Ötztal Tourism: Save me - the ski pass that saves lives

Off-piste skiing and snowboarding are more popular than ever. But also dangerous. Every year more than 5.000 people worldwide are buried by avalanches. During the search for the victims every second counts. Unfortunately, most people buried don't wear any avalanche emergency equipment. Because it's expensive and the danger is often underestimated. This makes it extremely hard for the mountain rescue to find and recover them in time. Agency : Serviceplan, Munich

Solution:
The first ski pass with a built-in positioning chip. With this every skier in the ski resort Sölden is automatically locatable. After an avalanche a radio signal is immediately being sent out. The reflector in the pass returns it. And the mountain rescue can then pinpoint the victim’s exact location. The good thing about Save Me: The reflector is passive, meaning it doesn’t need batteries, so it’s always "on".

Results:
Since the implementation of Save Me in December 2015, Sölden had the lowest avalanche-related fatality rate in 10 years. After overwhelmingly good feedback, Save Me will be continued in 2016/17 and 4 other ski resorts want to adopt the technology.