Snowboarder captures terrifying avalanche and 300ft ride he miraculously survived
Snowboarder says debris fell 1,000ft further down after his descent
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Your support makes all the difference.A snowboarder in Utah filmed his terrifying descent hundreds of feet down a slope after he was caught in an avalanche in Big Cottonwood Canyon.
Blake Nielson, the snowboarder who filmed his adventurous slide on Sunday, said he miraculously descended around 300ft slowing down.
The snowboarder and his group were testing a snow structure and were unable to find any instabilities before riding down the Greaseball Couloir, an area just north of the summit of Kessler Peak.
However, an unexpected avalanche occurred when they began the descent and “an isolated wind slab broke loose below and above me which knocked me off my feet and took me for a ride,” he wrote in a report for the Utah Avalanche Center.
“I was able to keep the majority of my body above the snow and was able to radio my partner that I was sliding with the debris,” he said.
“I made swimming motions with my arms and kicked my board to help keep me on top. After about 300ft, I was able to slow down and stop, while the rest of the debris released below me.”
Mr Nielson shared the footage showing snow beneath his feet cascading and burying his snowboard as he came down. He was heard calling for his boarding partner, Logan, on the radio during his descent.
“I’m staying on top, but I am sliding,” he can be heard saying in the footage.
“After regrouping, we descended the debris. The slope slid about 1,300ft,” he said.
There have been at least six deaths in separate avalanches this season following a severe snowstorm in the US. Four were killed in Colorado and two others in Nevada and Montana.
The bodies of two men, 52, and 58, were found buried on the slopes near the town of Winter Park, Colorado.
At least 17 deaths by avalanches were recorded in the winter season of 2021-22, with deaths reported in Alaska, Colorado, Idaho, Montana and Wyoming. The toll was down from 37 in the previous season.
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