The three men were buried under the snow and died, but the woman survived because she had a survival device, known as an air bag, that kept her near the surface.
There's some info on this in the cool videos thread, but it deserves to be in the gear forum. These things really increase your chances of survival. Why these people went up there when the conditions were clearly dangerous is a different story.
Thanks for posting. I missed this in the cool videos section and had wondered about these ever since the news reports last week. Watching the video of the guy demonstrating each was fun. The look on his face when deploying each one was priceless--"Can you believe they pay me to do this? Awesome."
"But the businessman, better known as Prince Friso of the Netherlands, the second son of Queen Beatrix, is fighting for his life in Austria after an avalanche left him without oxygen for up to 20 minutes. And the Dutch royal family are now facing up to the agonising realisation that the 43 year-old may never recover from his injuries."
"The friend was carrying an avalanche "air bag", which automatically inflates to stop the skier being buried, and escaped without serious injury."
Verum audaces non gerunt indusia alba. - Ipsi dixit MCMLXXII
it has been many years since I have skied where avalanches are a real risk. I did set off one avalanche on Jake's Peak on the north side of emerald bay (lake tahoe) when I was 17 years old. I was lucky though, I was not caught in the avalanche. One thing that amazes me is that, though back country skiers wear helmets now, they don't seem to wear the full face mask with visor. It would seem to be a good idea to have that little air pocket around your face rather than having your mouth and nose packed with snow.
