The North Face Patrol 24 ABS is designed to inflate with nitrogren when the user pulls a ripcord. The airbags make the user more bouyant and hopefully will prevent him/her from getting buried. Do you think it would work?
Nitrogen? Why not inflate it with air (which is still mostly nitrogen, but supports life)? Then, if it failed to prevent burial, you could breath the contents until help arrived.
The airbags' function is not to make you more buoyant. Its' function is based on the fact that granular mixtures or granular materials, especially large granules will work their way up to the top, even if their specific weight should, in fact, force them to the bottom. This is posted on the website and backed up by research.
They absolutely work and there are a number of studies that show airbags increase survivability significantly. One study claims the use of an avalanche flotation device has been found to reduce the relative risk of being killed by over 90%. Another study claims 97% survivability with airbag vs 14% with no avalanche equipment. Check out http://www.backcountryaccess.com/http://abs-airbag.de/en/ or http://www.snowpulse.com/en for other airbag manufacturers.
Check out http://www.backcountryaccess.com/ http://abs-airbag.de/en/ or http://www.snowpulse.com/en for other airbag manufacturers.