If you cross potential avalanche areas and do not get sufficient avalanche education or if you are careless, you can be caught by an avalanche immediately ! Believe ! You do not want to be in that situation.
Powerful avalanches have the capability to entrain ice, rocks, trees, and other material on the slope. In mountainous terrain avalanches are among the most serious objective hazards to life and property, with their destructive capability resulting from their potential to carry an enormous mass of snow rapidly over large distances.
Even small avalanches are a serious danger to life, even with properly trained and equipped companions who avoid the avalanche. Victims caught in an avalanche are advised to try to ski or board toward the side of the avalanche until they fall, then to jettison their equipment and attempt swimming motions.
When you are caught by an avalanche, panic starts and you loose your direction. Materials entrained by the avalanche may hit you. Breathing becomes more difficult. You can feel the compression of snow around your body during the deceleration of the avalanche, but moving in the snow mass is getting harder and harder. Breathing is difficult because of the snow entering your mouth and nose. Your body starts to lose heat. As the snow comes to rest, an attempt should be made to preserve an air-space in front of the mouth and try to thrust an arm, leg or object above the surface, assuming you are still conscious. If it is possible to move once the snow stops, enlarge the air space, but minimize your movements to reduce your oxygen consumption. After a time, oxygen deficiency and hypothermia start to increase their effects. It is vital that everyone surviving an avalanche is used in an immediate search and rescue operation, rather than waiting for help to arrive. Additional help can be called once it can be determined if anyone is seriously injured or still remains unaccountable after the immediate search (i.e., after at least 30 minutes of searching).
