The Details
Introducing the Snow Pro vest, a backcountry safety pack intended for the off-piste terrain. Designed in collaboration with Pro snowboarder, Sage Kotsenburg. The vest comes with the Safeback SBX system - an innovation that actively supplies clean air to those trapped in avalanches - extending survival time by up to 90 minutes.
✓ Designed to equip you for those deep backcountry days
✓ Dedicated airflow channel for the Safeback SBX unit
✓ Vest ventilation channels for breathability and cooling
✓ Inclusive fit and vest design for better weight distribution
✓ Includes the Safeback SBX unit
✓ Tested by the Norwegian Armed Forces
CAPACITY
8L
62 X 52 X 13 CM
Ride with balance.
The Snow Pro Vest is an backcountry safety layer intended for off-piste terrain. Designed in collaboration with Sage Kotsenburg, this lightweight, comfortable safety vest allows you to move uninterrupted around the mountains. The breathable design simultaneously acts as an extra layer while keeping your avy-gear within reach, and lets you enjoy the freedom of jumping on and off lifts without the hassle of removing a backpack. The Snow Pro Vest is compatible with the Safeback SBX System.
Limitations of Safeback SBX
SBX won’t turn you into Iron Man. Safeback has spent the past five years researching ways to combat the problem of oxygen deprivation after burial in avalanches, which has been the cause of death for 75% of cases worldwide.
SBX and Avalanche Rescue Equipment
Not a Replacement for Beacon, Probe, and Shovel
SBX is designed to supplement existing rescue equipment: beacons, shovels, probes. The extra time SBX can give you under the snow is worth nothing if you don't have a beacon to be located with and if your party does not have a shovel and probe to rescue you. SBX should never be used without standard rescue equipment.
Trauma
Avalanches generate powerful forces which can inflict a high degree of trauma if users are not careful of terrain traps which may be present. Roughly 25% of avalanche deaths are due to trauma.
SBX will not be able to protect the wearer from the trauma of being caught in an avalanche.
Airways and Breathing
SBX is designed to help victims who can breathe under the snow — meaning that their airways must be at least partially open during burial. Victims whose airways are fully blocked cannot benefit from SBX's air supply.
9 out of 10 avalanche burial victims survive to 15 minutes (Proctor, Strappazon, Brugger, et.al., 2016). In situations where the human body no longer can breathe in any additional oxygen, suffocation will take place over the course of 5-12 minutes. With that knowledge, our interpretation of this data is that roughly 10% of buried victims have no ability to breathe under the snow.
Who SBX Can Help
Based on these two factors, we estimate that 10% of burial victims will not be able to breathe under the snow, and 25% will die of trauma.
As such we estimate that 65% of those caught in avalanches will benefit from SBX.
Victims in tree well and deep snow accidents will also benefit from the system, so long as they are able to activate the SBX after falling in the tree well itself.
