Just after I posted the tragic account of a death in Austria of a teenager who was equipped with an airbag, I came across this amazing report and video of a woman who was saved in Utah from an avalanche.
According to the report on Fox News a woman was caught up in a snow slide Little Cottonwood Canyon. According to the news report:
Fortunately, the victim had an avalanche airbag and deployed it from a backpack.
Had she not had it, avalanche forecasters say she could have been buried one to two meters instead of a foot under the snow, which is how witnesses found her.
“They were in close proximity and got to her very fast. They were trained in the use of their avalanche beacons. They got a signal out and struck her with an avalanche probe and between I believe three of them they were able to extricate her in about 5 minutes,” said Brett Kobernik, forecaster with the Utah Avalanche Center.
You can view the report and video here.
The report also noted that there is currently a very high risk of avalanches in Utah and that conditions are unlikely to improve until January. Be careful out there.