I've spent quite a few days in the backcountry running snowmobiles near my house. One of my favorite days was hanging with Ski-Doo's Steve Martin and ripping this awesome bowl area up a spot called Snake Creek. It's properly gnarly terrain and features some seriously steep inclines. I was gassed by the end of our rip.
But that pales in comparison to what these particular snowmobilers found in that very same bowl this year, as while they were up shredding the high alpine snow, one of them triggered an avalanche. Not unheard of and the reason why folks use Garmin and/or avalanche beacons, but they caught the whole thing on camera.
At least, right up until the last moment when everything goes from "Hell yeah, brother!" to "Oh shit!" Check it out and see if you can see my house from there.
According to my local affiliate, KSL, the incident involved father and son duo Ryan and Dodge Poelman. The two were snowmobiling the Snake Creek area in Midway, Utah up in the same area Martin and I were last year. Dodge was apparently watching his dad rip some lines and, according to him, "'Famous last words, right? One more time," he said, recalling his dad catching air over a crest just before the avalanche broke loose." And then the slab broke underneath the snowmobile Ryan was piloting.
Dodge recalled, "I started my snowmobile, turned around, tried to flee," but there was no getting away from the melee coming at him. Luckily for him, he was only buried a few inches below the snow. He stated, "Obviously just like, silence. Right? It’s dark." But he quickly escaped the icy confines. His dad, however, was another story.
"We have radios, so I radio him. He doesn’t respond,” Dodge told the outlet, telling KSL that he finally saw his helmet as his dad was "bent over a tree, motionless." He added, "I thought he was dead. He was not moving. Not responsive. So I started yelling, took off my helmet, started running. I got my shovel out, undug him, laid him on his back."
Wildly, after a few hours waiting for Search and Rescue, Ryan Poleman only sustained relatively minor injuries with a few broken ribs. It could've been way worse given how prevalent big avalanches are in the area, especially later in the riding season when the snowpack gets worse and worse.
The pair, however, said they'll be back riding next year. As you'd expect coming from anyone who's ridden that specific area before. It's worth the danger.
