(FORTUNE Magazine) – Backcountry skiing is booming, but with a price: increased avalanche deaths. Hence, gear companies are designing ever fancier gizmos aimed at anxious adventurers. Black Diamond, based in Salt Lake City (its CEO survived two avalanches), developed the AvaLung 2 ($125, bdel.com), which extracts air through a breathing tube and vents deadly CO2 away from the face. Two companies are also improving the transceiver technology skiiers use to help rescuers find them. Backcountry Access's Tracker DTS (shown above, $299.95, bcaccess.com) features an illuminated arrow on its palm-sized transceiver that keeps rescuers on course, and Germany's Ortovox plans to release a videogame- inspired transceiver next season that will display multiple victims. Even jackets are getting safer. The Sidewinder SV by Arc'Teryx ($499, arcteryx.com) includes reflectors detectable by ski-patrol electronics. Finally, the ABS Plus backpack by Life-Link ($824.95, life-link.com) features a nitrogen canister and two 75-liter balloons that inflate with a ripcord. Still, there's only one surefire way to survive: Stick to the groomed slopes. -- Paul Tolme