Defies the odds!! What impresses me is the fact he only had mild hypothermia. I want to know what brand of clothing he was wearing!
When you think that most people die after 20mins under thats amazing
The Nouvelliste has a more precise account
http://www.lenouvelliste.ch/fr/news/valais/il-survit-dix-sept-heures-sous-une-avalanche_9-185904
The accident was in the Pas d’Arpilles sector. The man was buried by the slide around 15h00 on Saturday. After a difficult search (no helicopter due to the weather) the slide was found at 1h30 on Sunday. The search was halted at 2h30 after checking the surface for indications (the victim presumably had neither Recco nor a Beacon) due to the risk of secondary avalanches. A helicopter overflew the scene at dawn. I assume that is around 7h30. The man was buried but the top of his helmet was just below the surface of the snow so he was probably able to breath but amazing he didn’t not suffer severe or fatal hypothermia. I had a friend who was buried up to his neck in an avalanche and he was in a very poor way after 50 minutes. I assume the snow was maybe not too dense in this case.
WOW What a lucky chap! must be a record?
Les Temps has a long interview with the survivor, Cédric Genoud.
http://www.letemps.ch/Page/Uuid/94a83a4e-14f9-11df-9448-b66681410563|0
I saw all that untracked powder, I skied the north face, everything was fine, then a sunnier section, the snow started to move under my skis, it didn’t seem like a big slide but I found myself under 50cm of snow, I was able to make some space by moving my head but the snow had entombed me, I realized I was stuck, I tried to move my hands but could only move my head, it was like concrete. Night fell, it was the longest of my whole life, I tried to stay awake, I would drift off for a few minutes then wake up, I ate snow. It was a struggle against myself. I thought of my mother a lot, my brother too. I prayed, I started to believe in something above, it was one of the first time I’d prayed, the other times it didn’t work. What I did that day was stupid, inconsiderate of others, childish, you need to be a lot more prudent than I was to correctly judge the conditions”.
Cedric was skiing alone without an avalanche beacon. The risk was 3/5.