Appropriate, now that the snow season’s pretty much over: I happened upon a link to the Black Diamond Avalung, which allows people trapped in avalanches to breathe by taking air from the surrounding snow and rerouting exhaled air somewhere else. This article at Wildsnow.com gives an in-depth review of how it works, what its limitations are (no help if the slide smashes you into trees or carries you off a cliff, for instance) and so forth. It sounds pretty nifty for people who do a lot of deep-powder skiing; hard to say if it’s worth the trouble for snowshoeing, but it might qualify as nice to have (just for the coolness factor, if nothing else).

Link via TubaDuba.

(Long as I’m on the subject of cool gear you’ll never use: how about a leg pack?)