Dutch prince Johan Friso in a Coma

[Buzz]

He has been in a coma since been hit by an avalanche. Doctors say his prospect for recovery is not good and is not expecting him to ever wake up. So best wishes to his family and the people of the Netherlands. But a miracle could still happen so good thoughts to him.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-17153623

[Vash01]

How sad! Even the seemingly lucky ones can't escape life's tragedies.

[BittyBug]

Interesting that his skiing partner survived unscathed because he was wearing an avalanche airbag. They've been in the news a lot in the U.S. lately because of the relatively high number of avalanches the northwest has experienced this season, and I wonder if they will become de rigeur equipment, much as helmets have become.

[BigB08822]

Interesting that his skiing partner survived unscathed because he was wearing an avalanche airbag. They've been in the news a lot in the U.S. lately because of the relatively high number of avalanches the northwest has experienced this season, and I wonder if they will become de rigeur equipment, much as helmets have become.

Interesting. I was curious how that works and found this description from an NPR interview:

http://www.npr.org/2012/02/20/147164...ag-saves-skier

They're like airbags in a car and skiers and snowboarders wear them on their back. They're an integral part of their backpack. and if a person gets caught in an avalanche, it's got a ripcord like a skydiver has a ripcord for his parachute and they pull that and then it inflates an airbag that goes around the person's head, which protects their head and their neck, and then it provides floatation so the person stays on top of the avalanche debris. Then they can just ride down on the avalanche and, nine times out of 10, they're on the surface of the avalanche debris when it comes to rest.

[skatesindreams]

We are discussing this here, http://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/showthread.php?t=80920 also.

[fluorescein]

Interesting. I was curious how that works and found this description from an NPR interview:

http://www.npr.org/2012/02/20/147164...ag-saves-skier

This is amazing. I had no idea such a thing even exists.

[BittyBug]

If you go to YouTube and search for "avalanche airbag" you'll find quite a few videos that demo the product like this one. The design of the SnowPulse intrigues me the most because of the way it cradles the head.