VIDEO: Sliding headfirst down a mountain — mouth bloody — a skier survives an avalanche
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) - The snow burst on the mountain and began to fall with no warning but for a last-second whoosh sound.
A wall of white cascaded down the mountain from 4,000 feet up and the piercing cry of “Avalanche!” rang out.
Within seconds, the avalanche — with the power of a thousand cars barreling down the mountain — caught a skier who had been enjoying his day on East Groundhog Peak, also known as Captain’s Chair.
Rafael Pease — a friend of the skier, as well as a professional snowboarder and filmmaker — immediately knew this wasn’t good. He’d seen avalanches before.
“If someone says ‘avalanche,’ it’s pretty serious‚” Pease said.
The skier caught in the avalanche has not been identified and Pease referred to the person as “the patient.”
Pease threw off his board jumped on a snowmachine and hoped.
“You don’t know if you’re going to come to a burial site or, you know, a dead body or someone who needs help,” Pease said. “Fortunately, he didn’t die on impact in the rocks and he wasn’t buried in an avalanche, so that made the whole rescue that much quicker.”
Caught in the avalanche, the man’s skies were ripped off and he bit his tongue.
“He was sliding headfirst,” Pease said. “I don’t know if it was on his back or his face, so they had to grab him, stop him, rotate him. He was spitting quite a bit of blood. He had bit his tongue.”
Emergency medical services were called and a private emergency air medical helicopter flew over the group, circling twice because it couldn’t land on the steep slope, according to Pease.
The group of five buddies on the mountain started digging, making a landing pad for the helicopter, all the while trying to be positive and supportive for the injured skier.
“Just talking to him, telling him that he’s alive,” Pease said.
As the hours crept by, morale started to go down and Pease, who’s helped during several avalanches over his snowboarding career, reminded everyone the focus was on the injured skier.
“You get to someone, you comfort them. Tell them, ‘Hey you’re alive.' You give them a little bit of positive news, and then it’s just open communication. ‘Tell us what hurts, what you’re feeling,‘” Pease recounted.
About five hours later, the injured skier was lifted up into an Air National Guard helicopter and taken to the hospital. He’s texted with Pease since the avalanche and is recovering.
“I do know he’s super grateful to be alive,” Pease said.
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