The pack you can trust to save you. A hero? No, just a great avalanche backpack.

Since Santa is really smart, he brought me an airbag backpack for Christmas at a time when high-altitude ski resorts are having to use helicopters to get snow onto the slopes. I wonder if Santa uses similar technology for gift delivery, it’s really useful actually.

Well, Scott sent me the Air Free AP12 and let’s face it, it’s not the best time to try out an airbag backpack. Well, is there ever really a good time to try an airbag? Obviously I’m not planning on jumping into an avalanche and writing some feedback at the same time.

But I’ve got it in my apartment and can already see it’s a sick backpack, my girlfriend too: “There’s so much metal and straps, must be a technical bag.” And she is right. Good thing it’s also well designed and doesn’t leave aside the aesthetic aspect; so you could even wear this around town, with potentially live-saving applications in crowded stores during Christmas shopping.

It’s time for me to read the user manual to understand how to use such a technical product, and you know what, after two pages I have the feeling that I’ve got all the information, and after four I feel like I’ve got a master’s degree on it. I guess it’s much harder when you’re actually in an avalanche, but with this product at least you have a better chance of getting out alive—just like during Christmas shopping.

1 – There is a removable plastic back protector.
2 – The product is made by skiers, for skiers.
3 – The airbag system is really simple to set up, check and use.
4 – The ALPride recharges have been used by the US Navy for fifty years… For what? Don’t ask that question.
5 – The number of straps, some made of aluminum, is impressive and there is no chance of losing your airbag. It made me feel safer, even in my apartment.
6 – Straps are included to transport skis for hiking.
7 – There’s plenty of space for a shovel and probe.
And last but not least, Scott is not a newcomer, but a brand with credibility in the industry.

I could list reasons like that forever, but that’s not the point. The point is that I would trust this bag to save me in a massive avalanche. Safety is not about compromise, and this bag definitely doesn’t compromise.

I hope there will be enough snow to wear it soon, but no reasons to ever have to use it.

More information here