Buried alive: What it looks like to be trapped in an avalanche

Imagine being on a skiing holiday in the mountains, when your latest run down the slopes is interrupted by a thousand tons of snow overtaking you, travelling at more than 100 kilometres per hour. Suddenly, you're engulfed by the massive avalanche and carried along, tumbling and rolling until you come to a stop. Surrounded by snow, you're disoriented, dizzy, and you have no real way of knowing which way is up or down. How do you survive?

For Kristoffer Carlsson, this is exactly what happened on February 29th, 2011, in Verbier, Switzerland, as an avalanche swept him up and buried him in up to two metres of snow. The video camera on his helmet captured the entire event:

Carlsson was lucky. Within minutes his friends, along with another skiier who was passing by, saw it happen, were able to track him down. However, even as they did so, his survival was in jeopardy.

According to what he wrote on his YouTube account, he managed to put his hands up in front of his face as the avalanche came to a stop, which created an air pocket for him to breathe. Snow packs have a lot of air in them, but the moving avalanche generates a lot of heat inside the mass of snow (due to friction between the snowflakes) and his body would heat up the snow directly around him. This partially melts the snow, which can quickly fill in the air spaces. By creating the air pocket, he made a buffer. Otherwise, the snow around his face would have basically formed into a suffocating mask.

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The air pocket would have served another purpose as well. If he needed to dig himself out, it would give him a space to spit into. By watching how his spit moved due to the force of gravity, he'd know which way was down, and he could dig in the opposite direction.

Fortunately, he didn't need to. He remained calm (one of the most important factors here), and his friends were able to dig him out within about five minutes of him being completely buried. The scary thing here is that your best chances of surviving are within the first 15 minutes. For anyone trapped under the snow for longer than 30 minutes, there's only about a 50/50 chance of making it.

The best way to survive an avalanche? Start off by wearing an avalanche beacon, so that rescuers can track you down. Create an air pocket in front of your face as the snow stops moving (as Carlsson did), for breathing and determining direction. Try to keep one arm above your head, as it may stick out of the snow, giving your location away to rescuers and it will provide better leverage for digging yourself out. Stay calm. Luck is a big factor in this, as many die in avalanches by being hit by rocks, trees and other debris, but if you can survive through that, these tips give you the best chance of walking away from it.

(Photo courtesy: Wikipedia)

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