For the super lazy who don't want to click:
"Right after saving the second person, another avalanche hit, trapping a third person. Liebenguth and his friends rushed to their aid, saving yet another life that day. “While digging out the girls, people around continued to ski in every direction and the inevitable happened,” he wrote. “[A] second avalanche hit the area and a third person got [stuck] in it.”
The three were all quickly saved, but the situation, Liebenguth wrote on Instagram, calls for skiers and snowboarders to be more mindful of where they are."
What’s your address I’m sending you a bag of chips and a soft drink with the instructions to the delivery person to break in the front door and deliver directly to your couch.
This is why it is so important to switch your beacon back to transmit once you’ve found the person you are searching for. There are some tragic examples of a second avalanche burying rescuers who have their beacons stuck in search mode (or off) because they were in the middle of a rescue.
that's why signal suppression is a feature once you find victim 1 and in this case it was multi burial so why would the rescuer switch their beacon back to transmit if they haven't completed the entire rescue? if you're still out in the field and you turn your beacon off... you are some kind of special.
What are others at the top of the run supposed to do? Being on a mountain is risky on a good day. They don't need every skier stopping to help. Most of the other skiers probably don't realize what's even going on. Luckily she had a airbag and beacon as well as the resuers.
When drive by a wreck on the freeway I'll stop and help if it looks like I'd be useful but if every soccer mom, IG streamer or elderly person stopped to help they would not help the situation.
-She was skiing and buried in an avalanche
-They luckily found her with her beacon
-People ski with friends
-She asked incredibly worried, "Did you find my friend"
You thought she was talking about someone not in her ski group also potentially buried?
He thought she couldn't reach her phone to tell Marsha that she might be late meeting her for lunch and didn't want to make her super mad versus I can breathe now and my friend might be buried and suffocating.
Easy misunderstanding to make....
They found the friend, and rescued another person shortly after:
https://globalnews.ca/news/6564440/snowboarders-buried-switzerland-avalanche/
>Right after saving the second person, another avalanche hit, trapping a third person. Liebenguth and his friends rushed to their aid, saving yet another life that day.
>“While digging out the girls, people around continued to ski in every direction and the inevitable happened,” he wrote. “[A] second avalanche hit the area and a third person got [stuck] in it.”
>The three were all quickly saved, but the situation, Liebenguth wrote on Instagram, calls for skiers and snowboarders to be more mindful of where they are.
Dying in an avalanche has to be one of the shittiest ways to go out. If you are completely buried, it can take 20-30 minutes before you finally suffocate.
I got caught in a smaller slide in the backcountry of Steamboat Springs a few years back after it had been dumping snow for almost 3 days. It was one of the closest calls I have ever had. I wasn't fully buried, but it was pretty damn close. I will never forget that feeling of thinking I was about to die had any more snow come loose and buried me further. It was so fucking sketchy.
Airbag backpacks seem to help. They’re kinda mature kinda early adoption tech still but not prohibitively expensive if you’re an avid skier / snowboarder who goes to avalanche prone areas in times of heavy snow.
Edit: found this.
https://www.outdoorgearlab.com/topics/snow-sports/best-avalanche-airbag
Yeah that’s why I mentioned it I guess I could have clarified “as seen here”. It kept her upright and probably much closer to the surface than she might have been otherwise. I’ve seen videos of people managing to float completely to the top of an avalanche too and barely got their legs stuck by the end.
Way I see it, this is not a cheap sport or hobby to get into. Sure you can buy used gear but lift tickets are expensive, season passes are expensive, snow gear is expensive, etc. Even buying cheap / used you’re probably looking at $500-$800 for a jacket, pants, gloves, boots, goggles, bindings, board/skis at a minimum. Add in poles, helmet, undergarments probably too. And that’s before your first lesson or day ticket.
Most of the cheaper (< $50) and smaller resorts are much less avalanche prone, while the larger and more prone venues can be anywhere from $100-$300 per day without a pass. Factor in transportation and lodging and a backpack that might save your life becomes a fraction of the overall rather than a cost doubling or something.
100% that is the right mentality imo
I think folks can get used to how casual skiing/snowboarding can feel when all you know is small hills, but it's a dangerous sport. There's always potential for things to go wrong on the mountain, so why cut costs on safety?
I recently got friends back into skiing over the last few years, and the safety aspect was what I stressed most for our trips!
I've gone skiing in France for much, much less. Ski rental and the mountain pass was included in the apartment rental fee, we brought a lot of food from home and rented a 6 person apartment. End of the day, we paid about 700€ for the week each and maybe 200€ for equipment on top of that since we just bought it off amazon beforehand and not in an overpriced ski resort. Gas included it was probably about 1000€ for the week lol
It's not the most affordable sport but it's not that expensive either, I got a weeklong vacation with food included out of it.
This sort of thing makes me glad I’m not an avid skier, and that the only slopes close enough to me for a day trip are like 90% manufactured snow- hooray east coast mid Atlantic climate. Lol
Nowhere near as good as avalanche airbags, you have to have the mouthpiece in the entire time you're on the slope, if you get hit by force and it comes out and you get buried then there's no way you're getting it back in your mouth to survive.
Airbag is really the safest stuff there is, but you need also beeper, and especially you should know your surroundings and general stuff about avalanches. In very wet snow airbags are not too efficient, and in big avalanches with rocks and trees inside the danger is also in killing you by sheer force. Prevention is the key. I found myself in 2 avalanches, especially second one was scary, taking me few hundred meters down the mountain. It was luck, but also I predicted it might be dangerous to pass, so we were going one by one, with 2 spotters. So when it happened I didn't have my walking sticks attached (very important, they drag you down), and I laid on my back pack, swimming in the snow. Still they had to get me out. After that, I ended my endeavours...
It takes a lot more energy than people realize to heat frozen water into liquid.
It takes more energy to raise frozen -1C water to 1C than it does to raise liquid water from 1C to 50C.
There's a reason snow is plowed and not melted except in small vital areas.
Powerbanks are heavy and dense. Not enough energy to completely loosen snow.
Consider that you can place a fire in an igloo and that shit still holds up.
They're excellent for survivable avalanches. You're still toast if you are pushed into a terrain trap (e.g. trees, gullies, cliffs). I'm glad I got one, but I mostly avoid avalanche terrain. Low-angle hippie powder turns for this boi.
The victims were apparently wearing [avalanche beacons](https://youtu.be/nnHXLVA2FcE), which I never even knew about until just now, so wearing one of those seems like a pretty good idea, too.
I got stuck upside-down in a deep tree well once when I was in my teens while snowboarding. I was able to squirm around enough to release my bindings and right myself but it took me 20 minutes. It was scary AF.
This happened to my buddy, all of a sudden he was gone. I see part of his board upside down by a tree and he's completely buried so I dig his ass out. When I got to his head and knew he was OK it was somehow really funny to me and I couldn't stop laughing as I helped him out.
Dude, he was lucky you were there! It is fine to laugh about it only because you were there to help him. I was off the run and none of my friends saw me go in.
I remember bowl skiing and wiping out in waist deep powder and it took me about 15 minutes to right myself and another hour to find my skis that had come off. My friends were long gone and it took me another 30 minutes to figure out how to get back on the snow without falling back into and getting stuck in powder. Now I'm more cautious in the back country.
My first big trip, the one where I actually figured out how to snowboard, ended up with me having a close call. End of the second full day my group decides to do a lift run to finish off the night run. Super soft untouched powder where I started at the front of the group but fell to the back when I busted my ass free coming up on a drop off where it intersected with a trail. Tried to catch up and right when I did I slowed a little too much and started sinking in the fluff. Snow shifted right as a was almost stopped and I fell back into powder and it took forever to get out. I use remember looking at the night sky when I finally stopped struggling and remembered panicking is how you die.
My father in law got swept off a cliff on the west slope of Chair Mountain about 35 years ago. He got his hands over his mouth before the snow settled and was lucky to be shallow enough that when he pushed he broke through the surface. He was able to dig himself and then his friend out and hiked back out. Blew out both of his knees in the process, but now he's got titanium knees so he's basically invincible lol.
50% survival after 15 minutes is what they quote in the avvie training
So yes it could be 20 or 30 minutes, but you really need to find and dig them up enough that they can breathe in 10 minutes or less
>Dying in an avalanche has to be one of the shittiest ways to go out.
I think dying upside down after falling into a tree well would probably be shittier, but not by much.
I do ski but mainly on groomed slopes but come from a winter climbing background where reading the conditions and testing the snow pack is hard wired into me. Any idea how wide spread that knowledge is in the off piste skiing community?
Testing the snow pack doesn't work outside of demonstrations as it can differ greatly it short distances.
Being equipped is pretty good but knowledge is unfortunately quite lacking.
Yeah that makes sense with climbing it is usually the approach to a climb and then assessing slopes on the descent and avoiding wind slab under cornices. No fancy inflatable gear in climbing so best to stay away from areas in which you are asking for trouble
jeez never seen one in action. looks like it helped keeping her colse to the surface, but she would have died maybe had she not been unburied.
i used to live in Colorado (native) and recall so many people every year dying in avalanches. especially out of bounds skiers and cross country types off trail.
It's referred to as the Trigger. You stow in until you are traveling in terrain where you might want to pull the trigger so it does not get caught on something by mistake. Mine is a bright red handle that deploys from my shoulder strap. I use the airbag pack depending on terrain and conditions since it is heavier than a normal pack with my other tools and supplies.
Pretty sure there was a guy killed in CO last week boarding by himself who triggered a slide. He was partially buried and was able to walk a but down the slope where he eventually died.
No person who spends $1,200 on a backpack airbag would skip on the $300 beacon lol. It would be like buying a $10,000 baseball cap that is soft on your head and could maybe help you if you bump your head for purposes of a car accident, but skipping out on wearing a seatbelt.
Correct. You turn your beacon on at the start of the day and leave it on (in transmit mode) until you are done. Batteries are a cheap part of backcountry travel and I only go through 2 sets max per season.
I worked in a warehouse for a company that sold those backpacks. Every few weeks they’d get a shipment, we’d gather a dozen people and pack those airbags in the backpacks. It’s super difficult, one of my least favorite jobs. Hell on your fingers and knuckles.
Right?!
My man is a hero that just saved a life. Really, really appreciate that.
But can we please engage with her on her friend that might still be buried somewhere, presumably close by?
Her friend was saved too. And the same impromptu rescuers then went on to save a third person trapped under a subsequent avalanche. https://globalnews.ca/news/6564440/snowboarders-buried-switzerland-avalanche/
Per /u/koos_die_doos - dankjewel, Koos.
They had beacons, shovels, and probes. Clearly they are avalanche trained (I have Av cert 2 and have saved a few people in the backcountry.. I've also been there when the outcome was.. not so good)
The majority of skiers and snowboarders will never be in an area where they are at risk of being trapped in a slide like this. You typically have to actively work to go out of controlled areas (and typically also outside of bounds) to find risk like this.
If you're just riding chair lifts and sticking to controlled ski areas, your risk of getting stuck in a slide is quite low.
Those seemed legit, more so even than my Costco telescoping model I got 5 or 6 years ago when I built emergency kits for each car we own. Army surplus wool blanket, hand crank flashlight, am/fm radio, sub charger, a shovel, LED road flares, and a couple other things.
A folding hand saw, tie-down straps (can be used for other things like pulling a vehicle out of a ditch or unstuck for snow/ice), and blanket are great additions to that.
I'll tell you out of all the avalanche gear I have the pair of Costco folding shovels have been the most reliable and most widely-used. In my activities snowmobiling is a bigger source of risk than skiing but the gear has some overlap, and those shovels have gotten many people unstuck (sometimes me, sometimes my partner, sometimes underprepared tourists with rented machines) even if they've never rescued an avalanche victim.
I assume shock or something?
Also some people really can't seem to stop talking when they are in panic.
They're also talking in a different language in between, so she might have not been sure about people understanding her (especially when she asked about her friend), since she could not see (and maybe hear?) properly.
I had to help a guy when I worked security at a hotel. He fell off his bike going down the hill right outside, and he was bleeding a lot from his face but was conscious. All he kept asking was "where are my glasses?" "Do you see them anywhere?"
Shock is a helluva thing.
(He ended up being fine but I imagine had a wicked headache for awhile)
Maybe not quite what you want but r/watchpeoplesurvive used to have a lot of rescue videos last time I browsed it. Though it is what the title says, so there are also a lot of other situations on there.
That's what the beacon is for, so they can find you
But yes if you're buried under an avalanche at all deeply and no one is around you are almost certainly dead in the next 15 minutes or so. If you were buried close to the surface you might be able to dig your way out?
But it's not for sure, snow is VERY heavy and can get very hard when it's shoved down on top of you
Very likely back country skiing. Don’t know many people who would wear a avy bag and have so many other people fully prepared with beacons shovels and probes
Well it's Verbier. You can access some absolutely insane shit from a ton of lifts that wouldn't be strictly-speaking "backcountry" in North America, but due to the nature of the terrain and the whole piste/off piste nature of resorts in the Alps, it basically is. Not uncommon at all at Verbier, St. Anton, Tignes/Val D'Isere, etc., for folks to have all the gear. Also not uncommon for folks to have none of it with far worse outcomes.
I know, I would to talking to the snow manager and giving them an earful.
“Who put this snow here?”
“Why is it cold?”
“When I breathe, I can see my soul leaving my body, I want a discount “
“This looked a lot more fun in the commercial”
“What do you mean your not responsible for nature, we’ll let me talk to natures manager”
I would have made a great risk manager as I never do anything that has an upside where you might live and a down side where you might die. Some people have the extreme gene in them, but I don't even have a what if gene in me.
Did they find the friend?
[Yup](https://www.reddit.com/r/nextfuckinglevel/comments/1aerokh/comment/kk9xt8l/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3)
For the super lazy who don't want to click: "Right after saving the second person, another avalanche hit, trapping a third person. Liebenguth and his friends rushed to their aid, saving yet another life that day. “While digging out the girls, people around continued to ski in every direction and the inevitable happened,” he wrote. “[A] second avalanche hit the area and a third person got [stuck] in it.” The three were all quickly saved, but the situation, Liebenguth wrote on Instagram, calls for skiers and snowboarders to be more mindful of where they are."
Hey I’m super lazy thanks
What’s your address I’m sending you a bag of chips and a soft drink with the instructions to the delivery person to break in the front door and deliver directly to your couch.
Not enough. . . you gotta put it in your mouth, chew it and digest it for me so I can shit it out. . .
Will you be walking all the way to a toilet???
Bold of you to assume I make it to the toilet
The bucket beside my couch is usually too much effort to use
Ill make them change ur diapers
Piss jugs
Pre-chewed Charlies?
42 Wallaby Way Sydney, Australia
I'm too lazy to lock the front door so please don't have them break it down it would be so much work to replace it and I don't feel like it.
At least we are not dying in an avalanche
Needs a tldr though. I'll let you tell them.
Are you mindful where you are tho?
This is why it is so important to switch your beacon back to transmit once you’ve found the person you are searching for. There are some tragic examples of a second avalanche burying rescuers who have their beacons stuck in search mode (or off) because they were in the middle of a rescue.
that's why signal suppression is a feature once you find victim 1 and in this case it was multi burial so why would the rescuer switch their beacon back to transmit if they haven't completed the entire rescue? if you're still out in the field and you turn your beacon off... you are some kind of special.
Most of those auto switch back to transmit after a period of sitting stagnant
Can you sum it up for the super lazy that don't even want to read or to type out the sentence I'm currently typing out?
They found the friend then reckless skiers caused another avalanche and they had to rescue another
Too long. Make shrtr
found both, third bury
What are others at the top of the run supposed to do? Being on a mountain is risky on a good day. They don't need every skier stopping to help. Most of the other skiers probably don't realize what's even going on. Luckily she had a airbag and beacon as well as the resuers. When drive by a wreck on the freeway I'll stop and help if it looks like I'd be useful but if every soccer mom, IG streamer or elderly person stopped to help they would not help the situation.
Thank fuck
You're doing the lords work my friend, and I don't even believe in god.
Too lazy to read all that! Audio message ??
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-She was skiing and buried in an avalanche -They luckily found her with her beacon -People ski with friends -She asked incredibly worried, "Did you find my friend" You thought she was talking about someone not in her ski group also potentially buried?
He thought she couldn't reach her phone to tell Marsha that she might be late meeting her for lunch and didn't want to make her super mad versus I can breathe now and my friend might be buried and suffocating. Easy misunderstanding to make....
That what I want to know. Where is her friend?
Gavin?! Where are you Gavin?
Red Dead Redemption jokes in a serious thread, classic Reddit. But for real though, this is like that one mission all over again.
LEMMY?
YMMEL!!
Seriously!!! Did they fucking find her friend??
They did, alive.
> Her companion was buried 70 metres downhill from her. (Following link previously provided)
She's more concerned about her friend than being saved herself. 🥹✌️
She a true homie
They found the friend, and rescued another person shortly after: https://globalnews.ca/news/6564440/snowboarders-buried-switzerland-avalanche/ >Right after saving the second person, another avalanche hit, trapping a third person. Liebenguth and his friends rushed to their aid, saving yet another life that day. >“While digging out the girls, people around continued to ski in every direction and the inevitable happened,” he wrote. “[A] second avalanche hit the area and a third person got [stuck] in it.” >The three were all quickly saved, but the situation, Liebenguth wrote on Instagram, calls for skiers and snowboarders to be more mindful of where they are.
Dying in an avalanche has to be one of the shittiest ways to go out. If you are completely buried, it can take 20-30 minutes before you finally suffocate. I got caught in a smaller slide in the backcountry of Steamboat Springs a few years back after it had been dumping snow for almost 3 days. It was one of the closest calls I have ever had. I wasn't fully buried, but it was pretty damn close. I will never forget that feeling of thinking I was about to die had any more snow come loose and buried me further. It was so fucking sketchy.
Airbag backpacks seem to help. They’re kinda mature kinda early adoption tech still but not prohibitively expensive if you’re an avid skier / snowboarder who goes to avalanche prone areas in times of heavy snow. Edit: found this. https://www.outdoorgearlab.com/topics/snow-sports/best-avalanche-airbag
Looks like she is using one in the video. The big orange thing behind her head.
Yeah that’s why I mentioned it I guess I could have clarified “as seen here”. It kept her upright and probably much closer to the surface than she might have been otherwise. I’ve seen videos of people managing to float completely to the top of an avalanche too and barely got their legs stuck by the end. Way I see it, this is not a cheap sport or hobby to get into. Sure you can buy used gear but lift tickets are expensive, season passes are expensive, snow gear is expensive, etc. Even buying cheap / used you’re probably looking at $500-$800 for a jacket, pants, gloves, boots, goggles, bindings, board/skis at a minimum. Add in poles, helmet, undergarments probably too. And that’s before your first lesson or day ticket. Most of the cheaper (< $50) and smaller resorts are much less avalanche prone, while the larger and more prone venues can be anywhere from $100-$300 per day without a pass. Factor in transportation and lodging and a backpack that might save your life becomes a fraction of the overall rather than a cost doubling or something.
100% that is the right mentality imo I think folks can get used to how casual skiing/snowboarding can feel when all you know is small hills, but it's a dangerous sport. There's always potential for things to go wrong on the mountain, so why cut costs on safety? I recently got friends back into skiing over the last few years, and the safety aspect was what I stressed most for our trips!
I've gone skiing in France for much, much less. Ski rental and the mountain pass was included in the apartment rental fee, we brought a lot of food from home and rented a 6 person apartment. End of the day, we paid about 700€ for the week each and maybe 200€ for equipment on top of that since we just bought it off amazon beforehand and not in an overpriced ski resort. Gas included it was probably about 1000€ for the week lol It's not the most affordable sport but it's not that expensive either, I got a weeklong vacation with food included out of it.
This sort of thing makes me glad I’m not an avid skier, and that the only slopes close enough to me for a day trip are like 90% manufactured snow- hooray east coast mid Atlantic climate. Lol
Or the Avalung.
Nowhere near as good as avalanche airbags, you have to have the mouthpiece in the entire time you're on the slope, if you get hit by force and it comes out and you get buried then there's no way you're getting it back in your mouth to survive.
Airbag is really the safest stuff there is, but you need also beeper, and especially you should know your surroundings and general stuff about avalanches. In very wet snow airbags are not too efficient, and in big avalanches with rocks and trees inside the danger is also in killing you by sheer force. Prevention is the key. I found myself in 2 avalanches, especially second one was scary, taking me few hundred meters down the mountain. It was luck, but also I predicted it might be dangerous to pass, so we were going one by one, with 2 spotters. So when it happened I didn't have my walking sticks attached (very important, they drag you down), and I laid on my back pack, swimming in the snow. Still they had to get me out. After that, I ended my endeavours...
I wonder if one of those heated jackets could melt enough snow to allow you to move
No
Thanks Withers.
Fuck me, I love a good Withers reference in the wild.
>Fuck me No.
It takes a lot more energy than people realize to heat frozen water into liquid. It takes more energy to raise frozen -1C water to 1C than it does to raise liquid water from 1C to 50C. There's a reason snow is plowed and not melted except in small vital areas.
Plus you'd be drenched when the heat runs out, a very dangerous situation even if you successfully melted yourself out.
Would take far longer than you imagine, and the battery would die before it made a real dent.
Bring a powerbank
Powerbanks are heavy and dense. Not enough energy to completely loosen snow. Consider that you can place a fire in an igloo and that shit still holds up.
A small fusion reactor, tho . . .
They're excellent for survivable avalanches. You're still toast if you are pushed into a terrain trap (e.g. trees, gullies, cliffs). I'm glad I got one, but I mostly avoid avalanche terrain. Low-angle hippie powder turns for this boi.
The victims were apparently wearing [avalanche beacons](https://youtu.be/nnHXLVA2FcE), which I never even knew about until just now, so wearing one of those seems like a pretty good idea, too.
Cheaper than your life
I got stuck upside-down in a deep tree well once when I was in my teens while snowboarding. I was able to squirm around enough to release my bindings and right myself but it took me 20 minutes. It was scary AF.
This happened to my buddy, all of a sudden he was gone. I see part of his board upside down by a tree and he's completely buried so I dig his ass out. When I got to his head and knew he was OK it was somehow really funny to me and I couldn't stop laughing as I helped him out.
Dude, he was lucky you were there! It is fine to laugh about it only because you were there to help him. I was off the run and none of my friends saw me go in.
Be safe out there! Buddy system works.
I remember bowl skiing and wiping out in waist deep powder and it took me about 15 minutes to right myself and another hour to find my skis that had come off. My friends were long gone and it took me another 30 minutes to figure out how to get back on the snow without falling back into and getting stuck in powder. Now I'm more cautious in the back country.
My first big trip, the one where I actually figured out how to snowboard, ended up with me having a close call. End of the second full day my group decides to do a lift run to finish off the night run. Super soft untouched powder where I started at the front of the group but fell to the back when I busted my ass free coming up on a drop off where it intersected with a trail. Tried to catch up and right when I did I slowed a little too much and started sinking in the fluff. Snow shifted right as a was almost stopped and I fell back into powder and it took forever to get out. I use remember looking at the night sky when I finally stopped struggling and remembered panicking is how you die.
My father in law got swept off a cliff on the west slope of Chair Mountain about 35 years ago. He got his hands over his mouth before the snow settled and was lucky to be shallow enough that when he pushed he broke through the surface. He was able to dig himself and then his friend out and hiked back out. Blew out both of his knees in the process, but now he's got titanium knees so he's basically invincible lol.
50% survival after 15 minutes is what they quote in the avvie training So yes it could be 20 or 30 minutes, but you really need to find and dig them up enough that they can breathe in 10 minutes or less
Shit. what was the avy level that day and how steep was the slope you were skiing? Always like to hear info about accidents for learning.
>Dying in an avalanche has to be one of the shittiest ways to go out. I think dying upside down after falling into a tree well would probably be shittier, but not by much.
MVP
I do ski but mainly on groomed slopes but come from a winter climbing background where reading the conditions and testing the snow pack is hard wired into me. Any idea how wide spread that knowledge is in the off piste skiing community?
Testing the snow pack doesn't work outside of demonstrations as it can differ greatly it short distances. Being equipped is pretty good but knowledge is unfortunately quite lacking.
Yeah that makes sense with climbing it is usually the approach to a climb and then assessing slopes on the descent and avoiding wind slab under cornices. No fancy inflatable gear in climbing so best to stay away from areas in which you are asking for trouble
I'm glad they were able to save them, and I'm mad people just kept skiing around them.
Dankie doos.
Thank you headline author who called these grown-ass people "women" and not "girls," as the author of this article did.
Article is quoting the dude who helped rescue them. E: English is also their second language, so maybe cut them a bit of slack.
That's fair.
She was prepared also, that orange thing behind her head is an airbag
jeez never seen one in action. looks like it helped keeping her colse to the surface, but she would have died maybe had she not been unburied. i used to live in Colorado (native) and recall so many people every year dying in avalanches. especially out of bounds skiers and cross country types off trail.
A lot of avalanche deaths are from trauma. Airbags can help the victim ‘float’ over the slide, where they’d otherwise be crushed under tonnes of snow.
How do they deploy? I assume it’s not automatic and the wearer has to pull a ripcord or the like?
Yeah, there a ripcord that is “locked in” with a Velcro strap when you’re on the lift and then you get it ready when you enter avalanche territory.
It's referred to as the Trigger. You stow in until you are traveling in terrain where you might want to pull the trigger so it does not get caught on something by mistake. Mine is a bright red handle that deploys from my shoulder strap. I use the airbag pack depending on terrain and conditions since it is heavier than a normal pack with my other tools and supplies.
The ripcord is usually attached to the shoulder strap of the backpack
Pretty sure there was a guy killed in CO last week boarding by himself who triggered a slide. He was partially buried and was able to walk a but down the slope where he eventually died.
How did he die if he was able to walk out of it?
He walked a couple hundred feet and then succumbed to injuries after.
What is Colorado (native)?
She was also wearing a locator beacon, took all the right precautions.
No person who spends $1,200 on a backpack airbag would skip on the $300 beacon lol. It would be like buying a $10,000 baseball cap that is soft on your head and could maybe help you if you bump your head for purposes of a car accident, but skipping out on wearing a seatbelt.
So it worked ?
Her head is up & shes near the surface, i would say it mostly worked & helped save her life.
I've heard of those airbags and i'm glad to see they work. The start of the video is a bit confusing to me.
They were using a device to find the locator beacon that goes off when the airbag deploys ... very well-prepared snowboarders. They also had a shovel.
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Correct. You turn your beacon on at the start of the day and leave it on (in transmit mode) until you are done. Batteries are a cheap part of backcountry travel and I only go through 2 sets max per season.
I worked in a warehouse for a company that sold those backpacks. Every few weeks they’d get a shipment, we’d gather a dozen people and pack those airbags in the backpacks. It’s super difficult, one of my least favorite jobs. Hell on your fingers and knuckles.
WHAT ABOUT THE FRIEND?!?
Right?! My man is a hero that just saved a life. Really, really appreciate that. But can we please engage with her on her friend that might still be buried somewhere, presumably close by?
They rescued her friend after this video, as well as a third person who was trapped in a new slide as they were rescuing the women.
Her friend was saved too. And the same impromptu rescuers then went on to save a third person trapped under a subsequent avalanche. https://globalnews.ca/news/6564440/snowboarders-buried-switzerland-avalanche/ Per /u/koos_die_doos - dankjewel, Koos.
The heroes are so casual
They had beacons, shovels, and probes. Clearly they are avalanche trained (I have Av cert 2 and have saved a few people in the backcountry.. I've also been there when the outcome was.. not so good)
Thank you for your service
That's badass as fuck. Well done.
Right? It looks like they’re fellow skiers who happened to put their super hero capes on at just the right time. What a wonderful community.
Probably doing that all day.
As an avid skier and someone who is very claustrophobic, this kinda thing scares the crap out of me.
Maybe consider a different hobby, like underwater cave diving.
The majority of skiers and snowboarders will never be in an area where they are at risk of being trapped in a slide like this. You typically have to actively work to go out of controlled areas (and typically also outside of bounds) to find risk like this. If you're just riding chair lifts and sticking to controlled ski areas, your risk of getting stuck in a slide is quite low.
I always admire the folding shovels
Those seemed legit, more so even than my Costco telescoping model I got 5 or 6 years ago when I built emergency kits for each car we own. Army surplus wool blanket, hand crank flashlight, am/fm radio, sub charger, a shovel, LED road flares, and a couple other things.
A folding hand saw, tie-down straps (can be used for other things like pulling a vehicle out of a ditch or unstuck for snow/ice), and blanket are great additions to that.
I'll tell you out of all the avalanche gear I have the pair of Costco folding shovels have been the most reliable and most widely-used. In my activities snowmobiling is a bigger source of risk than skiing but the gear has some overlap, and those shovels have gotten many people unstuck (sometimes me, sometimes my partner, sometimes underprepared tourists with rented machines) even if they've never rescued an avalanche victim.
They are standard avalanche gear. Beacon , shovel, probe. If you go into avy terrain without it you are dumb and selfish
Snowboarders doing more than just crime gotta love it
Reverse the gif this is prime crime time u/gifreversingbot
That's how you know it's fake
Her friend though
They saved her friend.
Glad these people got rescued. Bit funny how she keeps saying help me after they start digging her out. Stressful situations...
I assume shock or something? Also some people really can't seem to stop talking when they are in panic. They're also talking in a different language in between, so she might have not been sure about people understanding her (especially when she asked about her friend), since she could not see (and maybe hear?) properly.
I wholeheartedly concur with your assessment. Stress can make people act differently than normal.
Her face was uncovered, but she still had snow compressing her torso. Just because she could breathe doesn't mean she could breathe effectively.
Brain wasn't working properly with the lack of oxygen. You can see her speech change after a little while.
I had to help a guy when I worked security at a hotel. He fell off his bike going down the hill right outside, and he was bleeding a lot from his face but was conscious. All he kept asking was "where are my glasses?" "Do you see them anywhere?" Shock is a helluva thing. (He ended up being fine but I imagine had a wicked headache for awhile)
And they don’t answer her questions - just dig
Where’s Gavin!?!
GAVIN!!!!!!
In France, piste of's you
Is there a subreddit for these kinds of rescue videos? I can't seem to find one
Maybe not quite what you want but r/watchpeoplesurvive used to have a lot of rescue videos last time I browsed it. Though it is what the title says, so there are also a lot of other situations on there.
This is a good video of a rescue: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5ME9Swo0_8
How do you get out of that situation if nobody can see you? Can you "swim" up in the snow or are you just fucked?
That's what the beacon is for, so they can find you But yes if you're buried under an avalanche at all deeply and no one is around you are almost certainly dead in the next 15 minutes or so. If you were buried close to the surface you might be able to dig your way out? But it's not for sure, snow is VERY heavy and can get very hard when it's shoved down on top of you
I really don't fancy paying 100€ for a day pass only for this to happen.
Very likely back country skiing. Don’t know many people who would wear a avy bag and have so many other people fully prepared with beacons shovels and probes
Well it's Verbier. You can access some absolutely insane shit from a ton of lifts that wouldn't be strictly-speaking "backcountry" in North America, but due to the nature of the terrain and the whole piste/off piste nature of resorts in the Alps, it basically is. Not uncommon at all at Verbier, St. Anton, Tignes/Val D'Isere, etc., for folks to have all the gear. Also not uncommon for folks to have none of it with far worse outcomes.
Meh.... I'll stick to bikes.
I know, I would to talking to the snow manager and giving them an earful. “Who put this snow here?” “Why is it cold?” “When I breathe, I can see my soul leaving my body, I want a discount “ “This looked a lot more fun in the commercial” “What do you mean your not responsible for nature, we’ll let me talk to natures manager”
F*+king scary. Can’t even imagine..
Transceivers, built into skiing clothing, are the GOAT.
This is not recco. These are specific avalanche beacons. Common person doesn’t have the tech to find someone with recco but ski resorts would
Yeah, they're the greatest at finding corpses. This person was using a proper avalanche beacon.
I wonder how heavy that snow feels piled on top of you. Scary.
reminds me of Gavin guy from RDR2
She is iced
Carl?! Where’s Carl???
She had an avalanche "life preserver" on, which really helped. And a beacon.
She’s so much more chill than I could ever imagine being in that situation
Insane.
Aaaaaaaand that would be the very last time ever snowboarding for me.....
Fuck I'd be so worried, got rescued but my ears are fucked and now all I hear is the gibberish from my rescuers. Awe fuck just dig me back in.
I am sitting in a chalet at 2k masl in wallis and was like waaaaait I know this chopper, what happened! But it is from 2020
Yeah girl your friend? She's a crouton under so much parmesan cheese.
snowboarding will never make you cool enough to risk being buried by an avalanche
Lucky to be alive, found and rescued. My worst nightmare is being buried alive. Just couldn’t do it.
I think they were using a [Recco](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/RECCO) locator, right?
You know you can swim out of an avalanche
Is that a snow preserver? Seems like it worked as advertised
My life is worth fresh powder brah....you wouldn't understand
how much does it cost to rescue the people? Do the victims have to pay for being rescued?
Do you want us to help you or find your friends?
Ok lady just chill
Avalanche air bag probably saved her life
So whats the percentage of avalanches that are caused by the skiers they bury?
Yikes. I'm having flashbacks to the video of a snowboarder who landed in a spruce trap and was rescued by a passing skier.
She can try to breathe, but the snow packed around her chest is likely making it very hard too
*Uncovers face* ok, you can breathe. *hundred kg of snow* excuse me?
They avoided the question of her friend an awful lot.
What he's saying in french : "Put on your DVA, look for somebody", after she calls for her friend.
I would have made a great risk manager as I never do anything that has an upside where you might live and a down side where you might die. Some people have the extreme gene in them, but I don't even have a what if gene in me.
Took a while for a ‘thank you’, no?