Skier rescues snowboarder buried in snow on Mount Baker
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- Опубликовано: 21 окт 2024
- While skiing in the backcountry of Mount Baker March 3, Francis Zuber spotted a flash of a red snowboard on his way down the mountain, sticking out of the snow. Footage from Zuber’s GoPro shows his race against time to climb through deep powder and dig out Ian Steger, a lifelong snowboarder, who fell head first into a tree well.
(Video courtesy of Francis Zuber)
Dude whoever you are. You are awesome, you saved that man's life for sure.
They skiied down the mountain together after this and later appeared on the news together and are now friends.
They better be! I just saw this after skiing with my 7 year old daughter and fucking cried while hugging her. That guy was done for!
Absolute baller on the rescue. One in a million.
The snow boarder who was rescued is one of the luckiest guys in the world.
The likelihood that anyone would have seen him is basically null.
If the rescuer hadn’t fallen, he would have zipped past him (just like his friend ahead of him) without ever noticing the guy. Plus, there isn’t much time to breathe under the snow… simply amazing luck.
I don't believe in luck, only coincidence. Great find!
@@samwell1212 you are dense!
get over yourself@@Shannendetro
Or…. God has a plan for both men. He is the author of our days.
That is a good point. If the underside of his board was white with some black graphics (like my board was back in the day) then it would have blended in with the snow covered branches like camouflage and so i can imagine it would've been easy to go past without really noticing what was there, even at the lower speed. I heard in the interview with both these guys that he caught the glimpse of red in the corner of his eye, so the bright contrasting colors of his board also helped to save his life. I know im getting safety orange on my next board.
For all y'all curious ones, that's called a Tree Well. The lower boughs or branches of a pine tree have a wide flared skirt. This prevents snow from falling and settling next to the trunk making that snow less dense and creating a "well" next to the tree trunk. Should you get too close or aren't moving quickly enough passed these areas, you can fall in. Typically, it wouldn't be a problem as many times you can extract yourself. But, when the area has so much snowpack, these wells can be 15 feet deep or more making self extraction near impossible. Given the boarders head down posture, self extraction appeared impossible.
To really wrap your head around the severity of this, ya gotta remember that several Western ski areas in 2023 received over 700 inches of snow. Alta in Utah received over 900". That's SEVENTY FIVE FEET of snow! This little 20 foot tree we see above the snow can really be 60 feet tall to the ground creating one HUGE Tree Well.
Even if you are upright and capable of digging yourself out, the walls of the wells collapse around you as you dig. The best tactic for self extraction (if at all possible) is breaking off branches from the tree and using them to make stairs or ramp that spreads your weight out over a larger area preventing you from sinking, but even then... there's no guarantee that you will see tomorrow.
This type of skiing/boarding is not something to take lightly. You can see that the rescuer is prepared with a shovel, because folks that know bring these things. You bring things like a shovel, a probe, a transponder/receiver, a section of rope, and other things.
Regardless of whether you believe in religion or not, spotting this guy and extracting him was A MIRACLE. Should you say miracles don't exist... i say hogwash! We just witnessed one.
Yep… Baker actually has the record for total snowfall in a season
very based intelligent well thought out comment
Coincidence is not a miracle, it is simply coincidence. Just because something is incredibly unlikely, does not mean it’s impossible. Humans tend to have a need to attribute random positive events to a higher power when it suits them, yet ignore that approach when it does not. Either everything is the will of a higher power, or nothing is. This, in a nutshell, is why religion is so very hypocritical and toxic.
Well said my friend well said
Mt Baker has some of the most vertical runs in the US, and also receives the most snow each year.
I used to teach snowboarding at Baker, and only the tourists came into the back country without proper gear.
Never board or ski the back country alone. Always carry a transponder... preferably one that automatically activates if you are trapped.
And please for the love of all that is holy, take the back country class before exploring the back country.
Too many people don't get found until the snow melts .....
This is the luckiest man alive. The stress to be buried alive under snow and the immense pressure on someone else to hopefully dig you out in time before suffocating, wow.
Staged for content. How can the guy still be breathing under that snow for so long?
@@gozer825u sound dumb
@@gozer825I had the same question in my head, whether staged or not. Glad someone else did too. I'll go with yes, because people are desperate for views
You have a few minutes down there before suffocating
@@gozer825 see how his left hand was just in front of his face, when you can acheive this move it give you a little space to breath. Also depending on how snow is powdy, some air can pass trough
This dude is buried upsidedown in the snow on a mountainside. The odds of someone happening upon him has to be astronomical. An incredible story with a great ending.
absolutely, all of the circumstances that let him to be found are pretty incredible
I know how this ends and im still holding my breath.
That "thank you" means a LOT
The luck required for this guy to survive is crazy. Makes you believe in a higher power of some kind.
Until you factor in the amount of people who didn't get saved...
@@technomage6736 maybe they were sin
@Lewis Ham and now correct me if I'm wrong isn't the bible saying murder is a sin? Even tho Christians have murder 100s if not 1000s cause they believe in something else then God? You Christians act all accepting and loving till someone believes in GodS then you deem their gods as demons and them as sinners, also anything good happens you guys go "ITS GOD'S WILL!" and if anything bad happens you go "Those sinners deserve it!". I lost friends who are Christians and good folks to shit like cancer, so what's your excuse there? "It's all apart of God's plan!"? Oh and Don't me started on the fact that if I recall in the bible God loves everyone right? Then why did shit like ww1 and ww2 happen? What about 9/11? If God is real he's watching us throw our lives away, he has all the power in the uinverse and knows everything thats gonna happen, he can end wars and terrorist attacks before they happen! And he decides not to?! HE IS AS BAD A LUCIFER THEN, MATE COULD HAVE SAVED MILLIONS OF LIVES BY STOPPING WW1 AND WW2 YET HE CHOICE NOT TO?!
No it was a human been observant, he saw the board and acted quickly, He wasn't told by some winged Lovecraftian monster "a human is trapped under snow right here! Save him." He saw the board and acted quickly.
the higher power put the guy in the snow in the first place... lol americans really do be crazy sometimes
I was once trapped in a tree well, and fortunately, my friends were able to get me out right away. I remember the feeling of helplessness, buried under the snow with no ability to move. I felt pure fear. The thought of going through that alone, not knowing if anyone would find you and help, is a pure nightmare.
Bad question but was it freezing cold
Every time I run across this video, I question my courage. I'm not sure my brain wouldn't crack well before I could be rescued.
This guy deserves a medal of honour...!!!
I've watched this video footage several times. It blows me away every time!!! God bless!!
What an absolute angel… it’s extremely terrifying to be trapped upside down like that in deep snow. Very thankful this skier spotted the snowboarder!
What a very lucky man and Zuber is real hero. Million thanks!
Can you believe it? You saved a life that day. How amazing.
I am impressed with the skier's foresight in packing his backpack well. 👍🍻
He wasn't sure how long he was buried, but it was somewhere between 3 - 15 minutes. They were among the first people off the ski lifts that day.
Do you know if this was in bounds or out?
When he looks around, and all you see is white with a little bit of green. You realize the sheer luck and astronomical odds for these two to cross each other's path.
That and both people beginning at a common point of departure and the slope and tree positions determine very similar routes downhill.
How lucky that he saw the board. How lucky tge guy was to be still breathing. How kucky tgat the rescuer knew what he was doing. Well done. Respect.
I had to rescue a friend upside down in similar conditions who was about ten yards up hill from me I was so exhausted by the frantic climb my heart felt like it was going to explode. Luckily another skier came through and helped with the dig I don’t know what would have happened otherwise.
Good on you for saving your friend. I can imagine the challenge of climbing that steep, snow covered slope.
Your quick observation absolutely saved a life. What are the odds that skilled skier with a shovel and correct equipment would happen to see the snowboarder tucked in a tree well? There is no way that was chance.
That seemed to be a fairly popular route down the hill, which means it isn't as unlikely as one first thinks.
ive been in some life and death situations with some close friends but also strangers and man that bond afterwards is unlike any other
Guys this is a real hero ❤
It’s so strange to see this video as this happened to me many years ago at Big Sky or Snow Basin. I can’t recall as it’s was 30 years ish.
I was an average snowboarder in an out of bounds area with a good friend who was more skilled. I recall a ski patrol shack and the person there having a dog give us a sniff before we dropped in.
I quickly lost sight of my buddy and a few turns later was upside down under a tree. I was pinned facing away from the tree almost entirely upside down and it was late in the day and getting dark.
I could breathe though. I wasn’t completely packed in like this person.
Somehow I managed to find those lower branches and started pulling myself upright, dragging g my helmet and shoulders into the trunk of the tree and trying to fold my legs under myself. It took me at least 30 minutes. I was soaked from the effort.
After a long time, I’m somewhat suspended in snow and branches and still facing the tree. When I turned around, I sank right in again. Totally disoriented, the only thing that helped with getting my bearings was hearing a light rattle of a chairlift tower. It took my another 30-45 minutes to swim/push myself to a spot where I could get up and get down the mountain.
My buddy was oblivious. He thought he simply lost me at the lodge. This was before smart phones and I think even be fore mobile phones.
This person was so lucky!
Congrats on getting out! I hope you are now respecting in and out of bound areas. It makes strays much easier to find.
This is as near death as any video on RUclips, made my heart race just watching
WOW. That snowboarder is a VERY LUCKY Individual. Just the fact that the skier even noticed his board in the first place is a miracle. The fact that the guy wasn't suffocated is also a miracle.
It's hard for the chest cavity to expand when buried under anything of volume. This means you cannot breath even if there were air there for you to breath.
Being inverted just complicates the risks of death.
He's a VERY LUCKY MAN and should consider a safer sport. Euchre maybe ?
He doesn't need to change his sport, he just needs to be more careful riding trees. If he's going down that he's a good snowboarder, just needs to be more careful.
Thank you sir you are a hero. God was with you both 🙏
Anyone could have skied past him...gosh how lucky for the boarder and how ALERT and PRESENT the skier were that day!
Amazing man i was scared and sweaty watching that ! I woulda cried after that mista been so stressful
Jeez man! One little look not paying gone! I had found a older guy laying out caution on mtb trail I had to run back up go my buddies was a shit show! Few weeks later the guy called me told me thank you so much!
Wow. What a scary and incredibly lucky situation for both of these guys. Respect for the skier for acting fast. Amazing
That's terrifying. If that guy on skis didn't pause and look back for that split second that snowboarder would be dead. That's a miracle.
The tree wells at Mt. Baker are no joke! I fell into one and thought I was going to die. I made it out but just barely. Never ride alone at Baker!
To be fair, the guy wasn't alone he had friends waiting below the treeline, but they didn't see it happen, and he wasn't responding on the radio. They knew there was a problem but none of them saw the accident so didn't know where he was. He obviously couldn't radio for help from his position. Very lucky to be alive, but he's now friends with the rescuer and they've been out on the slopes together a few times since.
Great job sir. Very, very few people would've been able to do what you did. It's an amazing feeling to save a life. Welcome to the club.
you sound corny
I've gone to a tree to take a pee and ended up head deep in a tree well. Kept sinking deeper then I calmed down and took one last reach at my board and luckily was able to pull myself out. My friend nor anyone could hear me from down there. Have fun but stay safe out there yall. Glad both of them were ok!
I hope the man who was saved is ok. A big well done to the rescuer ❤
THAT IS SO INCREDIBLY SCARY
Thankful there are helpful people out there like this. ❤ Mt Baker gets some hellacious snowfall on the regular.
Good job rescuer! Holy! Talk about lucky their rescuer is in such good shape. Deep powder sucks the energy!
Thank God he saw him and was able to help!!
You saved that man’s life….no one would have ever saw him right next to that tree. Wow. Skiers and snowboarders need more equipment to save them. So scary
Absolutely stunning display of humanity.
As if anyone would say "tough luck, kid" and not help. Jeez!🤦
What a hero!
Not all heroes wear capes some ski , well done 👍
We just witnessed a real miracle. The fact that he was randomly found in time is unbelievable! I can't tell you how many times I've come across this video in the last few weeks & I rewatch it every time & I'm blown away every time.
God bless you man, you saved his life
True hero right here. Salute you. No words…..
This shook me up just watching this. You are a hero sir!!
Very scary scenario. Very lucky guy and a Very competent and brave rescuer. A gripping video. Hats off to you sir.
Thank you, HERO. 💚
Great save. Nice job skiing safe on the same line watching out for your body and being prepared 👏👏
That was freakin amazing!!! Think of the luck/divine intervention involved in that happenstance and rescue! Good on ya dude!!!!!
Incredible luck. You are his guardian Angel ❤❤❤
Imagine the feeling of relief being found...being upside down, the blood rush to the head probably meant he was barely concious, coupled with lack of air under the snow, being at a higher elevation... scary shit.
So amazing. He saved his life.
Thank you Skier guy!
🤙🏾🤙🏾
So spetacular rescue !
Dude is a freaking hero!!!!
lucky AF, good on the skier
He was God sent
Bravooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo !....
🙂
From Brussels, with Love...
Well done man
Way to go. Great job.
I watch over and over again. Good things happen!!
all in all you shouldn't be riding back country alone. tree wells are no joke. some can be 2 feet and some can be 8+ feet deep. upsidown with your feet shackled to a plank of wood. he was a blessed by willy Wonka with the golden ticket "to a second chance at life" thanks to skier who lost his balance. Good work whoever you are, major cheers to you!
That could easily be first tracks in-bounds. It looks just like this all over Jackson Hole Mountain Resort where I have ridden a majority of my snowboarding life.
How do you know he was alone? It's not like people are tethered together when they go down a slope together.
The guy filming this was with some other dude, but that other dude has no idea what happened to the guy filming.
That's how it goes with this sort of thing, you lose sight of each other, by the time you realize your buddy isn't following you anymore, even if it's just a few turns later, you're already way too far down the mountain to realistically help. And that's if you don't just assume that they went down a different path.
He wasn't alone, he was with a group. They didn't see the accident (I think he was last in the group) but had stopped on the other side of the trees. They had radios and were trying to contact him to find out where he was, they had realised he'd had an accident.
Praise God, what a miracle save!
To those in the business of designing snowboards and the gear all the riders use its very beneficial to have bright colors on tips so people can be seen in tuff situations like this. It's also a good idea so people can have unique color combinations that help them be spotted in crowded areas.
Amazing! Simply the best guy to save you!
Amazing rescue
After this experience your appreciation for life becomes second nature. 🙏 Higher power
So glad he lived to tell his Dear Mom what happened. 💞
Amazing, you won the lotery, but you know better than anyone that you NEVER go off-pist alone. Please keep this in mind for your future. 🤟
that was a miracle
Wow! That is insane, incredibly lucky.
Dude if you hadn’t gone that exact route to split those trees and happened to see him, that man would be dead. That’s insane
That snowboarder owes you a beer! How lucky was that!!!!
Unbelievable
Сынок, ты герой, спас своего товарища!❤ Будьте осторожны, дома вас ждут родные.
You have to be so careful in the trees. Tree wells are no joke.
I had the same experience deep diving close to the tree. It was so scary. The friend of mine moved 50 meters downhill, so he had no chance to help me. Good luck that i managed by myself, but i almost had no oxygen for about 2 min
That thank you was coming from deep inside
Well done! Great job!
This is amazing. ❤
Just made a friend for life.
I love it when Good Humans pay attention and are aware of things around them! So rare these days so many would just be so oblivious and not even think to look around as they live there life.
That looks like a dream powder day. You hope for days like that
Purely amazing .
We’re they actually looking for that guy? Or did he just fall in a few minutes before their run down the hill? God bless!!
Never ever ski alone in these conditions. Never.
My heart is like freaking out right now watching this you guys are giving me anxiety oh my gosh you guys need to start skiing somewhere safe like at a normal ski resort Go to give me a heart attack I hope he's okay
Heavy snowed backcountry is lethal!!!
I should've realized this was baker when I first it.. it's snowfall and tree wells are unreal
This is why when I snowboarded I never went off the trails where the snow is powder like this .
Wait a minute!!!! We don’t see when he’s actually freed?????
Love the fact he was saved but COME ON!!!! The BEST part would be seeing him come out. Tell me there is another part, PLEASE!!!🙏🏼
I think I've seen a longer video somewhere. He was ok (went to hospital to get checked out I believe) and is back boarding again. He's friends with the rescuing guy now and they've been on the slopes a couple of times together since
There are no words.....
Man this is still crazy
Повезло так повезло!
Tree wells will swallow you hole…like a giant monster.
So what's the best technique to get yourself out of this if you are alone?
new friends for life.
What nightmares are made of.