News
November 13, 2019
“It is a great advantage to be able to live off your idea, but it is nothing compared to meeting someone who tells you they are alive because of your idea.” – Magnus Granhed, founder of RECCO AB
The RECCO story is a short documentary about a project that started with an avalanche accident in December 1973 and led to a global standard for avalanche rescue. Today a search and rescue system for all outdoor activities year around now exists due to this tragic incident.
But in 1973, before any electronical aids existed, Magnus Granhed and his friends were left to search for skiers caught in an avalanche with their ski poles.
“It felt hopeless, knowing that there were people buried underneath,” he remembers. After three hours, two victims were found, and it was confirmed that one of them was a friend of Magnus Granhed’s. “This contributed to making the experience even stronger. Here we are having fun skiing and suddenly one of us passes away.”
After the accident Magnus Granhed was motivated to get more knowledge about avalanches and rescue and search technologies and quickly understood that an electronic solution could allow searches to faster locate victims buried by an avalanche.
“But neither the technology or the market existed when we started.”
The original idea with the RECCO rescue system was to find a technology to make all people searchable by professional rescue teams, with a maintenance free and cost-efficient solution. Almost fifty years later – the idea remains the same.
RECCO® advanced rescue technology makes outdoor enthusiasts searchable to rescuers in case of an avalanche accident or when lost in the outdoors. The technology builds on a two-part radar system. Rescuers carry RECCO® detectors that send out search signals which are echoed by RECCO® reflectors, carried by the user. RECCO® detectors are used worldwide at more than 900 ski resorts and mountain rescue organizations in 32 countries. RECCO® reflectors are integrated into select apparel, helmets, protection gear and boots manufactured by more than 150 leading outdoor brands. RECCO AB was founded in 1983 in Sweden and is owned by its founder Magnus Granhed and the publicly traded investment company Traction AB (listed on OMX Nordic Exchange Stockholm). More info at recco.com
