Your skiing along on a glorious powder morning when pop, you click out of your bindings and your skis are no where to be found. It has happened to the best of us but now a company called RESQSKI has developed a electronic ski finder that will locate your lost skis submerged under the snow.
Q: HOW DOES RESQSKI WORK?
A: It works using RF (radio frequency) technology. A credit card–sized handheld transceiver communicates with specially developed homing tags that lead you to the lost ski using flashing lights and sonic beeps. The lights move from red to green and the beeps get ever louder and more frequent as you get closer to the ski.
Q: WHAT DOES IT CONSIST OFF?
A: A handheld transceiver and two ski tags. The ski tags comprise a base tag attached to the ski immediately in front of, or behind, the binding using a powerful adhesive; a removable homing tag and a ‘dummy’ tag.
Each tag is ‘registered’ to a specific numbered button on the Handheld so that your skis can be searched for individually by the Handheld. Another set of ski tags (purchased separately) can be registered to buttons 3 & 4 on the Handheld.
The tags are designed so that the Homing tag can be taken out of the Base Tag for storage. A Dummy tag is supplied to fill the Base Tag to give a clean, streamlined appearance when RESQSKI is not needed for operation.
Q: HOW MUCH DOES IT COST?
A: It will retail at $156
Q: WHERE CAN I BUY IT?
A: Currently at resqski.com
Official Press Release from RESQSKI LTD
For off-piste skiers and ski tourers losing a ski is an ever-present fear. The ski planes under the powder, disappearing in seconds, and can end up 10 metres away from where you fall. At best it’s frustrating. At worst, it’s downright dangerous.
Using RF (radio frequency) technology, RESQSKI can find a lost ski buried up to a metre in snow and from as far away as 30 metres. A credit card-sized handheld transceiver communicates with homing tags attached to the ski that lead you to the lost ski using flashing lights and sonic beeps. The lights move from red to green and the beeps get ever louder and more frequent as you get closer to the ski.
Chris Chadwick, CEO and Creator of RESQSKI Ltd, said:
“The idea was born out of my own experience. Skiing off-piste with my son George near Veysonnaz in Switzerland, I make a careless turn that catapulted me 10 metres below my skis. I quickly found one but it took me 45 minutes of hard digging to find the other.
Two days later I was skiing in Zermatt with my nephew Charlie – a ski instructor in the resort and an off-piste aficionado. He admitted that he had lost no fewer than 3 skis in the past few seasons and a good pair of off-piste skis can cost £700! The thought occurred that there must be a better solution for powder hounds. The idea for RESQSKI was born!”
RESQSKI comprises a small handheld transceiver, two low-profile base tags which seat two removable homing tags. The tags are fully waterproof and shockproof and are easily fixed next to the ski’s bindings using a powerful adhesive sticker. The homing tag has an on/off switch so you can get through the season without mucking about changing batteries. Each handheld can support two sets of skis. Fuller details are contained in the Q&A below and a full spec available in the online user guide, www.resqski.com/user-manual/.
Chadwick believes there is huge potential for his new product:
“There is nothing like the RESQSKI tag available world-wide, yet the need is cogent. We will start by selling online, and building a network of ski retail and off-piste specialists in Europe. We then intend to expand world-wide especially in North America and Japan.”
