Discover
The Via Ferrata routine. Time wasted between walking and climbing modes. The safety gear most walkers leave behind because of the friction.
WORKSHOP · PROJECT P·03 · SAFETY · BACKPACK
SELF-INITIATED · A' DESIGN BRONZE · 2022
STATUS · PROTOTYPE
FILE · CPR-03
TRANSITION · < 1 MINYEAR · 2022
Industrial design · Outdoor safety
CAPRA
Via Ferrata.
A backpack that becomes a Via Ferrata kit. Harness, helmet and energy absorber live inside the pack — walker to climber in less than a minute, without taking it off.
Walker to climber. Less than a minute.
Via Ferrata routes invite walkers into the experience of mountaineering — fixed cables, ladders, exposed traverses — paired with the safety gear of climbers. Most kits are carried separately: harness, helmet, double lanyard with energy absorber, all stowed in a backpack and pulled out when the cable starts.
CAPRA is a single object that holds all of it together. The harness, the helmet, and the energy absorber are integrated into the backpack itself. When the route begins, the walker becomes a climber in less than a minute — and never has to remove the pack.
The project earned a Bronze A' Design Award in 2022 in the Outdoor Gear & Camping Equipment category.
[TBD — Amit's note on the integration moment that made the timing work. Engineering breakdown for the harness deployment / helmet stow.]
Standards, then style.
Sketch & CAD
Where the harness folds into the pack. How the helmet stows. Where the energy absorber lives without bunching the load.
Integration
The transition geometry. Less-than-a-minute deployment without removing the pack.
Prototype
First working sample. Webbing, hardware, soft goods stitched into a single object.
Recognition
Bronze A' Design Award · 2022 · Outdoor Gear & Camping Equipment.
Selected plates.
№ 04 · on the process
One object, two modes.
Most safety gear assumes the user is standing still while putting it on. CAPRA assumes the opposite — that the user is already in motion, already wearing the bag, and that the moment the cable starts is not the moment to begin a wardrobe change.
The integration solves a behaviour problem more than a manufacturing one: a kit that lives apart from the walker is a kit that often gets left at home. A backpack the user is already wearing is a kit they cannot leave behind.
[TBD — the integration moment. The deployment sequence. Field test stories. Whether the project went past the prototype stage or remained a self-initiated study.]
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