Five killed in Loveland Pass Avalanche

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mtnfiend
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Re: Five killed in Loveland Pass Avalanche

Post by mtnfiend »

dsunwall wrote:deleted
According to the CAIC accident report there were at least 2 members wearing air bags, and "other members were wearing avalungs". The air bags were not deployed, and none of the victims were found with the avalung in their mouth.

Air bags have some sort of guard around the triggers, and avalungs (if built into a backpack) have a sleeve they zip into. Given the scenario (quick tour, desire to stay on mellow angle terrain, etc.) it's easy for me to understand if none of the trigger guards on the airbags were removed, or the avalungs unzipped from their sleeves. I know my avalung spends 99% of it's life zipped up.
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Carl
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Re: Five killed in Loveland Pass Avalanche

Post by Carl »

^^^ I use to zip my Avalung into its sleeve to keep it from getting dirty in transit sometimes until I noticed one time after traveling in avy terrain that I forgot to unzip it. Now the only time it gets zipped in is perhaps over the summer. Downside is it tastes like dirt (or worse). Upside is I won't forget to have it accessible should I ever need it.

By no means implying having the avalung accessible would have necessarily made any difference in this accident.
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