I was convinced that they would not find me in time. I had a shovel and probe in my backpack and I was wearing a transceiver, but the others were only carrying a shovel and probe. “Okay,” I thought to myself. “You’re dead.” This may have ultimately saved my life.Īs the snow piled higher and higher, it became darker and darker until I was surrounded by an eerie black silence, broken only by the sound of my slow breathing and racing heartbeat. The last thing I managed to do before I was completely buried was reach as high as I could above the snow with my left arm and ski pole. I looked up just in time to watch the avalanche envelope me. However, as I hit the creek I slammed into a shoulder high wall of snow on the other side of the gully which stopped me dead in my tracks. I figured my best option was to ski over the frozen creek at the bottom and up the other side of the gully to escape. I pointed my skis straight and went as fast as I could in order to ski over the slab and outrun the avalanche. And this is where everything went wrong.Īs I landed I noticed the snow around me start to slab and break away. Carrying my speed I took a little air over the roller into this final pitch. The final section of the line takes a quick 45 degree turn into a slightly steeper but short 20 meter pitch that ends in the creek at the bottom of the gully.
I would pop out of the white room for a split second after each turn only to be re-engulfed by a cloud of white a moment later. The top was one of the deepest powder runs I have ever experienced, the deep snow making it hard to breathe through a turn, let alone see. During the ski out I noticed a short but untracked line through the trees that I had previously skied on a 2013 trip to the resort. Near the bottom of the run we skied into a small v-shaped gully with a short powder schuss at the bottom that followed a small creek back to the base of the lift. We headed up the chair and scored more deep turns directly under the lift. We stuck to inbound slopes with minimal pitch and low exposure to play it safe… or so we thought.Īfter a quick lunch, we noticed that ski patrol had opened the Grande Conche chair, which leads to longer and more exciting terrain. At 4/5, the avalanche risk was a very high. We shared deep powder turns with face-shots aplenty. Naturally, my Australian ski buddies, Andrew and Dan, and our local friend, Leonard, were excited to get our powder fix as the week prior had been relatively warm and dry. One week into a month’s skiing in Les Crosets on the Swiss/French border, we were hit with a large snowstorm that dumped close to a meter of snow over a 48 hour period. The 30th of January 2015 is a day that will forever be engrained into my memory as the scariest day of my life. It should not be used to replace vital information provided by your local avalanche authority and ski patrol. Author’s Note: This story should serve as a cautionary tale for all who enjoy spending time in the mountains both in and out of bounds.
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