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titles you know you don't have long a
timer has started ticking counting down
the minutes until you die of oxygen
deprivation surrounded by pitch darkness
you struggle to move your arms and legs
trapped under a blanket of snow that has
just broken away from the mountain you
can feel your hot breath filling the
tiny air pocket you found yourself in it
was just a backcountry skiing trip you'd
never imagined you'd end up imprisoned
under the snow your mind flashes through
everything you could have done better
and everything you did wrong all the
while the time continues tick tick
ticking down to zero
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make do it you cowards
with the first flurries of snow falling
this winter you and a few of your
friends get an idea to go back country
skiing outside of town you check the
forecast and a fresh snowfall bodes well
for the slope conditions the snow flies
around you as you cut through the thick
snow your friend brad who is more
experienced speeds up ahead slicing
between the trees he does a little jump
off a bump and as he lands a low whomp
booms through your chest and a crack
shoots through the snow you call out to
him but realize it's too late a sheet of
snow breaks away carrying him further
down the mountain rumbling as it goes
you feel the ground give way below your
feet as well and before you know it
you're tumbling down the mountain behind
him all avalanches typically have three
parts a starting zone where the snow
breaks away a track that guides the
course of the avalanche and a run out
where the snow and debris will settle in
these situations the safest place to be
is out of the path of the avalanche if
you see one coming move perpendicular to
its course if one starts just below your
own feet like just now then try to leap
upslope above the fracture line
avalanches typically pick up speed as
they move like any object responding to
gravity so the worst places to be are
inside the avalanche and in its way
you're either being tossed around in a
truckload of rocks trees and chunks of
ice or someone is throwing a truckload
of trees rocks and chunks of ice at you
generally avalanches have natural
triggers like a falling tree a change in
the weather or a human being jumping
around unlike what movies would have you
believe avalanches are almost never
triggered by loud noises they also come
in two different forms sloughs and slabs
sloughs are giant landslides of loose
powdery snow that move rapidly down a
slope in a v shape whereas slabs are
huge chunks of denser snow that slide
down a mountainside the woof you just
heard was the sound of a slab breaking
away you can think of a slough avalanche
like sand falling down a dune it's less
dangerous but depending on the mass it
can still damage property and bury
individuals though slabs are dangerous
because as the name suggests the slabs
of snow contain much higher mass and are
significantly denser resulting in far
more potential damage where an avalanche
will settle is determined by what is
called an alpha angle or an angle of
reach a line is drawn between the
trigger location of an avalanche and the
historical runout of previous avalanches
it's quite complicated but experts use a
lot of math to figure out the safest
place to build and allow people to visit
when you go in for any winter sports
especially alpine ones knowing all
warning signs of danger is a must seeing
an avalanche is obviously a giant
warning sign that danger is near but
cracks in the snow and hollow sounds
below the surface are also common signs
that one is forming not only that fresh
snowfall warming temperatures and high
winds also increase the risk of
avalanches the risk level is codified on
a scale of one to five by the north
american public avalanche scale ranging
from low to extreme ski teams figure
this out by measuring how densely the
snow is packed the better bonded the
snow the lower the scale both canada and
the united states use handy maps with
all ski resorts and their respective
scale value next to them to make it as
easy as possible for you generally ski
hills and alpine resorts employ experts
that identify possible avalanche routes
and regularly test those routes in lab
settings for example the denser the snow
the higher the chance of avalanche
safety teams will take a portion of snow
melt it then weigh the water to check
the density they will also take the
temperature of the snow as it sits on
the mountain to see what kind of ice has
formed because different sized and
shaped ice crystals will either notch in
with each other or slide apart teams
will also reference the avalanche
observation and reference card to note
specific phenomena and the connected
avalanche risk you should always check
the risk before you head out experts
create these systems to keep you safe
and make them as accessible as possible
you should always have an operating
avalanche transceiver that ski patrols
can use to find you electronically
before going out for winter sports
off-piste or on if you're lost or
trapped under the snow you may not have
the elbow room to get it operational you
begin to panic as the tide of snow hauls
you down the mountainside brad
disappears over a small ridge but when
you tumble over the side he's nowhere to
be seen you reach out to try and grab a
tree or anything but they slip out from
between your fingers grabbing something
sturdy will hopefully drag you out of
the path however in major avalanches the
weight of the massive snow will destroy
anything in its path so trees and
boulders will likely be swept away as
well it's of paramount importance to
keep your head over the surface of the
snow we all know that snow is just
frozen water but interestingly enough it
doesn't need to melt to start acting
like a liquid again if you're caught in
an avalanche tread water like you're
swimming to keep your head above the
surface you feel a force tugging down on
you threatening to sink you below the
surface you kick hard and try to stay
afloat but you can still feel yourself
being pulled downward brad is a few
meters ahead and you can see the glint
of his goggles reflecting the sun you
try to signal him but he too is
struggling to stay above the surface you
can see that he has one hand over his
mouth and another stuck straight up in
the air even in the wild race down the
mountain you managed to copy his
movements you cover your mouth with your
hand and stretch your other hand as high
above your head as you possibly can
before you feel a terrible slam and
everything goes dark
moments later you open your eyes you can
see a little light refracting through
the snow you think to yourself thank god
i covered my mouth as the snow has
become hard packed around your face
suffocation is the number one killer for
those trapped in avalanches covering
your mouth creating any kind of air
pocket around you and controlling your
breathing will make sure that people
have as much time to find you as
possible as you calm down you try to
wiggle your fingers poking and prodding
around for some room then you try each
of your limbs but to no avail it occurs
to you that you don't even know what
direction you're facing you clear a
little more room around your mouth and
spit your saliva flies out and upward oh
no you think you're upside down the best
thing you can do in this situation is
remain calm again the biggest danger of
being trapped in snowfall is suffocation
and panicking will only deplete your
oxygen supply faster in the same vein
shouting for help won't help you unless
you know for a fact that someone is
nearby in the dark you wait your mind
flickers to brad who must be buried
somewhere nearby as well you think that
if your other friends are trapped too no
one might be coming then you remember
the transceiver you know that it's on
you made sure that it was transmitting
before you left you close your eyes try
to keep breathing slowly and think about
rescue after what feels like an eternity
you hear something you start to call out
and shift your legs in the tiny space
hoping that someone might notice you you
hear the sounds grow closer closer
before they seemingly disappear losing
hope you keep screaming and kicking as
hard as you can you start to panic it's
hard but it's of the utmost importance
that you remain calm again the most
dangerous thing for someone trapped in
an avalanche is suffocation if you hear
people nearby you should try to call out
to them but make sure you maintain a
steady breath your mind continues
barreling down the tracks what if
someone was up there but they didn't
hear you how long have you been buried
are you running out of oxygen is it
getting even tighter in here your mind
is racing your breathing grows faster
shallower until you feel a poking on
your backside suddenly a thin shaft
pierces through the snow in front of you
you hear more voices above as well as
what sounds like a dog and like a
miracle you see hands digging through
the snow moments later you can feel
someone grabbing you by your legs and
you're tugged out of your snowy prison
cell you emerge into the bright sun
blinking as your eyes adjust to the
dazzling rays reflecting off the snow
rescue personnel wrap you up in a
thermal blanket and you relish the much
needed warmth you scan back and forth
looking for brad in the rubble he's
nowhere to be seen you tell the rescuers
that someone else is lost nearby and
they reassure you that they'll keep
looking one of the first responders
tells you that you were smart for
keeping your transceiver on your person
without it they would have taken much
longer to find you avalanche
transceivers are one of the best tools
for ski rescues sending out a 457
kilohertz radio signal that rescuers can
search for within 80 meters in addition
to that rescuers also use the recco
system which consists of a detector and
reflector a skier or mountaineer can
wear a reflector and the detector sends
out radio signals which are reflected
back to be detected they work very
similarly to avalanche transceivers
however their distance is limited so
they're often used in conjunction with
other technologies you express worry for
your friends because you lost them
almost instantly in the fall but
patrollers direct your attention to the
rescue dog they brought along with them
rescue dogs are a great help to ski
patrollers because of their keen sense
of smell trained to use the scent of
sweat and panic pheromones under the
snow a trained rescue dog can cover 2.5
acres eight times faster than 20 humans
could lastly rescuers carry collapsible
probes to pinpoint the exact location of
any victims transceivers are ecco
reflectors and even rescue dogs are
great at pointing patrollers to the
right area but when it comes to finding
someone there's nothing better than a
very long stick it's not as simple as
just poking around willy-nilly however
there are specific patterns that
patrollers follow to ensure that they
don't miss anything then they actually
dig you out which can be the simplest
part of avalanche rescue operations
depending on the conditions but the most
important factor is how long it takes
them to find you due to limited oxygen
supply if you're not found immediately
your live rescue operation will quickly
become a body recovery mission you keep
waiting but still brad hasn't been found
you ask the rescuers how long it's been
and they tell you that it's been about
half an hour you continue asking how
long your friend has and they tell you
that statistically 93 of victims are
recovered alive if found within 15
minutes but after 45 minutes that number
drops to as low as 20 percent after two
hours the odds of finding victims alive
is nearly zero you're strapped onto a
stretcher and carried down the mountain
and back to the resort where you're
handed off to paramedics you see your
other friends as you pass and they ask
about brad you tell them that you don't
know where he is before you're loaded
into the ambulance and whisked away to
the hospital you're checked over for
injuries and frostbite at the hospital
but thankfully you're okay the cold
wasn't given enough time to get into
hypothermia and luckily snow is a
surprisingly good insulator you ask
about brad again and your doctor with a
grave expression informs you that he was
brought in moments ago but rescuers
weren't able to reach him in time
it had been over an hour before he was
found and by the time they were able to
dig him out he was already lost in the
end it was the joint effort of some good
technology and the quick response of ski
rescue teams not to mention a healthy
dose of dumb luck that saved your life
but if you want to make sure that your
well-being is never left up to chance
follow guidelines laid out by your local
authority do your research and make sure
you have the right equipment that way
you can be sure that you're as far away
from at-risk areas as possible because
the best way to survive an avalanche is
to be far
far away from them