Avalanche

Avalanche Skier POV Helmet Cam Burial & Rescue in Haines, Alaska from Chappy on Vimeo.

Here is a spooky first-person record, via helmet cam, of being caught in an avalanche while skiing. This particular episode was miraculous in that the skier was recovered so quickly, and that he lived. Most people dragged by an avalanche perish from: 1) blunt trauma as they encounter debris (trees, rocks, ice) within the flowing snow or are delivered into rocks or trees, or over cliffs, or 2) suffocating, either from inhaling snow while in tumult, or from being buried once the avalanche has come to rest. As the snow is tumbling, the peripheral points of each flake are heated, and melt, due to friction between flakes; once the snow comes to rest, the melted bits of each flake freeze again and, more to the point, freeze to each other, forming a very dense and inflexible monolithic tomb for the unfortunate buried skier. This happens almost instantly. If the skier is still alive, he may find that the snow, whose consistency is now akin to concrete, does not yield to allow for the necessary expansion of his thorax for breathing, much less escape. If the skier finds he can breathe, the exhaled breaths, moist from his lungs, will quickly coat the porous snow adjacent to his nose and mouth with ice, cutting off the meek supply of fresh air and suffocating him. To counter this effect, some people who ski in avalanche-prone country, including this video's victim, wear a backpack-mounted, snorkel-like breathing device that channels fresh air from behind the skier, but expels it in front. (Of course, the odds of this saving any avalanche victim are a long shot.) You will hear the peculiar honking of this victim's quickening breathes as he struggles, with only partial success, to use the breathing apparatus. There are several minutes of white screen - the victim is buried alive in the snow - and you will be tempted to fast-forward. Don't.