Why We Started with the Rescue Pocket
Vivid Avalanche Tools Pocket Background:
Mike and I began our backcountry skiing journey when we were about 15 years old. We had a telephone number (land-line!) for the Utah Avalanche Center’s morning forecast, Snow Sense–then the best avalanche education book available, and avalanche rescue shovels. I had an old Wenzel backpack which I used for backcountry skiing, backpacking, and traveling. I was constantly modifying it to carry my shovel, skis, anything. Options for backcountry gear were as thin back then, especially for the small niche of backcountry skiing. That old pack served me well, but it was a pitiful excuse for a backcountry ski pack. No probe pole or shovel access, lots of straps–it just wasn’t made for skiing.
Decades later, after backcountry skiing around the world, numerous avy courses...suffice it to say; we’ve learned some lessons. One key takeaway from over 30 years in the backcountry, is that all backcountry gear is safety gear–nothing more. Skis, socks, backpacks, all serve to get me home safely. In some cases, if gear fails, so may the skier. Patrollers and professional rescuers have related stories about gear failing; a zipper breaks while accessing a beacon, pack straps interfering with probe pole access, anything can go In
In rescue situations, seconds seem like minutes. During annual drills, I feel the tension of timed practice, trying to find the beacon before it’s too late. This is where gear breaks–adrenaline pushes us to act fast and hard. This situation is exactly what we designed the Vivid around.
Our Design Approach to Safety First
It was clear to me; packs are as much of a safety tool as the probe itself. If a zipper fails, or a buckle is iced, that impacts the anxiety and adds seconds to a short clock. So how do I design around this experience? Our answer is the Vivid ski pack.
The Rescue Pocket Came First
I started with the rescue pocket; I wanted a straight zipper–the easiest motion to use intuitively and the least likely to catch on a corner. I wanted the strongest zipper I could find so we employed the YKK ELA zipper designed specifically for increased abrasion resistance and burst strength. Open the zipper and your probe is the first tool available. We made the pocket large to make accessing safety tools as easy as possible. THEN we designed the rest of the pack.
Packing the Pingora Vivid Backcountry Rescue Pocket
To make rescue as smooth as possible, I have some tips, born from experience, advice, and a desire for everyone to return home.
- Make your probe pole the most easily accessible rescue tool–this is the first tool you need once you locate the victim with your beacon.
- Practice using your pack, opening it, retrieving the tools, assembling them, over and over.
- Never use the safety tools pocket for anything but safety tools. You don’t want skins or a jacket hindering access during key moments.
- Never cross webbing or other gear over the safety tools pocket zipper–keep access to that pocket easy at all times, booting, skinning, or skiing.
While we all have preferences of gear and tools, safety is objective, and speed is safety. Check out our safety first backcountry ski packs, the Vivid 27L and the Vivid 35L packs.