There is a certain kind of person that lives to experience the great outdoors in the winter. These ski-bunnies spend their winter nights in cabins, preferably in front of a fireplace, and their days navigating whatever snowy cliff-side they can get their gloved hands on. They live for the exhilarating thrill that a good mountain gives them. They do not, however, live for losing their precious ski gear in the side of said mountain after a brutal wipeout. Snow is really, really good at hiding things, after all. Thankfully, there is now tech for that.
A company called AKKA is prepping their Ski Retriever system which uses radio tags to help you find your lost gear. The whole system is waterproof, which is useful considering snow is just hardened water(We learned that in science class.) This device pairs a handheld 1-inch OLED display with multiple tags, which include audio and visual feedback delivered as you get closer to your lost property. There are even easy-to-read visible notifications to let you know when you are hot and when you are not. The tags can be affixed to any piece of your gear via sticker or via easy to tie lanyard loops. Now you can finally get drunk and hit the slopes with no fear of losing thousands of dollars of ski equipment! Of course, the old fear of crashing into a tree and dying still exists.
AKKA’s Ski Retriever isn’t out yet, and isn’t even fully funded. The company has taken to Kickstarter to finish things up. For $125 you can be sure to be one of the first snowy kids on your snowy block to get suited up with this system. In the meantime, fore! Wait, nevermind, that’s another sport.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-oCyX1nyWe8
