Avalanche - Carina's Account

"The morning was unbelievably beautiful. Not a cloud as far as the eye could see. Around 10 a.m. we put our skins on. At 11 we reached the first little slope. All of us pretty much started drooling, it was the most perfect looking ramp ever. Mark skinned up so that Ace could shoot him coming down again. Swoosh! perfect powder, and since Mark was skiing it, perfect turns. Unfortunately, Ace had the wrong lens on his camera, so he didn't get any pics. But hey! No worries, plenty of snow to get more shots! So we continued onwards. Frank led the way, when all of a sudden he gets a collapse. So we decided to turn around. Ace went ahead to shoot, and I set out after him. I made maybe six-seven turns when I realized that the snow was moving.

Avalanche! I'm in the middle! Panic!! Everything I have ever learned about avalanches raced to my head at 1000 miles an hour. Run up hill! Can't do, I have skis on! Find a safe island!! That won't work, no islands! Ski away from it! How? My skis were covered, and so were my boots. All I could do was to try to get my skis to go in the direction of the closest side of the ramp. The edge kept getting closer, and I tried desperately to remember what it looked like on the other side… Was it a cliff? Fluffy snow? And then it was all still. It had stopped. Mark was next to me. I was sitting down. My heart was pounding so hard I thought it might break my ribcage.

It was only a small sluff. But it was scary. Mark is really upset and blames himself. All he wants to do is go home, never work as a guide again and sell all his gear, become a carpenter or whatever. He is putting it all on his shoulders. I wish he wouldn't, we were all in it together. I know he'll come around and get over it, but right now it's tough."
- Carina Ostberg, October 10

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