T.J.

Man Survives Avalanche Burial for 17 Hours at Backcountry.com: The Goat

washingtonpost.com

A 21-year-old man spent 17 hours buried under an avalanche in the Swiss Alps before rescuers recovered him. He suffered only from mild hypothermia. The man was pinned below about 20 inches of snow and trapped next to a pocket of air, but the crushing weight of the snow proved too much for him to free himself. The man had been skiing alone, and was reported missing by his family at about 4:30pm. Searchers with dogs found his ski tracks that night, but they had to call off the rescue operation until dawn for safety reasons-not that anyone thought it could be anything but a recovery mission anyway. The next morning a search helicopter spotted movement in the slide zone, and people on the ground freed the young man. The guy is obviously insanely lucky, but you have to go a little crazy when you’re caught under 20 inches of snow for 17 hours. I’m sure he made lots of promises about being a better person if he was ever freed.

effin craziness. i remember watching that helmet cam one and though a few minutes would be horrible. i cant image being buried overnight. this guy was definitely wearing his lucky underwear that day.

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killclimbz

Wow, that like never happens. Unreal. Dude is one lucky person, though it sounds like a very cold experience.

tomtom88

So he was buried under 20" of snow, I'm just trying to get this picture, does that mean the slide was 20" deep, or that when all was said and done, he was buried 20" below the surface?

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Texas Exclusive

Do you have a link to that vid you mentioned?

killclimbz

It indicates (I am going by the report here) that he was buried under 20" of snow. It doesn't really say what the depth of the avalanche debris was.

As for the video of the avalanche burial. Here it is.

Sam I Am

It looks more like an advertisement.....

But now I want to go out and buy an Avalung backpack, that thing looks like a life saver...

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burritosandsnow

they also have slings that are a bit cheaper than the packs .. just in case you already have a pack you like

killclimbz

Well it was posted on youtube by Black Diamond so it is a marketing ploy for sure, but it is great footy. In no way was that an intentional slide. If you watch the video again notice when his hands are free and he's just shaking them in little circles. That is because he is encased in ice and hard snow. That is as much as he could possibly move. If his friends walked away at that point he'd probably still be there.

I use the Avalung sling. That way I can use what ever pack I like. Black Diamond makes great gear and packs, but they really are not snowboarders at heart. So their current pack for snowboarding with the avalung kind of comes up short imo. It needs beefier board carry straps, that sort of thing. If you think you are going to be changing layers a lot, than that is probably the pack you want. Otherwise, once the sling is on, you hardly notice it.

T.J.

the original video, before BD got a hold of it is on vimeo.

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snoeboarder

this Avalanche Skier POV Helmet Cam Burial & Rescue in Haines, Alaska on Vimeo ... youtube is a dog this year, for you guys too?