Number 8 Rhianna Shaw In February of 2012, skier Rhianna Shaw
had a vivid experience of what she believed was the “afterlife” upon being buried by an avalanche
at the St Anton sky resort, in Austria. Shaw, then in her early 20s, collided with another skier
and the impact was so powerful that it created a fracture in the mountain. A ledge had broken off
and triggered an avalanche which pushed Shaw over 600 feet down the slope and swallowed her whole.
Trapped by the massive weight of the snow on top of her, the skier couldn’t move or see.
She quickly realized that no one could hear her screams and resigned to focusing on her breathing.
Shaw then made the conscious decision to stop breathing. As she drifted away, she
remembered feeling at peace and then walking along a pathway in a pale forest, with tall evergreens
on each side and a type of snow on the ground that didn’t resemble anything she’d ever seen before.
Scientists at NYU Langone Health launched a study into consciousness after death
and concluded that the human mind remains active for several minutes after the heart stops. Hearing
becomes extremely sensitive and it’s during this time that vivid imaginary episodes, sometimes
reported as the “afterlife”, occur from cardiac arrest survivors. In a desperate bid to find her,
Shaw’s friends had started randomly pushing their hands in the snow in the area of the avalanche.
It was purely by chance that they stumbled upon one of her ski poles prior to finding her leg.
Shaw was brought out from the snow, with her face completely white, purple lips and no pulse. After
being clinically dead for nearly 20 minutes, Shaw was successfully resuscitated. Doctors would later
tell her that she had a 6% chance of survival after being entombed in the snow for so long.
Miraculously, she suffered no longterm damage. Number 7 2012 Tunnel Creek Avalanche
The Tunnel Creek Avalanche, which occurred on February the 19th of 2012,
claimed the lives of three skiers and prompted a narrow escape from two others.
In the days leading up to the tragedy, a storm had dumped unstable snow into Stevens Pass,
off the Cascade Mountains, in Washington. Then, fifteen of the country’s top free snowboarders
and free skiers gathered to make a run down the mountain together.
One or more of them triggered the avalanche, roughly 300 feet below the mountain’s summit.
Tons of snow came barreling down and carried away 5 skiers. One of them managed to secure a position
between two trees and barely avoided being swept further as the avalanche raged over him.
33-year-old professional skier Elyse Saugstad reacted quickly upon hearing shouts that an
avalanche was coming and pulled the trigger on a specialized device called the ABS TwinBag
backpack. It featured two bags, on each side, that were linked to compressed nitrogen canisters. Once
deployed, the rapidly-inflating bags were meant to keep riders from being buried under waves of snow.
Saugstad was hurled half a mile down the slope and remembered being thrown around “like in a washing
machine”. She was buried under compressed snow, with only her hands and face free, and remained
trapped until other skiers freed her. She hadn’t suffered life-threatening injuries and credited
her specialized backpack with her survival. One of the three skiers who’d died was found only 3
feet to her left. He and the others succumbed to a combination of blunt force trauma, from being
thrown into trees in the avalanche’s path, and asphyxia, as a result of being buried in the snow.
Number 6 Matthew Zonghetti & Corey Borg-Massanari In January of 2019, Massachusetts man Matthew
Zonghetti and his father were skiing at the Taos Ski Valley resort, in New Mexico. 26-year-old
Zonghetti was reported as an advanced skier so he and his father temporarily parted ways on the
mountain. The latter knew something had gone wrong when his son didn’t show up where he was supposed
to meet him. He later learned that Zonghetti was one of two skiers buried alive by an avalanche,
at Kachina Peak, the highest point in the valley. The deadly flow of snow measured 150 feet across
at the ridgeline cornice. The other skier was identified as Corey Borg-Massanari,
aged 22, of Vail, Colorado. He was attending Colorado Mountain College, in Glenwood Springs,
at the time of the avalanche. While the rescue response was rapid, both men had spent over 22
minutes buried under roughly 7 feet of hard-packed snow. To put that into perspective, the layer was
as tall as former NBA player Shaquille O’Neal. Zonghetti was unresponsive upon being pulled out
and was declared dead soon after. Borg-Massanari was airlifted to an Albuquerque hospital,
in critical condition, where he too ultimately passed away. A federal review of the incident,
carried out by the US Forest Service, concluded that the skiers had triggered the avalanche
and didn’t find anything at fault with the Taos Ski Valley’s administration of the area.
Number 5 Estelle Balet In 2016, a prodigious free ride snowboarder
died in an avalanche while she was filming in Orsières, Switzerland. Two-time world champion
Estelle Balet was on Le Portalet, on the Mont Blanc massif, shooting a snowboarding segment
for an upcoming documentary called “Exploring the Known”. She was following a fellow rider
when a slab of snow broke off from the mountain. The other rider wasn’t caught in the avalanche
but 21-year-old Balet was swept down a narrow, rocky slope. She’d been wearing safety equipment
that included a specialized airbag and a device meant to help locate those lost in avalanches.
A recovery operation was swiftly mounted and rescuers managed to free Balet from the snow.
Unfortunately, her injuries were too extensive and she was pronounced dead at the scene. In a Swiss
TV interview, earlier in the month, the young athlete had claimed that she often felt the “fear
of an avalanche” when snowboarding for a film. Number 4 Sean McGarry
In late November of 2020, a Canadian man was fatally overrun by an avalanche in an area
north of Mackenzie, in British Columbia. The RCMP received a report, at about 2 pm, claiming that
two snowmobilers were caught in an avalanche and that one of them had been buried in the snow. The
victim was later identified as 35-year-old Sean McGarry. Unfortunately, by the time that rescuers
had reached his position, he was already deceased. McGarry was survived by a young son and a wife who
was pregnant with their second child. A GoFundMe was set up for the grieving family with a goal of
$55,000 that was surpassed within a few days. Number 3 Milcreek Canyon Tragedy
On February the 6th of 2021, shortly before noon, two groups of skiers unintentionally triggered an
avalanche in Utah’s Millcreek Canyon, about 13 miles east of Salt Lake City. Eight skiers in
total were swept away as the snow came barreling down on them. Four men, reported as being in their
20s and 30s, managed to break free from the snow. They then started digging for the others
and were eventually successful in extracting them but, unfortunately, they were beyond saving. The
victims were identified as Louis Holian and Stephanie Hopkins, both 26, along with Thomas
Steinbrecher and Sarah Moughamian, aged 23 and 29 respectively. They were all passionate about
the outdoors and well-prepared for the conditions. The four survivors had sustained minor injuries,
none of which required hospitalization, and were airlifted off the canyon.
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Number 2 Laura Kosakoski
On January the 10th of 2020, a family doctor from Canmore, Canada, was swept up in an avalanche on
Mount Hector, in Banff National Park. 34-year-old Laura Kosakoski and her husband Adam Campbell were
skiing on the mountain together, accompanied by a friend who was also a ski guide. They
were all experienced skiers, avalanche-certified at operational level and had identified no risks
as they went down the slope. Kosakoski and the guide had gone first. As Campbell looked
for a good entry point, the slope on which he stood started to move around his feet.
After securing himself he yelled “avalanche” as loud as he could. The wave of snow started
picking up speed and moved the entire length of the slope. When the powder cloud settled,
Campbell spotted his companion who told him that he’d seen Kosakoski heading towards the trees
and had done the same, which saved him from being caught in the slide. They called out for Kosakoski
then followed her emergency beacon which led them to her approximate location, in a gulley.
Both men started digging, removing branches and thick slabs of snow. It took over 45 minutes
for them to reach Kosakoski. They tried CPR until help arrived and airlifted them and the
woman to Foothills Medical Centre, in Calgary. Doctors were able to revive a faint heartbeat
but Kosakoski never regained consciousness and was pronounced dead the following day.
Number 1 Loveland Pass Disaster On April the 20th of 2013, a massive
avalanche claimed the lives of four snowboarders and one skier at Loveland Pass, in a portion of
the Rocky Mountains from north-central Colorado. It was the deadliest disaster of its kind to
have been reported in the state in over half a century. The 800-foot-wide, 600-foot-long slide
was described as high and fast enough to bury a car. Snowboarders and skiers were at the pass
taking part in the Rocky Mountain High Backcountry Gathering, an event which included going down the
slopes as well as gear and safety demonstrations. It also aimed to raise funds for the Colorado
Avalanche Information Center. According to the center, six men were carried away by a deep
persistent slab avalanche, which occurs when a thick layer of hard snow breaks from a weak,
deep layer of snowpack underneath. They were all well-equipped, with some wearing Avalung breathing
devices and airbags, but the avalanche rushed them with such force that they hadn’t gotten the chance
to use them. Some of the victims were buried in 10 to 12 feet of snow. There was only one survivor,
French national Jerome Boulay, who was trapped with only his left arm free, which he used to wipe
the snow from his face so that he could breathe. He was the only one not fully covered while two of
his companions were buried beneath him, with their legs tangled in his. It took four hours before
rescuers reached Boulay, as the authorities didn’t immediately realize the group had been swept by
an avalanche. Boulay subsequently recovered but was deeply affected by the loss of his friends.
Thanks for watching! Would you rather attempt to outrun an avalanche on a
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