Yeah we know it’s a video of skiers, but when it comes to avalanche safety we’re all brothers and sisters from cut the same cloth.

No one was seriously hurt during this slide in Whistler last winter, but they were very lucky. The video shows the same avalanche from three different angles and demonstrates two key safety points in one:

One, be wary of even slight changes in gradient, you can see at 0.43 how there’s just the slightest of rollers, but that’s where the slide starts; and two, if you’re unsure of a face’s stability don’t go charging down it all at the same time. If both of the skiers caught had been buried it would have been twice the work for the third guy, and if he hadn’t been there it could have been a whole other story…

Stay safe out there, just because it’s getting to spring it doesn’t mean there won’t be more avalanches. If you want more information check out our avalanche basics here.