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Snowboarder captures video of being caught in avalanche

The snow cover breaks away underneath Tom Oye and starts dragging the snowboarder in an avalanche. From Facebook.
The snow cover breaks away underneath Tom Oye and starts dragging the snowboarder in an avalanche. From Facebook.

A snowboarder at Whistler recently survived an avalanche thanks to a gift from his grandmother — and he caught it all on video.

Tom Oye is from Adelaide, Australia, but he’s been living in Whistler for the past three years. The 29-year-old was recently riding with his camera rolling when the side of the powdery slope cracked under his feet and began dragging him down the slope, reports ABC News Australia.

Fortunately, Oye was wearing a special self-inflating backpack designed to keep snow athletes afloat. An early birthday gift from a his 82-year-old grandmother, the backpack was bought out of concern for her daredevil grandson’s safety.

In the video, posted to Facebook on Wednesday, a whirring sound can be heard as the backpack inflates like a car’s airbag. It carries Oye above the fray as he rides the avalanche down the mountain for a good 20 seconds.

People rush over to help him when he finally stops moving.

“I’m fine,” he tells them. “That was a little scary.”

Airbag backpacks like the one that saved Oye are a pricey investment — the Guardian reports that prices start at around $600 — but as this Aussie’s video shows, it’s money well spent.