I use both and have done for the past four years. I sell all avalanche safety equipment, am a distributor for snowpulse airbags, a professional member of the Canadian Avalanche Association, and teach loads of avalanche courses.
This is purely my opinion but if i really had to choose for me it would be a no brainer, and i would go for the airbag. The reason is simple; if i am caught in an avalanche i have a way better chance of living by having an airbag on than i do with a beacon.
I have done a lot of research into airbags and beacons and i will give you a quick run down from the Time is Life DVD, which is edited and approved by the International Commission of Alpine Rescue. ICAR – MEDCOM, CISA-IKAR Avalanche Commission. SWISS Stats. 2005.
They examined 2000 Avalanche incidents and found the following:
"Overall there was a 22% mortality rate.
- Only 4.4% of people who were not buried, or only partially buried died!
- 51.3% chance of death for people who were completely buried.
1991-2004: 77 reports of airbag inflation.
76 Survived, 1 Died
10 completely buried but airbags were visible on the surface.
9 cases where airbags were not deployed.
The same avalanches caught 25 people who were not wearing airbags. Of these 12 were completely buried, 9 were found dead.
Airbags lowered the probability of a complete burial from 47.1% to 13% and the mortality rate 35.3% to 1.3%!
ICAR conclusion : Statistical evidence for airbags is good to very good. “It is the device of choice”.
Point of Interest: Same study revealed transceivers reduced the median burial time 170-20 minutes, but the mortality rate only 79% to 50%!"
The point is if you are buried your chances are not great with or without a beacon. I believe these stats are a little off now (likely a slightly better chance for a buried vicitm) as beacon technology gets better and more importantly people get better at using them. We are also now greatly improving shovelling techniques which can make up a lot of time.
If the experts at ICAR who spend their lives looking at this stuff believe that an airbag is the "device of choice", i will take their word for it. As well i have seen the videos of the airbag testing and done some myself and it is amazing at how effective they are. There seems to be a bit of a myth out there about how effective beacons are. Yes they help, but not really that much. If you are deeply buried you are still screwed. If i had to guess i would say that the majority of avalanche victims here in Canada were wearing a beacon, that is just a hunch.
As a final summary, use all the equipment, practice with it, and take an avalanche skills training course if you haven't done so in the last couple of years to keep up to date on all the technology changes and new rescue techniques. If you can afford to sled my guess is that you can afford the safety equipment.
