The shocking moment two snowmobilers were submerged after a 50mph avalanche thundered down the mountain in Wyoming has been captured in heart-stopping first person video, with one of them rescued minutes before he would have suffocated.
Mason Zak and Jake Dahl were both buried under five feet of snow during a day trip with friends in Star Valley last Friday.
Mason spots that Dahl has fallen from his vehicle and repeatedly shouts ‘Avi!’ to his friend before the snow appears, surging down the powdery mountainside, in footage taken from his camera.
He can be heard saying ‘no’ a couple of times under his breath as the snow gets closer and tries to escape on the vehicle, seconds before he is plunged into darkness.
‘I saw Jake had fallen off and I was going to go up there to see if he needed help and as I looked up I could see the hills break above him and started screaming “avalanche” as many times as I could,’ Mason said. ‘It all happened so fast.’
The avalanche surging towards Mason Zak. Zak and Jake Dahl were both buried under five feet of snow during a day trip with friends in Star Valley
Mason can be heard saying ‘no’ a couple of times under his breath as the snow gets closer and tries to escape on the vehicle, seconds before he is plunged into darkness
The friends had decided to ride their snowmobiles down one more section at around 4pm when the shock avalanche struck.
‘I thought I was in the safe area at the bottom. I watched Jake get buried and kept eyes on him so I knew where he was buried if I had to go save him,’ Mason said.
‘As I was looking at him, I didn’t even realise that it was coming so fast and it just hit me on the back, threw me forward off my snowmobile and actually dragged me around a patch of trees.’
Seconds later Mason was buried beneath a heap of snow, leaving only the sound of his frantic breathing as the video blacked out.
Mason, a 23-year-old business-owner from Minnesota, was buried for seven minutes before he was rescued by a group of passersby who used avalanche locating equipment to find him.
He has told how he ‘lost hope immediately’ as he was unable to move under the snow and thought that ‘no-one is going to find us’.
Mason claims that a rescue party thankfully reached him just in the nick of time.
He believes that if they had arrived five minutes later, he would have succumbed to carbon dioxide poisoning.
Meanwhile Jake, a 25-year-old business-owner from Wyoming, was luckily only buried for around 30 seconds and despite fearing he was ‘done’, was able to claw his way out.
Mason said: ‘It was a regular day – we were having one of the best days so far in the snow. At the end of the day, we decided to do one more hill. I had an idea to try and do something a bit steeper.
‘We went over to this other hill and didn’t think much about it. I think Jake went up first, I went up second and our other friend was third.
‘I ended up face down, palms behind my back. I could move a couple of fingers, that was about it. I was about two to three feet under. I was completely buried, nothing of me was showing. It could’ve hit me at about 50 miles per hour.’
Mason Zak by his snowmobile after the incident. Mason was buried for seven minutes before he was rescued by a group of passersby who used equipment to help locate victims trapped in an avalanche
Mason said memories were flashing before his eyes as he accepted the reality of dying under the snow.
He said: ‘We think I was under for about five to seven minutes. I thought Jake and our other friend were both buried so lost hope immediately.
‘I was thinking “no one knows where we are” and “no one is going to find us”. I tried moving around a bit but that didn’t work. At that point, the silence took over. It was so dark and silent.
‘I don’t think I passed out but I went into some sort of dream. Core memories were going through my head. I pictured my mom, dad, and brother.’
He added: ‘I probably realistically had about five minutes left. I think I had a case of carbon dioxide poisoning when I came out. I had a pretty bad headache. I was just astonished I was getting saved.
‘I got out and hugged the boys and thanked them for saving me. I don’t know if they would’ve found me without the beacons. I feel so lucky to be alive.. I have a whole new respect for the mountain now.’
Fellow adrenaline junkie Jake also said the experience has instilled him with a newfound gratitude after nearly losing his life.
Recalling what happened to him, the father-of-two said: ‘It just kind of swallowed me. It took me down about 75 yards and I started freaking out. Luckily enough, it stopped and my left arm was above the snow just enough to dig my face out.
‘My face was probably about a foot deep. I could barely breathe. I was just screaming when I dug my face out. I was under for about 30 seconds. I thought I was done.
‘I was thinking about my girlfriend and my kids. I was scared there was a second wave coming. This was kind of an eye-opener about what can happen out there. It scared us all and gave everyone a wake-up call. We’re lucky to be alive.’
The pair have been riding together in Star Valley for the last five years.