Weight was always the biggest drawback with avalanche airbag backpacks. Not anymore. Touring up for another run in the Wasatch four years ago, my old Backcountry Access Float 32 flopped around my back ...

The Float 2.0 sticks with traditional scuba-like compressed-air technology—though the cartridge is now 30 percent smaller—to lift a skier to the surface in a slide. Plenty of pockets and a helmet ...