Dramatic footage of a skier caught up in an avalanche
By Paul Johnson on Oct 15, 2009 in Adventure Travel, Alaska, North America, Regions, Speciality Travel, Travel Miscellany, USA, Videos
Sit back and watch in amazement at this video footage from Alaska. A skier gets caught up in an avalanche and buried alive. Fortunately for him, he lost his glove just prior to being buried, which marked his approximate whereabouts. He was also with people who were trained in avalanche rescue. He was rescued in just 4 and a half minutes and escaped without serious injury.
If anyone’s trying to watch this in a hurry – nothing much happens between 1 min 50, to just before 6 mins.
Wonder if anyone else has managed to film this from their own perspective rather than just up a mountain.
That’s intense. Imagine the adrenaline rush!
I don’t think the glove would have been any use in finding him. They are skiing off piste in Alaska and are all carrying avalanche transceivers, probes, and shovels, they even have walkie talkie radios. There was also a group watching him as he entered the avalanche. They would have explored below his entry point, on a grid pattern using their tranceivers, then used a probe and finally the shovels to locate and recue him.
I can’t undertand why his voice is distorted beyond recognition while you can hear the voices of his recuers better. He may have been using an “Avalung”, but I would have thought his mates would have removed it when he was uncovered.
Shame they didn’t try to add an interview with the sjier in the video, as I’m assuming they uploaded it with his consent.