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Massive Avalanche Leaves Tourists Dumbfounded

Torres del Paine National Park, in Chile’s Patagonia region, is known for its soaring mountains. Dramatic footage has emerged from Chile of two tourists having a very close call with a massive avalanche in the mountains. The video, captured by one of the tourists, shows the avalanche that charges through the valley and races down the mountainside. The avalanche starts suddenly and quickly unveils right in front of these people! It comes faster than God on a skateboard. One minute the slopes are pristine and the next they're moving. In seconds the powder is all over the mountain kissing it coldly. In another moment the weight of the snow is so heavy and the forward momentum is no longer under control. The light is gone. A minute ago there was a beautiful sunshine which can be now seen on the other side of the mountain. There is a sound mightier than thunder, a cracking, a warning of the violence to come. The accompanying noise with which the avalanche trickles down is deafening. In moments, it is tumbling in white, cold, then darkness and still more noise. Then everything stopped, not slowly, but suddenly. It is like being set in concrete. This is not the soft snow of making angels in the yard, this is more like the snow is being buried in earth. There are various kinds of avalanches, including rock avalanches, ice avalanches, and debris avalanches and snow avalanches constitute a relatively common phenomenon in many mountainous areas. The size of a snow avalanche can range from a small shifting of loose snow (called sluffing) to the displacement of enormous slabs of snow.