...before these are required by law for skiers.
Elyse Saugstad was taking a break with several fellow skiers Sunday in the Washington state backcountry when the shouting began. "Elyse! Avalanche!"
The 33-year-old turned to see tons of snow boiling toward her.
"I pulled the trigger," she said, inflating two air bags attached to her backpack. The device is meant to keep skiers and adventurers from disappearing beneath waves of snow in an avalanche.
It likely saved her life, said Saugstad, who was hurled half a mile down the slope.
"(It was) like being in a washing machine," she said.
Saugstad came to a stop buried in densely packed snow. Only her face and hands were free.
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2 comments:
Having her head above the snow is what saved her. The two greatest dangers are suffocation and hypothermia.
It ought to be required for skiers that go into the back country off the groomed slopes now.
Like having life jackets in the boat.
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