Ferrino Safe Collection “Everything You Can Ask of a Backpack For a Safe Ride – The Rest Still Depends On You”

Published by Mountainblog on 12/09/2015.

Snow is a wolf dressed in sheep’s clothing: a perfect day of freeriding or skiing can get complicated in just an instant, the almost imperceptible white powder can become dangerous; for this reason, the eventual removal of an avalanche should be tackled with great preparation and with the best possible means.
Ferrino gives the maximum level of importance to the theme of the consequences suffered from burial under an avalanche, so much so, that in 2009, it was the first company in Europe to invest in a new airbag system integrated into a backpack, permitting users to float out of the avalanche. In 2012 the collection was enlarged by the addition of a respiration system for avalanche victims.
Today, with the presentation of the revolutionary FERRINO SAFE COLLECTION, the two technologies, ALPRIDE airbag and AIRSAFE respirator, are integrated in a specific line of backpacks: FULL SAFE 30 represents the first backpack in the world that contains both.
This extraordinary result is due to a long study, performed in collaboration between FERRINO, the Valdostano Alpine Rescue, and the Mountain Medical Center of the hospital of Aosta. For the first time in the world, true conditions of a real avalanche were recreated to evaluate individual devices and their effective function through field trials, according to the most severe criteria.

The research and development of the Safe Collection are recounted in the “FERRINO SAFE COLLECTION” video:

The principal problem, explains Doctor Prato of the Mountain Medical Center, is the time: “From the analysis of the data collected (in field test and statistics), asphyxia is the main cause of mortality (65% of cases). The probability of survival of a burial by avalanche is connected primarily with the length of time of burial. According to international statistics, the probability of survival in the case of total burial, without grave injury, is 92% in the first 18 minutes, while it falls to 30%
between 18 and 35 minutes.”

“This device [Airsafe] permits the airway maintenance of avalanche victims, allowing the subject to breathe, even under the snow mass, for more than 60 minutes.”

Specifically, the SAFE COLLECTION includes three backpacks: Glide Safe 20, Breathe Safe 25 and Full Safe 30.

GLIDE SAFE 20 has a 20 liter capacity and integrates the ALPRIDE airbag system and a RECCO reflector. The innovative ALPRIDE technology permits the airbag to inflate in only 3 seconds, from internal gas cartridges, once the handle on the shoulder harness has been pulled. It is the lightest weight system (1.2kg) currently on the market, and allows, in the case of avalanche, the maximum protection from possible traumas and excellent float on the avalanche.

BREATH SAFE 25 has a 25 liter capacity and includes the AIRSAFE respiration technology and a RECCO reflector. The respirator, perfectly included and integrated in the backpack, has the job of inhibiting carbon dioxide poisoning: it uses the air present in the avalanche (up to 60% of the volume of the snow), by drawing it in from the front of the body, and expelling is behind the body. The anatomical mouthpiece with tooth grip drastically reduces the risk that it will escape from the mouth, and the ball valves prevent the system from freezing to a tested temperature of -40°.

FULL SAFE 30 had a 30 liter capacity, and integrates the principal safety systems: ALPRIDE airbag technology, AIRSAFE respiration technology and RECCO reflector.

The efforts of Ferrino in the field of research and development have permitted a revolution in the area of mountain safety, even if it’s well to remember the importance of bringing the proper safety equipment (Artva signal emitter, shovel and probe) and always evaluating the specific snow/weather conditions of the slope you venture onto.

“Everything you can ask of a backpack for a safe ride – the rest still depends on you”.

INFO: Ferrino

Backpacks, tents, sleeping bags, clothes and equipment: Ferrino is one of the oldest Italian outdoor company equipped with a wide section of products. Passion, challenge and fantasy are the elements that brings Ferrino to innovate, creating always new technologies, able to resist to any weather condition. All the products are developed with the cooperation of professionals of the sector, athletes and explorers, which Ferrino supports in their personal adventures, designing in that way incredible items which comply to real and specific needs. The product quality, handled by the brand ambassadors during the design, it’s further tested by clients, at the HighLab camps where they have the possibility to try for free tents, sleeping bags and other equipments, experiencing the emotion of sleeping in high altitude, becoming a tester for a night. Today Ferrino, almost 150 after its foundation, it’s spread in approximately 40 countries all over the world and it’s a reference for mountaineers, hikers, explorers, trail runners and outdoor enthusiasts. Founded in Turin in 1870, today Ferrino has around 60 employed and it’s still managed by the same Ferrino’s family – and Rabajoli. The possibility to cooperate with important people of world of the sport in the Alps has given Ferrino the chance to create high tech products, always maintaining that artisan touch and Italian style which makes each product a jewel to be proud of, both for the company and the user.

www.ferrino.com