You know how it goes: You’re living the happy life up at the top of your apartment building, when suddenly disaster strikes, and your routes of escape are all blocked. No web-slinging hero is coming to save you. What do you do?
You slip on your SkySaver backpack and rappel down your building to the street, of course.
Yes, this emergency pack is exactly what it looks like – a bag filled with cables that let you slip out of your apartment like a slow-motion bungee jump. It’s supposed to be particular useful when there’s a fire below you and you really can’t descend via stairs. The cable is also fire resistant, which is no doubt of great comfort when taking a crash-course in backpack-based mountain dangling while your building burns.
The SkySaver is designed to be used via a window. Strap it on, secure it well, then climb out the window and attach the cable to a secure anchor point inside the building. That last part is a bit worrying, because there’s no mention of exactly what a secure anchor point looks like or if you need to install one somehow. Let’s assume your windowsill isn’t sufficient.
Then the pack takes care of the rest with an automatic braking system that slowly lowers you down…until it stops, which is why it is very important to have a SkySaver with the right length of cable. There’s one with an 80-foot cable length, one with 160 feet, and one with 260 feet.
At this point you probably won’t be at all surprised that SkySaver is a featured item in the soon-to-be-extinct SkyMall catalog. The company specializes in several similar escape products like DoublExit and UrbanAero, which also look very much at home in the jet magazine.
If you are feeling paranoid enough to buy a SkySaver (doesn’t work with the elderly or children, due to size and weight issues), you’ll have to fork over quite a few dollars. The smallest version costs $750, while the longest cable is $850.
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