Thought of the day: Would we have less incidents if pricing on safety gear was more reasonable? Can manufacturers bring the cost down?
I have been reading a lot about all of the avalanche fatalities we have been having this year. The thought of getting buried alive sends chills down my spine. I always try and be as safe as possible. I avoid dangerous areas when the conditions aren't right. However, all the deaths and near misses this year have taught me that it can happen almost anytime, anywhere if the conditions are right. It doesn't even have to be a big avalanche to kill you either. I realize I often ski dangerous conditions, and always without the right safety equipment. Two recent articles made me want to check into additional safety gear. I thought I'd at least look into those inflatable airbag packs I've been hearing about. The cheapest one I've seen starts at around $700. Add in the cost of an avalanche beacon and you're looking at around $1000 to start for avalanche safety alone. That's a lot of coin for something you'll hopefully never have to use. This is on top of high costs associated with an already expensive sport. With the cost of lift tickets/season pass, skis/board, boots, bindings, pants, jacket, helmet, goggles, gloves/mittens, etc...spending over $1k on safety gear is a tough sell to your average rider.
The old adage is that you pay to play and you shouldn't be out there if you don't have the right gear. You shouldn't be cheap when it comes to your life either. However, you don't even have to be a crazy back country explorer to experience an avalanche. Many avalanches have been triggered on lift-accessible terrain this year. As much as the resorts try to control conditions, patrollers can only do so much. It's clear from the recent incidents that many people expect a certain level of safety when skiing on a resort, even in their more dangerous expert terrain. There have been many cries of outrage that the resorts should have done this or that to prevent an incident. This is an unreasonable expectation. They do the best they can to make the conditions as safe as possible for everyone involved. They don't want to see these headlines anymore than customers do. Who hasn't heard avalanche charges going off during at least one of their visits this season? All non-groomed runs are patrolled and evaluated every day to determine whether they should be open to the public or closed. It always has been and always will be a "ride at your own risk" sport. Your average rider isn't going to invest the amount of money required to fully protect themselves though. Many give the responsibility of their safety over to the resorts and count on that alone to save them. As we've found out this year, it's often not enough.
I'm also an avid mountain biker. I enjoy the lift-serviced downhill mountain biking at the resorts. This is also a very expensive hobby. Many advancements have been made in protective technologies to make the sport safer, but the cost has still kept them out of reach for your average rider. LEATT neck braces are all well and good, but you tell me it's going to cost me $250-$400 and I'm going to balk. I'm already armored up like a storm trooper. I'm not a racer, I'm an average weekend warrior like most. I think to myself, "Do I really need that extra protection?" It's a tough pill to swallow, especially given the exorbitant cost of a good downhill bike. If it was cheaper I probably wouldn't think twice about buying one.
I'm aware that not all protective gear can be cheap to manufacture. I know that the volume of sale is lower so companies need to maintain margins somewhere. I admit I'm not in the industry, so maybe I'm wrong. Maybe their margins aren't that high, but certainly some of this is a bit excessive. There are some brands selling decent gear at lower pricepoints, and there's always product heavily discounted at end of season, so I'm sure there's some wiggle room. There has to be a way to bring the average cost down to a reasonable level. Lower prices across the board on safety equipment can only help us in the long run. While protective gear will only go so far, it certainly decreases your chances of serious injury and increases your chances of survival in extreme situations.
So what are your thoughts? Do you believe safety gear is too expensive? Knowing that some people will never use it, do you think it would be more widely used if it was more readily attainable for the average consumer? By decreasing price do you think manufacturers could make up in volume what they lose in pure profit per sale? What is your personal monetary threshold when it comes to your own safety?
1 comment:
I found your blog by google searching "Avalanche gear is too expensive"
When I first looked into those airbags I was expecting somewhere along the lines of maybe 150 bucks. NOPE! 500+ dollars is the norm. That is such a hard sell when none of my buddies use the gear at all.
Similar thing with beacons. Does it really cost 2-300 dollars to produce a unit that creates an analog radio pulse? Hasn't radio technology amortized enough where this should be a $75 item?
The only thing I can think is that the market accepts the cost. People who travel from long distances are usually wealthy enough to purchase $1k worth of gear and not blink. While locals do it often enough that they can justify the cost.
Me and my buddies haul snowmobiles into the mountains from 13-16 hours away 1-2 times a year. It's hard to justify the extra cost for something that is used 8 days a year.
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