequence of the device being inflated on Eve just prior to the avalanche.

This first pic is at ignition......

[jtwassoc]

Here it is at 1/2 second........

[jtwassoc]

.....and at 1 second elapsed time.....

[jtwassoc]

Here it is at 1 and a half seconds......

[jtwassoc]

....and at 2 seconds inflation time.

[jtwassoc]

If you take a look at our lift bag it differs from the other avalanche lifting devices now in use in a couple different ways.

First off it is significantly smaller than other systems. We found in last year’s tests that the 3 cubic foot lift bag put the test dummy at the leading edge of the stopped avalanche, and always off to one side or the other of the slide. The lift bags were always completely exposed above the surface of the snow, and the dummies all had a hand or an arm visible above the snow. The dummies were buried horizontal to the surface under 6 to 8 inches of snow. All of the mountain guides and ski-patrollers helping with the test felt that they would have been able to dig themselves out, and these people had been in avalanches themselves. When we used larger 20 cubic foot lift bags attached to 650 pound snowmobiles we were able to put the snowmobiles completely on top of the debris field after the avalanches (video at www.warisite.com). The point being that the magic number of cubic feet needed to put a human on top of the snow is somewhere between 3 and 10 cubic feet of expanded CO2 gas, but anything more than 3 cubic feet of bottled gas is too large to carry on your hip or on a chest harness, and our device is housed in a soft sided pouch that can be attached to your backpack waistbelt or worn with a chest harness.

A second difference is the shape of the lift bag. Our device is taurus or donut shaped. The hole in the donut positions itself over your face, providing your head with some protection. As well our device is worn in front of the user, positioning the victim in a face-up manner after the avalanche. We are putting together prototypes that have handles on each side that MIGHT allow a victim (hate to even throw this out there) to steer their way down the avalanche. OK, OK, that sounds totally crazy, but lifting devices tend to propel the victim to the leading edge of the moving slide.

Some people have suggested that we use oxygen or nitrogen instead of CO2 (carbon dioxide) to inflate the bag so that the bag could be deflated after the avalanche to provide an air pocket for the victim. The problem here is that the oxygen and nitrogen only provide 2/3 of the inflation of the CO2 as they are in gas form in the bottles as opposed to the liquified CO2 in the bottles. It would also be really tough to find a way to deflate the lift bag after the slide.

[Summit]

closer look at Eve's torso.....
Note to self... don't stand too close to the 50lbs ANFO charges...

Thank you for working on this stuff!

[jtwassoc]

Found a shot of the bomb in the air....

[jtwassoc]

closer....

[jtwassoc]

Bell and slide.

[jtwassoc]

next......

[pointedem]

50 lb bomb.

damn,

u guys arent joking around

[jtwassoc]

The mystery deepens.......

In avalanche test number two (where Adam was retired), the lift bag was completely missing once the dummy was recovered. This same lift bag was seen fully inflated after being coughed up by the avalanche and thrown out in front of the leading edge of the avalanche higher up on the hill. Intensive photographic analysis using high resolution photography and Kokanee beer reveals that the first bomb dropped on the cornice punched through and sailed down the mountain inside the avalanche right next to Adam and Eve, detonating in their vicinity and possibly blowing the lift bag right off of Adam. Only the avalanche knows for sure. Judge for yourself, both Adam and Eve were found quite close to the bomb's detonation point.......

[jtwassoc]

....bomb goes off.....

[jtwassoc]

....bomb completely visible......

[jtwassoc]

....boom. Whoops, posted that bugger twice. Time to put down the Kokanee.....

[jtwassoc]

shock wave....

[jtwassoc]

.....rumble......

[jtwassoc]

all gone.....

[jtwassoc]

....here's a shot of the dummy and the fully inlated lift bag being coughed up out of the avalanche just a little ways up the mountain from the previous pics.

The red lift bag and dummy are in the center of the picture at the bottom.....

[jtwassoc]

.....a little closerrrrrr..........

[jtwassoc]

...they are doomed....

[Free Range Lobster]

Avalanche Three was a big bust. We retired Adam after avalanche test number two and went with just Eve wearing a lift bag for the third avy. Unfortunately the bomb landed right next to her. You can see her torso taking a ride in this pic......

http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=10609&stc=1&d=1140642388



FLY BE FREEEEEE!

[trouble]

You have a sweet job

[P_McPoser]

You have a sweet job
Yeah no shit, I go through like 1000s of pounds per day of explosives at work, but I don't get to watch them go off!!!
That's pretty sweet!

[jtwassoc]

EVE LIVES........

A closer look at the pics from the third test avalanche reveals the red lift bag emerging from inside the avalanche. Apparently Eve was not blown to kingdom come, nor was her attached lift bag. The explosive charge blew them into the air, but they landed intact in the slide zone and ended up taking a nice ride down the hill. Judge for yourself.

[jtwassoc]

a little closer.......

[jtwassoc]

Closer yet. Center right side of the pic you can see a dull red splotch.....

[jtwassoc]

....another frame....

[jtwassoc]

....a little closer......

[jtwassoc]

Closer yet, top center of pic......

[H-man]

How did I miss this thread??? Looks very interesting. I will sit down at home tonight and check it all out. Thanks for your efforts!

[jtwassoc]

Here's the slide from a satellite photo....

[jtwassoc]

Here's the locations of the dummies after the slide.....

[jtwassoc]

....and the starting zone on the top of the mountain.....

[jtwassoc]

Not to completely bore the snot out of everybody, but we got a request to post the entire frame by frame photo sequence of the first avalanche test that tooled the crash test dummies way bad. It ends a little early as we had to drop the gear and run for our lives. The video camera was left rolling however, and that's some pretty spectacular footage........

There are 30 images here.

[jtwassoc]

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[jtwassoc]

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pppppppppppp

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oooooooooooo

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kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk

[jtwassoc]

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[jtwassoc]

she's goin' big........

[jtwassoc]

Code YELLOW......

[jtwassoc]

Drop your gear.....

[jtwassoc]

CODE RED....

[jtwassoc]

Run for your life.....

[berko]

This thread rules.

[Cirquerider]

Wow, deep snow, helicopters, expolsives, dummies high speed cameras and beer..good beer. :yourock: I need to get a new job!

Very compelling argument for that safety device too, but the dummies need protection from the testers.

[jtwassoc]

Well.........we didn't set out to destroy perfectly good crash test dummies, but we think if you get caught in a class 3 avalanche you are going to be torn to pieces if you are a human or a dummy. We thought about putting the dummies lower on the hill, but a lot of victims get caught at the very top of the avalanche. Besides, if you are half way down the mountain and one of these big slides comes roaring down on you at over 100 miles an hour, pushing 100 metric tons of snow or more, you're finished.

As well, a couple of these 50 pound bombs went off extremely close to the dummies (3 feet away in the last test), tough on a crash test dummy. Now you might say to yourself, geez, why weren't these people more careful about the placement of the bombs? The trouble is the only way to get the charge into place is to drop it out of a helicopter, and sometimes the bomb hits the mountain and bounces all the way down to dummies, or even all the way down to the valley below. See pics below.......

[jtwassoc]

she's a runner......

[jtwassoc]

ahhhh.....chopper to valley film crew...come in, over......

[jtwassoc]

Incoming..........

[jtwassoc]

head for the hills......

[jtwassoc]

runaway bomb........

[jtwassoc]

boom.................................

[gonzo]

It has been said already, but I will say it again. This thread rules. I somehow just found this gem. I need to visit the slide zone more often!

I can't tell if this is spam or not and i don't care.

So who is paying for all of these bombs, helicopters, crash test dummies, and liquified CO2?

[jtwassoc]

.....these guys......


www.warisite.com

[gonzo]

so those three dudes/you are funding all of this themselves? were you financed? just curious where the money is coming from since you don't seem to sell anything yet.

[jtwassoc]

The project is funded by JTW Associates, an engineering lab in Lakeville, Minnesota. JTW sells inflatable water and ice rescue floating platforms to Sheriff, Fire, Police and Rescue Departments that respond to ice or water emergencies. Anyone responding to a water or ice emergency pulls a rip cord attached to a 20 cubic foot lift bag (the same lift bag used on the avalanche/snowmobile device). This allows the first responder to the scene to begin the rescue. The device is fairly small and is stored in the rescuers trunk or behind the seat of their pick-up truck. It holds a rescuer and two other adults above the waterline. It is also used by departments who use snowmobiles and ATVs to patrol frozen lakes and rivers, such as Forestry people, Natural Resources and Conservation officers, etc.

One of the engineers at JTW was reading a popular snowmobile web site and noticed the large number of avalanche/snowmobile deaths that were occuring. So they contacted several people in the avalanche business and put together snowmobile flotation tests in avalanches in Valdez, Alaska; LaMoille, Nevada and Revelstoke, British Columbia. The large lift bag easily brought the snowmobiles to the surface of the moving avalanches. The next step was to test a smaller human version of the device.

If everyone liked the frame by frame avalanche sequences we can run more. Test number two is pretty spectacular, and test number three is immense. It really went big. There's also a bunch of pretty decent control avalanches (to make it safe to go down in the valley and find the equipment).

[jtwassoc]

Here's the frame by frame sequence of avalanche test number two. You can see the avalanche hit the dummies, engulf them, and then cough them up for a second. This is also the test where one of the bombs got carried down the hill inside the avalanche and blew up in the valley......

[jtwassoc]

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[jtwassoc]

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[jtwassoc]

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[jtwassoc]

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[jtwassoc]

OK, OK, pretty boring up till this point, but the avy is closing in on the dummies....

[jtwassoc]

Getting closer.....

[jtwassoc]

Almost there.................

[jtwassoc]

Next frame............

[jtwassoc]

Now you can see the dummies with the bright red lift bag in the lower right portion of the pic............

[jtwassoc]

Here the slide is almost on the dummies.....

[jtwassoc]

Here the avalanche is right on top of the dummies..........

[jtwassoc]

Incoming........

[jtwassoc]

Dummies, what dummies?

[jtwassoc]

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

[jtwassoc]

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[jtwassoc]

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[jtwassoc]

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[jtwassoc]

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[jtwassoc]

About to cough up the dummies..........

[jtwassoc]

Here you can see the dummies coughed up out of the avalanche. They are in the air just in front of the leading edge. We believe this is due to the flotation provided by the lift bag. Rather than being buried and ground into the mountain by the avy, the lift bag continually floats the victim to the surface, here in the extreme......

[jtwassoc]

We can't find the dummies in this frame. The avalanche has possibly re-engulfed the two dummies at this point......

[jtwassoc]

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[jtwassoc]

So everything looks good at this point, problem being there's a bomb sailing down the mountain inside the avalanche, most likely within a few yards of our dummies.......

[jtwassoc]

Tick, tick, tick, tick.......... or rather, hisssssss...........

[jtwassoc]

Cover your ears............

[jtwassoc]

Boom goes the dynamite, or more precisely ammonium nitrate fuel oil........

[jtwassoc]

You could barely hear this 50 pound bomb going off over the roar of the avalanche............

[jtwassoc]

Check out the expanding shock wave of the bomb. Way cool.....

[jtwassoc]

You can see the shock wave expanding..............

[jtwassoc]

There's probably pieces of crash test dummy shrapnel flying through the air at this point...............

[jtwassoc]

Even a 50 pounder is no match for a class three avalanche as it engulfs the explosion.....

[jtwassoc]

(((((((((((((((((

[jtwassoc]

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[jtwassoc]

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[jtwassoc]

Raining down...........

[jtwassoc]

Rain down on me...... (apologies to Pete Townsend)

[jtwassoc]

Pouring down.........

[jtwassoc]

Just a couple more...........

[jtwassoc]

Enough already......

[jtwassoc]

Getting old......

[jtwassoc]

Stop it now........

[jtwassoc]

Cease and desist.........

[jtwassoc]

Last one...............

[jtwassoc]

Here's the third avalanche test. This is the one where the bomb slide down the hill and landed right next to Eve. It blew her onto the slide path, and the avalanche eventually caught her and took her for a ride.........

[jtwassoc]

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[jtwassoc]

LAST PIC AVY THREE

[FrankZappa]

Once again, Yikes! Thanks & Great job!

[jtwassoc]

Thanks Frank......

Thanks also to Brent S of the Canadian Avalanche Association and Jordy of Revelstoke for dropping them bombs.....

Love,

the 2006 Avy crew

[jtwassoc]

Here's a 20 cubic foot lift bag lifting a 650 pound snowmobile to the surface of an avalanche (class 2) we produced in the Wasatch Range near LeMoille, Nevada.....

[jtwassoc]

The two snowmobiles are laying together in front of the leading edge of the avalanche. One sled has a lift bag attached to it and the other control sled has no lift bag...

[jtwassoc]

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[jtwassoc]

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[jtwassoc]

The snowmobile with the lift bag is in the center of the pic, but still buried. As the avalanche moves along, the lighter lift bag seeks the surface and sheds snow, called inverse grading. It looked like a mole tunneling under your yard. Eventually the snowmobile emerged......

[jtwassoc]

Here you can see the snowmobile and lift bag emerge from the moving avalanche....

[jtwassoc]

Here's the sled and lift bag on top, and the trench it dug through the snow....

[jtwassoc]

Closer view. This testing was done in 2004 in the Ruby Mountains. Why keep a snowmobile on the surface? First, so it won't barrel roll the rider inside the avalanche (you can see the control sled rolling sideways down the hill, up and to the right of the test sled). Second, as visible search debris for your buddies to use to find you. Third, so you can fire up your machine and get back out of the mountains......

[jtwassoc]

Just so you know that we have had some success, here's Adam after the first of three class 2 avalanches in Revelstoke from the 2005 testing season. We are using quite a bit less flotation than other avalanche flotation systems, so our test dummy is on the surface, but not on the surface. In each of the class 2 avalanche tests last year the lift bag was completely exposed on the surface, and the test dummies were mostly buried. So if this was you, could you dig yourself out?

[jtwassoc]

Sorry, wrong pic. The above pic was after we excavated him. Here is how we found him...........

[Treepinner]

Doesn't look you'd have found him if he had skis or a snowboard attached.

[tomw_n]

It ends a little early as we had to drop the gear and run for our lives.



So everything looks good at this point, problem being there's a bomb sailing down the mountain inside the avalanche, most likely within a few yards of our dummies.......

The commentary makes this thread utterly entertaining. Some good work being done there man. Hey, to echo the point above, I'd really like to see the results of a test using dummies strapped into boards with and without the bags. Boards I gather act like an anchor, dragging you down.

[shane-o]

I find your bombs' affinity for the dummies absolutely hilarious.

I appreciate the effort to minimize weight and bulk, and I think doing so will be essential if systems of this type are going to be carried by users who are climbing under their own power. Based on the last photo you posted, that lift bag has increased the probability of a quick partner rescue, but I don't have the experience to judge whether or not the victim could perform a self rescue in that situation.

[jtwassoc]

The damn bombs really have a mind of their own. They are called ANFO bombs and are about the size of a large bag of charcoal briquettes. The explosive medium itself looks like those little white foam balls you used to find in a bean-bag chair. The little white balls are yellow as they are soaked in some toxic crap including fuel oil. The whole mess is housed in a clear plastic kitchen garbage bag. The plastic bag then has a small explosive charge stuffed inside, which sets the whole mess off. We would post a pic but the “control” people said it was a bad idea to post any good pics of bombs or bomb-making procedures because we would probably hear from THE MAN. THE MAN, of course, being worried that some goof ball might use the pics as a learning tool for evil purposes. At any rate, the plastic bag makes the 50 pound bomb slippery, and sometimes when it hits the mountain (after being dropped from a hovering chopper) it just keeps on going. Lets just say that we never worried about filmers in the valley below getting tooled by a bomb before this year. We sure watch for those rolling little bags now.

Although our system does not put the victim on top of the debris field, it does four things for you. First, it keeps you airborne at the leading edge of the avalanche as it moves down the hill, as opposed to being ground into the mountain beneath the slide. Second, it puts you at the top of the snow when the avalanche stops moving. Third, it provides searchers with a bright red target to help find you. And finally, it always deposits you at the leading edge of the stopped avalanche, narrowing the search area significantly.

[jtwassoc]

If anybody is interested, here are the pics from the snowmobile tests in Nevada a few years ago. Lift bag size was 20 cubic feet (inflated donut 6 feet long, 4 feet wide and about 2 feet thick). The camera shots are widely spaced as we did not have this years 6 shot a second camera back then (big mistake).

[jtwassoc]

bomb detonation (only a 20 pound bomb here).........

[jtwassoc]

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;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

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ruuuuuuuuuuuuuuuummmmmmmmmmmmmbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbll lllllllllleeeeeeeee..............

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@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@.......................

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uuuuuuuuuuuuhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.................

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gggggggrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr........................ ......

[jtwassoc]

rrrrrrrmmmmmmmmmmmmm...............

[jtwassoc]

Here the slide is nearing the snowmobile attached to the bright red lift bag....

[jtwassoc]

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Here's the slide about to hit the snowmobile attached to a lift bag and a second control snowmobile without a lift bag. The control sled is uphill from the test sled.

You can see them both in the lower right corner of the pic....

[jtwassoc]

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How would you like to be sitting on one of these snowmobiles? Ahhhh, no thank you......

[jtwassoc]

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Snowmobiles? We ain't got no stinkin' snowmobiles.......
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[jtwassoc]

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The hand of God...

[jtwassoc]

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[jtwassoc]

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[jtwassoc]

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Here's the slide blasting into the valley below...
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[jtwassoc]

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whoa nelly, whoa.....
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[jtwassoc]

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All done.....
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This slide totally screwed us. After a successful first test of the system, we decided to immediately do a second test. It blew our harness apart and sent the lift bag FLYING down into the valley below. We'll find that pic, pretty cool. Anyway, we learned that you do not put a harness through two avalanches. We had a National Geographis film crew coming in to film the testing in 5 days, so it was back to Truckee, California for a few days of "prototyping" wink-wink-nod-nod, and harness work. The tests for Nat Geo went well, but we don't think they ever published anything.....
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[Dexter Rutecki]

Next time can you do the tests with cars put in the slide paths, and maybe lots of explosives inside the cars? If you have access to any heavy artillery pieces I'd include those as well.
I used to have a car you could have used, but it was liberated from the place where I abandoned it in Queens.

[jtwassoc]

Ahhhhhhh, thanks?

We ran the car idea by management and they blew us off. But the sleds were tested with lift bags in avalanches before the crash dummies were tested. The whole project started as an attempt to reduce snowmobile through the ice drowning fatalities, so we had snowmobiles to sacrifice to the avalanche gods long before we had test dummies. There's also a growing number of sledders killed in avys every year, so we saw some merit in a flotation device for their machines.

As far as blowing stuff up goes we only use local pros, and they only use what's necessary. So we really do try to keep the explosions to a minimum, and we always use extremelly remote locations that we've scouted for humans, goats and snowmobiles and/or their tracks. Even so, this year we were 20 miles up a river valley near Revelstoke and people heard us in town. If we ruined your day in Revy......sorry about that. But we do feel we're blowing stuff up for a good cause, and not just blowin' stuff up for the hell of it.

[Atrain505]

Super cool pics. Always interested in advances in avy technology.

[jtwassoc]

Here's some goats we found while scouting locations. These boys live life on the edge....

[jtwassoc]

brrrrrrrrrrrrr...............

[jtwassoc]

goooooooooaaaaaaaaaaaattttttttttttttssssssssssssss ss..................

[jtwassoc]

.................................................. .......................

[jtwassoc]

......the pics are a little fuzzy because once the pilot spots the goats he heels it over and we get the heck out of there, so these pics are from quite a distance in a big hurry. The chopper pilots stay as far as possible away from the goats as a hundred yard run for a herd at these altitudes could be pretty taxing, if not fatal.......

[jtwassoc]

,,,,,,,for everyone who isn't tired of looking at frame by frame avalanche pic sequences, here's another one. This was the first of a few control avalanches set off after our second test in order to make the valley below safe to enter. It's a tad boring at first, but it went large at the end.......

[jtwassoc]

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>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

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<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<,

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((((((((((((((((((((((((

[jtwassoc]

))))))))))))))))))))))))))

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+++++++++++++++++++++

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[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[

[jtwassoc]

yaaaaaaaaaawwwwwwwwnnnnnnnn.........

[jtwassoc]

pics getting better soon.........

[jtwassoc]

Hang in there....