It’s not often that you come across a new snowsports product that’s actually useful, but when you finally do it’s often a simple idea that could be revolutionary.

One area of snowboarding that can always do with new ideas is avalanche safety – with more and more people going out in to the backcountry and accessing more terrain it is more important than ever that you can get hold of some decent safety gear.

Just check out this new helmet concept from Aeros. Admittedly it’s not the most stylish of designs – think Hotrod from the original Transformers cartoons – but they’ve incorporated such a simple idea into the lid it’s a wonder no one’s thought of it before.

The biggest killer in avalanches is suffocation, on average if a person is not dug out within fifteen minutes they will die from asphyxiation. Aeros’ idea is to fit the helmet with a facemas that can be pulled down if the wearer thinks they are about be pulled under, this creates a vital air pocket around the wearer’s head.

Not only that, but it comes with an air supply that is activated after the mask is deployed, as well as a neck brace initiated by the same mechanism. As of yet it seems like it’s untested, but if this could work it could be a vital new piece of kit.

There are a few obvious pitfalls – not least the frightening idea of traveling at high speed with a compressed air canister next your brain – but if this could work would you consider purchasing one? Or would the design of it put you off?