I had skied up on mountaineering skis to Horse Camp from Bunny Flat on Mt. Shsata and decided to try to traverse from there to Panther Meadows or the old Abandoned Ski Bowl above Panther Spring. However, the ski conditions were too punishing and snow kept sticking to my skis too much to have this be practical that day in the spring. It was also hot in the sun so I took my jacket and shirt off and was barechested with just sunglasses on to protect from Snow Blindness on a sunny day and a hat to protect my scalp from the sun on that day.
So, as I was skiing back down to the road from around 9,000 feet or 10,000 feet suddenly the snow started moving down the mountain at about 30 mph with me in the center of this one acre diameter (more like a square or rectangle of snow one acre in size moving down the mountain at great speed with me in the center of this.
Luckily I was a very strong skier then and in my early 30s still and so by going into overdrive to try to stay on top of the churning snow I was able to not die. When it finally hit the trees at tree line the avalanche began to stop and I was left chest deep in the snow which was very cold without a shirt on. However, I was so hot from the sun it almost felt good but now I had to survive this too by kicking my skis (now almost 5 feet under the snow) up to the surface but because the tips of skis are bent upward by struggling I was finally able using my poles and skis to break the surface of the snow with both tips of my skis.
More struggling I was able to hoist myself up on top of the snow using my poles and skis.
At this point I simply skied over the top of the completely churned snow as best I could down to the paved road where my car was parked then.
However, I vowed to myself never to ski alone above Tree line ever again because I had almost died in that avalanche.
IF you cannot learn from your mistakes you soon might be dead!
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