Two skiers racing down a California mountainside caught a glimpse of ski tips poking through deep powder and stopped. Beneath the snow, a man was buried head-down, suffocating under at least four feet of avalanche debris.
They started digging. Fast.
Footage captured on February 18 shows the frantic rescue between the KT-22 and Olympic Lady runs on the Californian slopes. One of the rescuers, Carson Schmidt, a seasoned skier who works at Land Park Ski and Sports in Sacramento, filmed the effort as he and another skier clawed through the snow to reach the trapped man.
Schmidt described the discovery as pure chance, The U.S. Sun reported. The conditions were near whiteout, visibility was terrible, and there was no obvious sign of a person in distress. Just the faint outline of ski tips breaking the surface.
For whatever reason we stopped and happen to just see tips of the skis in the whiteout and luckily we did.
Once they realized the skier was inverted, feet up, head buried, the urgency became life-or-death. A person trapped face-down in packed snow has minutes, not hours.
As soon as we realized that he was head down, feet up, we realized he can't breathe.
The video captures the moment they cleared enough snow from his face. Schmidt noted that the proof of how close it was came in a single sound: a deep, gasping inhale once the snow was removed. Their quick thinking is believed to have saved the man's life.
This wasn't an isolated close call. The rescue came during what has been a punishing avalanche season across the Northern Hemisphere, particularly in Europe.
On Tuesday, an avalanche struck La Flégère in Chamonix, covering roughly 330 feet of terrain. Officials believe it may be the first avalanche ever recorded in that specific area. Three skiers were caught in the slide. A massive rescue operation mobilized:
According to local media, the three skiers are now safe. But not everyone has been so fortunate this winter.
More than 60 people have died in avalanches so far this season across France, Italy, Switzerland, and Austria. In the French Alps alone, at least 27 deaths have been recorded. Three British skiers were killed in just the past week. For context, France's deadliest recent avalanche season was 2020–2021, when 40 people lost their lives. This year is already outpacing it.
Avalanche expert Alain Duclos warned that Europe must brace for more avalanches that will be "wider and more powerful."
I'm afraid that more fatalities will happen.
Schmidt's message was simpler and more personal. He posted the video not to showcase heroics but to make a point that every skier who ventures into backcountry or heavy powder conditions should already know.
Just want it to be a reminder to ski safe and ski with a buddy. Doesn't have to be an avalanche or a tree well to get buried when it's that deep.
There's a culture in skiing, especially among experienced riders, of treating deep powder days as personal conquests. Solo runs. Untracked lines. The mountain to yourself. It's a romantic idea right up until you're upside down under four feet of snow and no one knows you're there.
Schmidt and his companion weren't part of a rescue team. They weren't carrying avalanche beacons tuned to the buried man's frequency. They happened to glance in the right direction at the right second. That's not a safety plan. That's luck.
There's a broader principle here that conservatives understand instinctively: freedom and responsibility are inseparable. The mountains don't owe you a rescue. Ski resorts can post warnings, patrol boundaries, and deploy dogs after the fact, but the decision to ski alone in avalanche conditions is yours. And so are the consequences.
The man buried on that California slope is alive because two strangers chose to stop. Next time, the ski tips might be six inches deeper. Next time, the whiteout might be a shade thicker. Next time, nobody might be coming.
Ski with a buddy. It's not complicated advice. It just requires admitting you're not invincible.
