The unidentified skier's family reported him missing on Saturday afternoon. That evening, a rescue team located the avalanche debris. They suspended search efforts overnight, however, and found no trace of the man until a helicopter spotted movement on the snow surface the next morning. Rescuers unearthed him, buried 20 inches below the snow surface, and brought him to hospital.
The extreme duration of the non-fatal burial is extraordinarily rare, if not unprecedented. Swiss police spokesman Jean-Marie Bornet said: "I've never heard of such a case before. It's already very difficult to survive more than 45 minutes beneath an avalanche."
The skier likely was buried in an air pocket, which decreases chances of asphyxia. "It is thought that victims who survive after 35 minutes must have some sort of air pocket," writes avalanche specialist Bruce Tremper in Staying Alive in Avalanche Terrain. An air pocket allows the "final 27 percent of victims [those not dead in under 35 minutes] to survive to 100 to 120 minutes, after which the numbers sink to near zero."
What does this video and my weekend have in common? Watch the video, read the description, look at the picture, then find out!
So I had an ambitious weekend agenda that I was going to photograph, write about, and publish here. But then at about 11:30am on Saturday, while skiing a warm-up run in-bounds with some clients at Alpine Meadows, I caught an inside ski on a tree run and was launched down the hill - and right into a tree. I caught the trunk across my lower back, from my left toward the center.
The pain was excruciating - I didn't think I could get out of the tree well by myself at first, and my clients helped drag me out feet first, trying to protect my back as much as we could. Afterwards, standing there, I knew things weren't OK, but my clients had a rough and rocky start to their guided day (that's why we were still warming up at 11:30), so I called my supervisor and told him to get dressed and meet us at the bottom of the Summit Chair.
I managed to ski down under my own power and the watchful eye of a ski patroller who really wanted me to be on a backboard and a sled. Sander met me at the First Aid room to get a pass-down and my avalanche transceiver. As I walked in, I could feel my trousers getting tighter from the swelling along my left flank.
Long story short, the nurse on duty didn't think I broke anything but was worried I had damaged my kidney, so Patsy came and drove me to the hospital. By now I couldn't sit or stand still from the pain. In the Emergency Room the Doctor on duty was immediately worried by when and where I jumped during his exam - I may have fractured the transverse processes (the wings) off of my lower lumbar spine, and these things protect blood vessels and nerves as they leave the central nervous system for the lower abdomen. Hmmm not good...
Two hours, an ineffective morphine shot, and six different x-ray views later, the Doc was convinced I hadn't broken anything. I'm just sporting a massive bruise across my lower back. I left with a limp and a prescription for some narcotics. Patsy felt sorry for me and took my to sushi.
So I had to find something to write about, and I came across these two videos instead. Recovering is remarkably fast - on Saturday its was hard to tie my own shoes, on Sunday I stayed home and used a cane to move around, and by the end of yesterday I didn't feel like I needed the cane. I'm going to try to go skiing today!
Therefore,
tree skiing = accident,
accident = no report about my own adventures,
no report of my own = videos of other peoples adventures instead.
Thanks to Will Gadd and Martin Volken for supplying the adventure! Cheers
Photos: Taken by Patsy on Monday morning. Pretty, eh?
Martin Volken pulled together a great video of an AMGA Alpine Guide Certification Exam. It definitely showed a bit of what is required of us to pass the exam. Enjoy!
My Publishing Commitment - One of my 2010 New Year's resolutions is to write more. So I promise to my readers and subscribers that I will publish at least twice a week for 2010, starting today. That's a minimum of 110 articles this year. :)>
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