
New video shows skiers navigating around the aftermath of an apparent “in-bounds” avalanche on Mt. Bachelor this week. That’s slide that occurs within the boundaries of a resort.
The avalanche happened just before noon Wednesday.
Jay Lane, who posted the video on Facebook, said his friend skied through the lower rocks below the left part of the cornice and the slope released.
“He said the slab below him cracked like an eggshell,” Lane wrote. “His skis got sucked under the slab, causing him to get pulled down. I only caught the last little bit of the slide, with chunks flowing down and a little white plunge of snow, and saw his head bobbing up above the snowpack with everything else buried.”
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Lane said his friend lost control and may have injured ligaments in his knees.
“He was more or less buried up to his head with maybe the other ski sticking up. It could have been a bit worse if was a little deeper and nobody saw him,” Lane wrote.
These kinds of avalanches are uncommon.
In recent weeks, two backcountry skiers were killed in avalanches at Black Crater and Paulina Peak.