A man was rescued after an avalanche carried him nearly 500 meters in Wyoming, USA. He was skiing with a friend in Teton County when he got caught in the avalanche that carried him about half a kilometre down the mountain.
“At midday, while using climbing skins attached to their skis, they crossed a southeast-facing slope on Rendezvous Peak when they triggered a large avalanche,” the Teton County Search and Rescue said in a Facebook post.
One of the skiers, who has not been named, got caught in the rapid flow of snow and was carried down the mountainside. His partner found him buried chest-deep in the snow a while later.
“When the avalanche stopped, he was buried up to his torso, up to about his chest, so his head was above the snow and he had one or two arms above the snow as well,” Matt Hansen, communication director for Teton County Search and Rescue Foundation, told CNN.
The skier’s partner was able to dig him out of the snow, from which he emerged largely unharmed except for injuries to his leg. The duo then called authorities and informed them about the avalanche.
They initially thought they would be able to chart their way back unassisted. However, after one hour, the skiers were forced to contact rescue services.
They reconnected with “members of our search and rescue team on a cellular phone and they recognized that they would not be able to get out on their own and that they needed a rescue,” said Hansen.
A helicopter was used to airlift the two to safety.
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