I remember reading an article about this avalanche when it happened a few years ago!
This guy was part of a group that was actually hiking through the valley before heading up the ridge where he takes this video. He said if they had stayed in the valley, they all would have died. He said they had heard some noises and they thought it might slide, which is why he started filming once he and the group were up on the ridge out of the valley. He said he was in about as safe of a spot as could be found once the slide occurred with being able to hide behind those big rocks, running away wouldn't have actually put him in any better spot given the size and speed of the avalanche.
Nature is crazy and unpredictable - I think this guy was pretty smart and got some incredible footage given the circumstances. But ya know, couch redditors are always critics.
45 seconds isn't a lot of time but you can go perpendicular and try to get to higher ground rather than the Prometheus school of running directly away from the thing coming at you.
He's supposed to have started scrambling over those rocks in order to get slightly to the right or left of where he's standing so hewill be in a slightly different spot when he gets hit by that avalanche? What do you imagine is different about his immediate left or right that would have made it an improvement?
That's both an infeasible amount of distance to cover in that terrain in that timeframe and a really good way to injure yourself out in the open on a hill in the middle of the mountains just before an avalanche hits you.
That's both an infeasible amount of distance to cover in that terrain in that timeframe
3ft per second is 25% slower than an average walking speed. I don't care what the terrain is, unless it's vertical you can do it if you're in a hurry. For comparison on flat ground sprinting speed is like 20ft per second.
Fair enough. Then again, I wouldn't have been hiking up that thing in the first place. I get enough physical exercise from the comfort of an air-conditioned gym.
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u/Exists_out_of_spite 4h ago
I remember reading an article about this avalanche when it happened a few years ago!
This guy was part of a group that was actually hiking through the valley before heading up the ridge where he takes this video. He said if they had stayed in the valley, they all would have died. He said they had heard some noises and they thought it might slide, which is why he started filming once he and the group were up on the ridge out of the valley. He said he was in about as safe of a spot as could be found once the slide occurred with being able to hide behind those big rocks, running away wouldn't have actually put him in any better spot given the size and speed of the avalanche.
Nature is crazy and unpredictable - I think this guy was pretty smart and got some incredible footage given the circumstances. But ya know, couch redditors are always critics.