Monday, October 06, 2008

Avalanches are NO joke

Randall Stacy, 16 year old student from Stratton Mtn School in Vermont got caught in an avalanche in Argentina this summer.

He was wearing a beacon (and so were his friends) and was following a guide down the slope (so he was second man down) when the slide started.
He was carried about 400 meters into the flats and was stuck under 1 meter of snow for 5 minutes before they found him and 8 minutes before they dug him out.
Notice how the people by the lift gets taken down too.

I was freaked out by this clip. Reminds me that we always have to think of safety first when we´re out there.

Skip forward to 2:38 for the avalanche.

Randall Stacy 2 from Randall Stacy on Vimeo.

Remember to practice using those avalanche transceivers and always bring a shovel and probe (sat phones and other eqip don´t hurt either).
But most importantly, practice and prepare for the worst.

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