The Commando Belt from Misty Mountain consists of two belts, a lightweight, 1.5” wide inner liner belt faced with Velcro loop for wearing beneath belt loops, and the outer load rated belt. It can be worn alone or in conjunction with leg loops, which offers a 15 kN load rating as a sit harness. You can also combine with the MM Chest harness to create a full body harness.
Units and agencies can procure products seen at ADS Federal Range Day by contacting ADS, Inc.
The Point6 vapor barrier liner has been under development for awhile but it’s now available and included in their 3-sock system.
Worn in extreme cold weather, the vapor barrier liner traps sweat so that it may not freeze into ice within clothing and footwear. The VBL features a fold-over toe box and ultrasonic welded seams.
The sock system includes a thin Merino liner sock and a heavier Merino outer sock which are worn with the VBL sandwiched in between.
A new podcast, Ninety-Pound Rucksack, is recounting the story of World War II’s 10th Mountain Division and its contributions to outdoor recreation in America.
Hosted by veteran alpinist and climbing historian Christian Beckwith, the podcast offers a deep dive into the origins of the 10th, an unprecedented unit of US Army climbers and skiers who trained for more than two years in the Colorado Rockies to fight the Axis powers in extreme cold and mountainous terrain.
Informed by an advisory board of the 10th’s foremost experts, the podcast details a different chapter in the unit’s history with each episode, providing a sweeping overview of the Division’s influence on both American military and its outdoor recreation industry. Post-war, 10th Mountain Division veterans founded and developed ski areas across America, started companies like NOLS and Nike and launched the fields of avalanche science and wilderness rescue.
Based on the podcast’s first few episodes, Beckwith was invited to keynote the XVIII Airborne Corps’ Leadership Forum at Ft. Drum, New York, in February. He is now serving as an advisor to the 10th Mountain Alpine Club, a nascent organization that is helping the unit reconnect with its historic identity, and will keynote the 10th Mountain Division’s Mountain Fest 2023 in June.
Ninety-Pound Rucksack is available at www.christianbeckwith.com
When a U.S. team competed in the international military mountaineering contest for the first time in 2019, it made history as the first team ever to finish the competition on its inaugural attempt, placing 13th out of 23 teams.
In two days, teams cover 40 kilometers (24.85 miles) of rugged Austrian Alps terrain with up to 14,000 feet of cumulative elevation gain, completing various military tasks at 12 stations in the process. They carry a litter with their equipment — both for challenges and in case of real casualty situations.
U.S. National Guard soldiers — most from Vermont, home of the Army Mountain Warfare School and the 86th Infantry Brigade Combat Team (Mountain) — returned to Austria earlier this year to compete in the biennial event. This time, the 16-member U.S. team competed in two groups. Both finished; one cracked the top 10.
“We all pretty much call it Type 2 Fun,” Connecticut National Guard Capt. Scott Stone, one of the U.S. competitors, said. “Which is basically … not ‘Ha ha, we’re all having a good time fun,’ but it’s one of things that once you’re done with it, it’s a really awesome experience.”
(Includes information from articles by Timothy Koster, Connecticut National Guard Public Affairs Office; and Army Capt. Mikel Arcovitch, Joint Force Headquarters – Vermont National Guard Public Affairs)
CRO Medical (Missoula, MT) is excited to announce the Hoist Harness. An ALL-IN-ONE riggers belt, gun belt, and assault climbing harness. Now available for select government buyers. Public release is scheduled for Summer 2023. For inquiries email support@cromedical.com
Almost everyone needs a vertical capability at some point in their career. The most common load-bearing feature is a hard-point tether attachment from a gun belt. This is fine for tying into helos or elevated positions but generally not suitable for rappelling, belaying, hoisting, or climbing, something you inevitably find yourself doing on occasion, regardless of the job.
We surveyed the market about a year ago to see what commercial options were available for hard point tethers in gun belts and climbing harnesses for tactical and civilian use. It became clear that there was a significant gap in capability for an all-in-one riggers belt, gun belt, and climbing harness.
We embarked on a year-long process researching and building countless prototypes, testing, and validating the design. This is what we discovered:
For flight missions that focus on hoisting, the Misty Mountain ISH harness or Edelrid tactical harness were common choices when surveying the community. The primary features that were most desirable for flight missions included:
1 Comfortable leg loops must be worn all day and hoisted for extended periods
2 Working loop to secure the carabiner for ease of clipping in
3 Load-rated friction buckle, commonly found in climbing harnesses, due to some flight crews not allowing cobra buckles
4 Lightweight and easy to integrate into existing gun belt setups
The ground assault mission has several different requirements. We had to strike a balance between a harness always worn for climbing or flight operations and an “in extremis” vertical capability when lowering, hauling, or hoisting for HAF, climbing, and VBSS assault missions.
For the ground force, the most desired features were the following:
1 Gun belt suitable for all existing tools and solid shooting platform
2 Rated climbing harness integration
3 Compact leg loops for “in extremis” use
4 Not dropping the gun belt to don the harness
Design
Eventually during the process we had a “light bulb” moment and decided that the inner belt should be the load-bearing component of the system. The inner belt would also replace the riggers belt and be worn all the time. The outer belt would provide a stable shooting platform, and the leg loops would need to detach to prevent dropping the belt when stepping into the harness. Never a good idea to drop your pistol, especially in a hasty hoist situation.
Here’s the full breakdown:
Inner Belt
The Inner Belt replaces the riggers belt for everyday wear with combat pants, a key design feature of this product. The inner belt has a load-rated friction buckle and a belay loop/ working loop fixed, so no matter what, you always have a load-bearing capability whether you are using your gun belt or not. This also makes for an ultra-lightweight climbing harness. Feedback from the pararescue crowd confirmed working on the tower all day without the outer gun belt, but still having the harness available was a nice feature.
Belay Loop/ Working Loop
The load-bearing aspect of the product required us to certify both EN 12277 and EN 358 safety standards. This is the Type C fall arrest standard, including the belay loop being rated to 15 kN.
We had to lean into our material selection to meet the 15 kN safety rating while still being small and low profile. We settled on Sterling climbing webbing, which is both load rated and has a reliable supply chain.
Engineering an anodized aluminum friction buckle
Creating custom hardware for this project proved to be more complicated than we initially anticipated. Luckily, we have engineers on staff at CRO. We ended up with a custom friction buckle that works well with our webbing selection and has excellent retention while still allowing the user to tighten and loosen easily, which is required to route the inner belt through your belt loops.
Outer Belt
The Outer Belt needed to be familiar and functional for mounting a pistol, mags, dump pouch, tools, etc., but also needed to integrate with the inner belt. It’s bad practice to load metal on top of metal, so we offset the inner belt friction buckle to the side in the appendix area and centered the working loop/ belay loop. When loading the outer belt, the Cobra buckle routes through the belay loop, and both are centered. A perfect setup and the belay loop has a retention strap when not used. This makes a very clean, stable shooting platform with a ton of working space to mount tools.
Designing the Leg Loops
Retention was a key design metric during the process. The problem with most leg loops is they don’t stay in place when you put them on. They tend to sag and fall down the back of your legs. We found the ideal balance of retention, functionality, and comfort through trial and error.
These turned out really well, and they pack down nicely. They’re not too bulky like the ISH harness leg loops (although not quite as streamlined as the Arc’teryx Leaf leg loops), but they provide a REAL hoisting capability and are actually comfortable to use. Removing the tightening buckle hardware also allowed us to slim it down.
The result of this project is a riggers belt, gun belt, and assault climbing harness, all-in-one. So far, the feedback has been tremendous, and we look forward to getting this out to anyone needing a gun belt and a vertical capability.
For quotes, contact support@cromedical.com
www.cromedicalgear.com/products/hoist-harness
MSRP $280
The South Tyrolean research center has launched an independent study to test the validity of a new device designed to increase the survivability of avalanche burial. The Norwegian start-up contacted Eurac Research to scientifically test the device and check whether it can significantly extend survival time in the snow.
(Bolzano, Italy – March 24, 2023) A research group led by Eurac agreed to conduct a medical trial with Safeback SBX, but with complete independence from Safeback – financing it with its own funds and those of the research partner “MountainLab ” (Mountain Medicine Research Group, University of Bergen). As a part of the trial, full burial tests were carried out on 30 volunteers who were among the first to experience complete snow burial with the system activated. The study’s results will be ready in the fall.
“The device has never been subject to a formal medical trial and the characteristics of the snow can possibly influence its effectiveness. For this reason, in our study we test the functionality with people actually buried in the snow and monitor various physiological parameters,” explains Giacomo Strapazzon, director of the Institute of Mountain Emergency Medicine at Eurac and responsible for the study.
In the event of complete burial in an avalanche, oxygen deprivation is most often the cause of death. Safeback SBX was created precisely to provide fresh air to the victim under the snow, thus increasing the chances of rescuers of finding buried people alive. A continuous flow of air, for 90 minutes, pumps through the system up to the breathing area thanks to two flexible tubes positioned on the shoulder straps.
“Safeback has based the product development of the SBX on research and testing. It has always been our intention that the product be tested by independent researchers to confirm the effect of Safeback SBX in terms of extending life expectancy when trapped under the snow. With all their previous research on the subject, we fully trust their expertise to design and conduct a medical trial to find out just this,” adds Tor Berge, Co-founder and CEO of Safeback.
The system functions via an electric air pump which exploits a particular property of snow: it is porous and permeable to air, even when snow is very heavy. The device essentially sucks the air out of the snow behind the victim’s back and delivers it up to their face. Thanks to this constant supply of air, even in burials without air pockets, the amount of oxygen present could therefore be sufficient to survive, despite the victim exhaling carbon dioxide.
“At first, we were afraid we would not be able to recruit people willing to be completely buried in the snow, lying face-down on their stomachs, to contribute to this research. Contrary to expectations, about a hundred people applied and some insistently asked to be selected,” says Eurac doctor and researcher Frederik Eisendle.
The selected volunteers were then subjected to preliminary tests to determine their eligibility to participate without outsized risks to their health, while field tests were carried out in a secret area of the Dolomites.
During the tests, the researchers constantly monitored the buried subjects’ oxygen saturation, various cardiovascular parameters, the frequency and depth of breathing, the density of the snow, and the ratio between oxygen and carbon dioxide while breathing in the snow. Tests have also been carried out to measure the body’s response to a stressful situation like this. To rule out a placebo effect, the test subjects were divided into two groups without telling them which group they belonged to: one control group was assigned a dummy device (which did not work, but made realistic sounds) and the other group a working device.
“Regardless of the results of this study, no device can ever guarantee survival under an avalanche. The most important thing is to prevent exposure, thanks to the avalanche forecasting and warning services or the training of companions on self-rescue techniques. If the device we are testing works well, those who go to the mountains will have an extra tool to extend the time in which the rescue is still effective,” points out Hermann Brugger, emergency doctor at Eurac Research.
Experts therefore expect that the differences in the time spent under the snow of the two groups give indications of the effectiveness of the device.
“We will still publish the results of the study as per scientific research practice, even in a case where they prove that the device does not work so well,” concludes Strapazzon.
Safeback SBX has already received the necessary certifications to be marketed by the manufacturer and will be sold in avalanche backpacks from Db and Bergans of Norway in the fall of 2023.
www.eurac.edu/en/institutes-centers/institute-of-mountain-emergency-medicine
We’re issuing a voluntary recall on the Recon LT avalanche transceiver to carry out a necessary firmware update.
In a limited number of cases, the Recon LT could unexpectedly enter search mode, despite its rotary switch remaining in the send position. There have been no accidents or injuries resulting from this malfunction.
This issue is easily eliminated when users update their firmware to version v1.3 or later.
All users should immediately stop using their Recon LT until completing one of the following options:
1. To update your Recon LT, simply download the Pieps app for iOS or Android devices, connect the transceiver via Bluetooth, then follow the on-screen prompts.
2. Send your Recon LT to our service center, where we will perform the update for you free of charge.
3. Receive a full refund from Black Diamond for Recon LT customers.
For firmware update procedures and related recall information, please click Learn More below.
We appreciate your understanding and cooperation, and we apologize for the inconvenience caused by this recall.
Learn more here.
Direct Action has released their rope bag. Designed to be leg mounted, it will control the rope during rappel descents.
