The ones people regularly don't survive sound more like a freight train but the one I was in sounded more like 100 or 1000 people all saying "Shus" like they want you to be quiet. So, the one I was in reminded me more of the ocean and ocean waves then anything else or like how an earthquake moves across the land in waves and makes a banging sound when hitting buildings. When the Avalanche hit the trees it made all these Thudding sounds as each tree was hit by tons of snow.
The one I was in mostly sounded like a very loud "Shus" and it went on for around 30 seconds to a minute as it gained speed going downhill towards the trees. I didn't believe then I would survive this and only by some miracle of fast moving skis and poles and ramming my upward bent tips above the surface of the avalanche did I remain on top of the waves of snow rolling down the hill.
Actually, I was afraid of two things, the first was to go with my head under the snow and not be found for about 4 to 6 months when the snow melted. The second and somewhat even more pressing thing for me was I believed I might be slammed into one of the trees in the forest below me by the force of the Avalanche at around 20 to 30 miles per hour and die that way.
But, luckily for me, when the avalanche hit the trees the strong trees shuddered and shook snow off them to some degree but also stopped the fast moving avalanche I was riding on and trying to survive it with ski tips being forced above the surface while I poled as fast as I could to stay on top of the fast moving snow.
When it finally stopped I was without a shirt and chest deep in the snow up to above where my heart is which was beating very fast. It took me 5 to 10 minutes trying to force my metal edged cross country ski tips finally above the snow this time and by the time I did this I was pretty exhausted from everything. I was just grateful to be alive.
However, I swore to myself I would never ski above Tree line because of this experience because of what happened. Because the only thing that stopped the avalanche was the forest of trees this time.
So, where I started it was too high for trees to grow at all at 9000 or 10,000 feet. I was trying to traverse from Horse Camp to where the old Ski Bowl was at the top of Everitt Memorial Highway above Panther meadows and Springs. But, after this experience all I wanted to do was to ski down to my car and drive home to Mt. Shasta where I lived then.
The other thing this taught me was to never ski alone if you can help it. So, what this meant in actuality was that more tha 80% to 90% of the time I skied with a buddy and friends and not alone very much after this.
Whether it's skiing or snowboarding or Scuba Diving or Snorkeling or whatever you really shouldn't do any of these things alone just because of Safety issues. I have saved many people and many people have saved my life too in many different situations since then by the way.
You never know what you are going to encounter when skiing on ungroomed snow.
For example, before I switched to metal edged skis for survival I skied on regular cross country skis without metal edges.
This came to an end one day when I hit ice while traversing on Mt. Shasta and couldn't get an edge and skided sideways 100 to 500 feet down the mountain and almost into a tree.
So, that's the day I realized I didn't want to be skiing without metal edges on cross country skis anymore.
This likely happened in the late 1970s when I realized it wasn't safe to ski without metal edges while mountaineering skiing if you want to stay alive. Even with metal edges ice can get too hard and thick to be safe to ski on too so you have to watch for this whenever you can't get an edge with your metal edges.
Though this is less of a problem where you are at ski lifts where they groom the snow with machines to prevent deaths and injuries from ice, it still can be dangerous if it has been too long since the grooming machines have been over the snow and the sun melted it and then it froze. So, always be careful of skiing in icy conditions.
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