I just received what is (to my knowledge) the worlds first and only backpack that incorporates both the ABS airbag and the Black Diamond Avalung.
I call it my Ultimate Mutant Avalanche Pack.
For those who don't know about the ABS airbag pack, there is a description of it here:
http://www.backcountrymagazine.com/n...ves_oct07.html
Here are some pictures of my mutant pack:
Here is how it came about. I got tired of wearing both the Avalung and ABS pack. Too many straps, and I didn't like having to remove the Avalung every time I put on or took off a clothing layer (because the Avalung has to go on the outside.)
So, I called Ron Rob at R2 Packs.
http://www.r2packs.com/
R2 is a truly custom pack maker. They work with you to design and build literally anything you want.
I went to Ron with the idea of combining the avalung pack with the airbag pack.
The task was made somewhat easier by the fact that the ABS airbag pack I have is modular. There is a standard frame, that contains the airbag, and then you can zip on different pack bags of different volumes.
http://www.absairbag.de/vario.php?ch...c237c2f4033364
So, we didn't have to tweak the frame or airbag portion of the pack, we just had to figure out a way to incorporate the Avalung into the pack bag.
Initially, I thought that I could just incorporate my existing Avalung into the pack, but after examining the BD Avalung packs, it became apparent that the pack avalung has some important differences compared with the stand alone avalung. So, I bit the bullet and bought a BD Covert avalung pack.
The Covert pack was canibalized for parts, and the avalung parts were incorporated into the pack bag. The packbag itself was created by R2 from scratch, using lightweight fabrics, and was designed to my specifications, with pockets sized to fit my shovel, probe, and snow saw, in addition to other features like a larger main compartment, hydration pocket, and a floating lid that I could secure a helmet under (unlike the fixed lid on the ABS packbag.)
The final finished product is pretty cool, and is lighter weight than the original ABS pack, even though it is significantly larger in volume.
I'll be skiing with it on Saturday.
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