Two snowboarders and a skier were given a mighty scare when they were swept downhill by a life-threatening snowslip.
The dramatic scenes, in which one man was “briefly buried” by the mini avalanche, were captured on the helmet camera of one of the boarders on Saturday (10 Jan).
Having stopped while descending a mountain, he filmed as rushing snow carried his flailing friend into a patch of trees.
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Moments later, as he started to move, the slope beneath him began crumbling too, sending both him and the skier above him tumbling.
Snowmageddon struck at Haiyaha Couloir in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado – and fortunately, none of the three daredevils suffered serious injuries, as reported by Need To Know.
One snowboarder dislocated a shoulder while grabbing a tree to free himself, however.
Astonishingly, he managed to pop it back into place before they continued their descent once the snow had settled.
The Colorado Avalanche Information Center (CAIC) confirmed that the slip was triggered by the athletes themselves while ski-cutting.
Ski-cutting is a technique used by experts, whereby they ski across a slope to test snow stability and deliberately trigger unstable snow before it can grow into a full avalanche.
One of the trio, who asked to remain anonymous, recounted the ordeal: “We entered this terrain planning to ski cut.
“We saw cracking while booting to our objective, redirecting the path around slabby areas.
“We ski-cut the upper chute. The wind slab we triggered cleared the upper chute and skiers left of the lower run.
“The ski-cutter entered an island of safety midway, stopping above the uncleared snow. The second rider stopped below the first.
“The third leapfrogged, entering the untouched slope, with the speed from the upper chute. It cracked above him with an eight to 14 inch crown.
“It caught, carried, and briefly buried him. He grabbed a tree, dislocated his shoulder, and ended up on the surface.
“As the other two dropped to help, the upper skier triggered the remaining hangfire, which carried the lower rider. The slide stopped after 10-15 feet.
“Shoulder relocated, descended the rest of the way to Haiyaha, ascended Dream Ridge, and shredded out the dream chutes.
“Spirits were high, we were happy to be at the trailhead; a beer was drank, and we talked about our experience after.”
CAIC added: “We all benefit when people share information about their incidents so that we can learn from them.”
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