A couple of seconds after my ski companion and I dropped right into a steep north-facing couloir in Colorado’s Tenmile Vary, we pulled off to the facet right into a protected shelf. The couloir was unexpectedly plastered with powder deep into Could. We double-checked the snow’s stability after which continued. However I used to be nonetheless glad to be sporting Scott’s new Patrol E2 airbag pack ($1,300) as an added layer of security.
It was a weird spring for backcountry snowboarding in Colorado final season. The place avalanche hazard often fades, we discovered ourselves snowboarding powder and beneficiant snowpacks deep into Could, battling with the snowpack instabilities that include it.
The place I’d have often stowed my airbag pack for the season in favor of a lighter, extra voluminous backcountry ski pack, I discovered myself confiding within the Patrol E2 airbag pack time and again for adventures close to and much. It offered an additional margin of security for noticeably much less tradeoff than different choices in the marketplace.
Briefly: The avalanche airbag backpack subject is crowded with packs that every one face an analogous dilemma: airbags are heavy, cumbersome, and traditionally don’t journey effectively. Scott clearly put within the R&D with these ubiquitous points in thoughts once they designed and developed the Patrol E2 30L. It’s a pack whose options had been, before everything, constructed for skiers transferring within the mountains.
That’s complemented by one of many lightest and most compact airbag techniques in the marketplace, the Alpride E2, which takes up far much less pack quantity than different techniques and in addition occurs to journey higher than its rivals. It doesn’t depart me with many excuses to go away it behind — the mark of nice security gear.
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Worth
$1,300 -
Airbag quantity
162 L -
Whole weight
2,786 g (6.14 lbs.) -
Pack quantity choices
32 L, 38 L -
Again lengths
Regular (NL) and brief (SL)
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Airline journey pleasant -
Wonderful function set -
Fast-charging and nice battery life with AA batteries put in -
Compact airbag system
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On/off change and charging troublesome to entry -
No hip pockets
Scott Patrol E2 30 Package Pack Evaluation
Whereas the info isn’t good, one factor is evident: avalanche airbags save lives in sure avalanche situations when deployed appropriately. They achieve this by lowering the possibility that the consumer can be buried by an avalanche by means of granular convection (i.e., larger particles float to the highest of a move of particles). Although invented practically 40 years in the past, airbag packs have vastly improved and multiplied in an enormous approach during the last decade.
GearJunkie has examined the comparatively new Alpride E2 airbag system in a number of packs, together with the Deuter Alproof Pack. This second-generation airbag from Alpride is 40% smaller and lighter than the E1 model, an enormous step ahead from canister techniques.
From a broader perspective, it’s one of many lightest and most compact airbag techniques in the marketplace, apart from perhaps the LiTRIC system within the Arc’teryx Micon LiTRIC and Ortovox Avabag Litric hitting shops this fall after a recall delayed its launch.
I used to be a sluggish convert to digital airbags, totally on precept. I strive carrying as few digital issues into the backcountry as attainable, which can or will not be outdated pondering at this level. Electronics are clearly extra dependable than ever. This Scott Patrol E2 has some main benefits over the canister techniques I’ve been utilizing during the last decade.
Ski Pack Options
Integrating an airbag system right into a backpack is a feat of engineering and design. Even the perfect ones, and I’m together with the Patrol E2 in that class, include inherent tradeoffs — often skiability, weight, worth, and quantity. However Scott did an exceptional job of addressing these tradeoffs head-on with this pack.
Right here’s what stood out to me above all else: Scott designed the Patrol to be an awesome backcountry snowboarding pack, before everything, for a variety of actions. It’s pretty much as good for simple cruiser days as it’s for lengthy ski mountaineering missions.
Quantity & Pockets
Even for giant outings within the spring, after I wanted extra gear like crampons, a thin rope, and additional meals, the 32L Patrol E2 felt simply roomy sufficient. That’s not one thing I can say for each airbag pack on this quantity class. For even longer days and hut journeys, Scott additionally makes a extra voluminous 38L Patrol.
Like all devoted ski packs, it has an enormous, exterior avalanche instruments pocket. That pocket has loads of room for bigger shovels and a 300mm probe. I even ended up stashing my brief (65cm) Black Diamond Venom LT ice instrument in there to maintain issues tidy on the skin. Even then, there was simply sufficient room for my ski crampons on the high of the pocket.
The Patrol comes with an built-in helmet carry web. It tucks right into a small pocket on the base of the pack and deploys with huge hooks. It was safe sufficient that I had no issues about stashing an additional layer contained in the helmet. Nothing fell out through the check interval.
The Patrol E2 doesn’t have hip belt pockets. That’s my solely actual gripe with the structure. I’d love a pair of hip pockets sufficiently big for snacks. As a result of the airbag set off is designed to route by both the left or proper shoulder, the proper shoulder’s inside sleeve ended up working for a number of skinny snacks, like CLIF BLOKs. However nonetheless.
Ski Carry
Not like some avalanche packs, the Patrol presents three completely different ski carry choices: A-Body, diagonal, and vertical. All of these choices come in useful in several conditions. With smaller packs like this one, I are inclined to go together with the vertical configuration when my helmet and ice axe are strapped to the skin.
Many airbag packs, together with the Patrol E2, depend on a number of inches of nonlocking triangular zipper tooth on the high of the pack. When the 162L airbag bursts open, it peels open the compartment zipper from these nonconnected tooth. That permits the airbag to deploy in full in about 3 seconds. The zipper is simply safe sufficient that it doesn’t burst open throughout regular use, even when the backpack is overstuffed.
Nevertheless, like different luggage I’ve tried, the airbag element can pull open when carrying heavier skis diagonally after a superb bounce. It’s not a day-ender, after all. You simply have to take the pack off and rezip the compartment closed, however it’s the rationale I’ve usually prevented the diagonal carry methodology.
Snowboarding With the Scott Patrol E2
There’s that saying that applies to security gear. “The most effective ___ is the one that you simply’ll put on.” The Scott Patrol E2 crammed that clean for me.
Aside from a excessive price ticket, the opposite main barrier customers face when contemplating an airbag buy and truly sporting the one they personal is weight. Airbag packs have all the time been heavy.
My first airbag pack weighed 3,371 g (7.4 kilos), and shamefully, I barely used it. Nevertheless, the Alpride E2 is among the lightest airbag techniques in the marketplace. The Scott Patrol E2 pack weighed in at a verified 2,786 g (6.14 kilos).
So, whereas it’s not an absolute featherweight in comparison with my 1,005g non-airbag-equipped Blue Ice Kume 40, the Patrol E2 is a large step in the proper course. I felt that on the pores and skin monitor and the descents.
I wasn’t crushed by the load of an airbag pack, crampons, and cord throughout lengthy days within the spring. And I by no means hesitated to seize it for extra informal laps midwinter, which is a nasty behavior I fell into with my older pack.
As soon as I had the pack on and obtained used to the slight weight penalty over a light-weight, non-airbag-equipped backpack, it pale into the background. That’s what I’m all the time searching for after I’m testing backpacks. It rode on my shoulders, hips, and again comfortably sufficient by good and unhealthy snow alike. It didn’t bounce round — it simply felt steady.
Touring With Airbag Packs
Canister techniques are an enormous ache to fly with. You and your pack are usually not getting anyplace close to a business airplane with a full CO2 canister. That you must deploy the airbag to empty the canister to get anyplace. Then, you’ll have to discover a place to refill it when you get to your vacation spot.
The Patrol E2’s Alpride System as an alternative makes use of a completely electrical system. It has a radial compressor fan powered by a supercapacitor and backup AA batteries.
As a result of there aren’t any lithium-ion batteries and supercapacitors are passive digital parts, the Scott Patrol E2 doesn’t face any type of journey restriction. You’ll be able to carry this bag by safety and onto a airplane or put it in a checked bag.
Once I reached out to Switzerland-based Alpride for extra particulars on this, they famous that it’s typically higher, in its expertise, to take it into the cabin. That approach, you possibly can finally clarify to safety what it’s through the X-ray test. It’s fairly doubtless that almost all safety groups haven’t seen avalanche airbag backpacks earlier than.
Charging the Alpride E2
Supercapacitors are usually not solely lighter than lithium-ion batteries but in addition extra proof against freezing. In order that they make sense for the chilly situations that we ski in. The supercapacitor alone will maintain a cost for 15-30 hours.
There are additionally slots for 2 AA batteries, which vastly broaden the cost of the supercapacitors to 2-4 months of use. Plus, AA batteries will recharge the supercapacitors slightly shortly after an airbag deployment, making it attainable to deploy the bag a number of occasions on a single cost.
It’s a slick system. However there’s one factor that could possibly be improved with the following iteration — charging entry and the on/off change.
To entry the USB port and the “on” change, you might want to absolutely open the primary clamshell-style compartment of the bag (and primarily take away all of your gear from that pocket) and zip open the E2’s protecting cowl. It’s clunky for a $1,300 backpack.
By way of performance, there’s zero difficulty right here. Charging and turning it on earlier than the tour simply takes a bit of bit extra forethought. Nevertheless it’s nonetheless annoying. Thankfully, with AA batteries put in, you don’t have to cost it fairly often, and it solely takes about half-hour once you do.
Scott Patrol E2 30 Package Pack: Conclusion
There are numerous causes to love the Scott Patrol E2 airbag pack. However I preserve coming again to its easy performance and considerate design.
Above all else, it’s designed for backcountry skiers who want one pack to do all of it. It’s obtained the proper pockets (besides on the hips), it rides effectively in your again, and it has sufficient room for the gear you’ll want for an enormous day within the backcountry.
Some customers can be thrilled with the airplane-friendly airbag system. This pack travels much better than its canister rivals. It opens up a layer of security in far-off ski locations that canister techniques merely can’t.
At $1,300, there’s nothing cheap in regards to the Patrol E2. The Alpride E2 system is way more costly than canister techniques, like these present in Mammut’s Professional 35 Detachable Airbag 3.0 ($890).
Nevertheless, the backpack is cheaper than Arc’teryx’s new digital Micon LiTRIC 32 airbag pack ($1,600) and Black Diamond’s Jetforce luggage ($1,499). The designers at Scott managed to discover a good stability between worth and performance.
Backcountry skiers out there for a brand new airbag-equipped backpack can be hard-pressed to discover a higher possibility than the Scott Patrol E2. Till some loopy new compact, light-weight airbag know-how comes alongside, the Patrol will proceed to drift above the pack by way of performance and cheap weight. I’ll be reaching for all of it season.
