Innovation in the test – avalanche accidents: new Safeback can save lives

A Norwegian start-up contacted the research center Eurac Research in Bolzano. The South Tyrolean researchers should test the device, called Safeback SBX, and scientifically investigate whether it can actually significantly increase survival time under an avalanche.

Carbon dioxide is blown away
“The Safeback SBX is integrated into the backpack and uses a pump to suck air out of the snow, which is two-thirds air,” says Dr. Hermann Brugger of the Institute for Alpine Emergency Medicine. “Like a hair dryer, it blows air forward and accumulated carbon dioxide away from the nose and mouth,” explains the mountaineer. “In any case, the Norwegian approach has enormous novelty value.”

Eurac Research recently tested Safeback SBX in a spectacular trial in the Dolomites. Some 30 volunteers were put to the test and then – under medical supervision – buried in the snow. There was one group wearing a dummy device and one wearing the real safeback. All subjects could end the experiment at any time using the emergency cord and the researchers ended all tests after 60 minutes at the latest. The evaluation of the difference in times in the snow between the groups should lead to conclusions about how well the device works. The study should be completed in the fall.

Already ready for the market
“The device could work,” says Brugger, emphasizing that the study is being conducted without any sponsorship. Nevertheless, Safeback already has all the technical certificates to enter the market.