Avalanche Burial and Rescue Video

not for the claustrophobic! Lucky man!

Is it wrong of me to laugh at how he sounded though the snow-muffled microphone?

You could have submitted this to the Darwin awards (people whose foolishness leads to their removal from the gene pool). But that wouldn't have been appropriate: this guy was clearly athletic, a good physical specimen from the darwinian point of view. I think what you see here is that people at the top of their physical ability are the biggest risk takers. The very thing that makes you attractive to the opposite sex is what can get you killed.

Alejo

The most surprising thing to me was that they apparently all carry shovels (likely repurposed entrenchment tools.) So this kind of thing is considered a possibility. While they do it.

Church,

If you're in avalanche territory, you carry a shovel, probe, and beacon just like you wear a seat belt in a car. A slide is unpredictable even with proper training and precautions. And, no, they're not repurposed entrenchment tools, they're collapsable avalanche shovels that are designed for this sort of thing (compact, hollow handle for the avalanche probes, fits perfectly in your pack's straps).

So yes, an avalanche is a known possibility in these areas and conditions, what's the big deal?

I could barely breathe the whole time he was buried. I'm not Claustrophobic usually. Thank heaven for his beacon.