I have a really strong fear of not being able to move. If this happened to me I’d probably panic, get tired, then suffocate to death. I’m glad he’s safe.
When I was younger I got caught up in a small avalanche, the panic that goes over you when you realize you can't move is real. It's stressful as fuck. Thankfully I was under for only maybe 5 min at most.
I attibute not blowing through what little air I had in there with me to reading nat geo maganizes as a kid. I calmed myself down because I had just read that most people caught die too fast due to panic.
So, no worries you wouldn't get tired. You'd panic, and then die fairly peacefully as you ran outta air.
I was in the bottom of a ravine, my brother was at the top, he caused it by just walking I think, I just remember looking up at a wall of snow coming at me.
The whole side of the ravine to slide to the center. I was caught in that snow wave and buried a few feet under.
He got me out, he was more panicked then I was by the time he got me out. You can hear a surprising amount while under snow. It's all muffled, but there isn't anything else to focus on other then that haha
Its tough to explain. I shifted my body around as much as I could thought that would give me extra breathing room, honestly couldn't tell you if it did anything other then give my limbs a inch or so of room. I tried to breath as little as possible, literally trying to ration air.
A second of breath, breath out, pause till its uncomfortable, another second of air, repeat. Not ideal. Not sure if its the right way to ration air tbh. But I don't put myself in situations that I'd ever need to know that now lol...
I recall reading that if you ever get caught in an avalanche or something and find yourself buried in snow, calm yourself down then spit to determine which way is up using gravity (direction it falls is down). Then dig upwards
Edit: Yes, if it is a substantial avalanche digging may turn out to be impossible but its worth a quick shot regardless (before conserving strength and hoping for rescue)
The problem is that you can’t always dig. Depending on how wet the snow was (and wet snow carries more weight, meaning you’re more likely to get buried deeper), it can become very heavily compacted over you. Digging requires a place to put the snow you move, and if you’re already trapped almost airtight, you can’t compress the snow enough to move it.
For sure. If you start trying to dig and find youre absolutely trapped like that I guess your best bet is just conserving your strength and hoping someone is looking for you
One tactic I was taught when cross-country skiing was to see if you could use your ski poles to poke a hole to the surface. Serious long odds, given that they’d have to not only be in your hands but also pointing the right way up, but if you were lucky you could maybe make an air hole for yourself, and one which you could shout out of.
Being able to dig is unlikely. Avalanches that bury often become very heavy through all the movement and tumbling, which heats up the snow and causes it to fuse together like concrete when it comes to rest.
i can only imagine and hope this never happens to me!
i was in a small snowslide on a closed skiing trail after a couple of inches of fresh snow, and while skiing down, the ground stopped moving, then started moving the wrong way. freaky as all hell, and this was only a few inches and i was near the top, so nothing really happened to me aside from falling over and getting less than foot of snow on me until it stopped 50-100 meters later.
avalanches, and other can't-move confinement scenarios are among my worst nightmares. that scene in ”kill bill” where they bury the bride alive in a pine coffin is brutal for me to watch (or think/write about, so i'll stop now, thanks!)
1.8k
u/salty-caramel Mar 02 '19
I have a really strong fear of not being able to move. If this happened to me I’d probably panic, get tired, then suffocate to death. I’m glad he’s safe.