Having accumulated enough outdoor gear over the years to open a small retail store, I like to think I have most of my bases covered. For example, I own three sleeping bags—one warm-weather synthetic bag for summer camping, one cold-weather down for fall and winter camping, and one extreme cold-weather down bag for high-altitude expeditions. I haven’t used that last one for many years, but if I ever end up getting to Alaska for skiing someday, I’ll be ready. That’s the thing about mountaineering equipment. Some pieces of kit won’t see the light of day for a decade, but the one time you bring it and use it, it could save your life. Or at least make your trip a lot more comfortable and convenient.
Everyone likes to get a deal on their outdoor gear, but unless you’re an industry professional with a discount code, you have to wait until stuff goes on sale. Black Friday is good for deals on all sorts of things, but November is when new winter outdoor equipment is in its highest pre-season demand, so deals are rare. The best time to buy winter gear is now, at the end of the season when low demand means retailers are trying to clear their shelves for summer stock and people are transitioning to summer toys.
One of the pieces of gear I have yet to throw into my pile of winter equipment is an avalanche airbag. I’ll get into my reasoning for that shortly, but while these multi-functional safety devices have been slowly gaining popularity, the backcountry community is still a ways from fully adopting the technology.
The biggest barrier is the obvious one—cost. An avalanche airbag can cost three to six times as much as a premium ski-touring backpack. And while some owners of these backpacks will decry “What’s your life worth?” I still don’t see avalanche airbags as an essential piece of the snow-safety tool kit (transceiver, shovel and probe) yet. To be clear, I have friends who have walked away from being caught in avalanches and claimed the airbag was the thing that saved them. Statistically, airbags are safer. But only when they are deployed in time. Practice is crucial with these devices.
That brings us to the technology of airbags. I owned one of the early air canister bags a few years ago but ended up selling it. The system was heavy, the design of the pack itself was boxy and uncomfortable and I never wanted to pull the trigger to test it. To do so would require a canister refill, which was somewhat complicated at the time. Today you can take it to a backcountry store in the village where the staff will fill the canister for about $40, which isn’t the worst, but is still reliant on a dealer if you want to get your bag working again after a deployment, for testing, practicing or otherwise.
Battery-powered fan airbags can be deployed many times over for as much practice as you want, but then you’re lugging around several pounds of lithium-ion battery in the mountains. Batteries—like compressed air cylinders—can also cause transportation authority headaches with flying, so you need to read up on your airline’s policy before packing it for that trip to Japan.
The third option is in my opinion the technology avalanche airbags have been waiting for—supercapacitors. These handy electrodes can’t store anywhere near as much charge as a battery, but they can charge and discharge much faster. Avalanche airbags only need one sudden burst of current to fill the bag. Systems like Alpride can then recharge the supercapacitors with a USB cable at home or a couple of AA batteries in the field. All at a weight in your pack that makes sense for ski-tourers.
If you’re in the market for an airbag and haven’t cleaned out the bank account on bike stuff already, the best price I’ve seen is under $500 for a canister-style and just over $1,400 for an Alpride-equipped supercapacitor bag. It doesn’t get much cheaper than that buying from a retailer.
Supercapacitors have the potential to change the game with e-bikes, too. Dutch brand Oostrich makes an e-bike powered by this technology, which they claim charges to 80 per cent in 10 minutes with a range of 120 kilometres (540Wh capacity). The motor gives you a burst of propulsion when accelerating and riding up hills, then charges while you ride, through pedalling and regenerative braking. The tech uses significantly less rare earth minerals than batteries, has a significantly longer service life, is much more recyclable and won’t catch on fire in random situations. Where supercapacitors fall short is in sustained power output, so don’t be expecting an e-mountain bike version to cruise up for your third lap of Dark Crystal anytime soon. Lithium-ion supercapacitor hybrid bikes are on the way, too, so we’ll see what types of bikes we’re all running in the next decade.
Vince Shuley is already swimming in enough batteries and charging cables. For questions, comments or suggestions for The Outsider, email [email protected] or Instagram @whis_vince.
