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Avalanches bury US skiers
Friday December 18, 2009 - Email this article to a friend
A number of skiers have been caught in avalanches in North America after the recent heavy snow. All were rescued, some with a bit of luck. One has spoken of his ordeal.
Two skiers were caught in an avalanche at Big Sky Resort in Montana. One was able to ski out but the other was partially buried.
Fortunately it was seen by the ski patrol and they rescued the man in a matter of minutes. The avalanche was around 30m long and 40m wide.
In another incident in Little Cottonwood Canyon in Utah, near Salt Lake City, a group skiing off piste was caught and one person was carried 100m down the mountain and buried under 1m of snow.
Luckily a ski pole was sticking out and his friends were able to dig him out.
He was shaken by the experience, but not injured.
In another accident at Loveland Pass, Colorado, a snowboarder was caught in an avalanche.
The man managed to ride out most of it but then it engulfed him and he made what he described as swimming motions to stay on top of the slide.
When it came to a halt he was buried up to his waist and a friend was able to dig him out.
"I've skied that line dozens of times. There have many times, doing other sports, where you knew you had a close call and you feel like you could have been really hurt, but I've never had an experience where I thought I really could have died. It felt like the ground as dropping away," the man told local media after his ordeal.
It's reported neither has the correct safety equipment with them or had checked local avalanche bulletins.
Meanwhile rescue services have called off the search for 2 climbers missing on Mount Hood, Oregon. They have been missing for 4 days and are presumed dead.
The body of a third member of the group has already been found. He died of hypothermia after surviving a long fall.
Earlier this month the world famous ice climber, Guy Lacelle, died after being caught by an avalanche in Canada.
NEWS UPDATE - We have an unconfirmed report of a snowmobiler dieing in an avalanche at Cascade, in Wisconsin. It's thought he was with another snowmobiler and they set the slide off.
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