Watch: Snowboarder Narrowly Escapes Avalanche in Tahoe Backcountry
Tim Humphreys is a professional snowboarder living in the Tahoe and has great experience with the area’s backcountry. But if you ride long enough in the backcountry, you’re bound to have a run in with an avalanche.
Humphreys recently triggered an avalanche in the Tahoe backcountry posted a video of his perspective of the event to his popular Instagram page and you can hear the fear in his voice as the snow begins to fall out from under him.:
Here is a full video of the incident:
Here’s how Humphrey’s described the scary incident:
Full video from that wind slab #avalanche i triggered a few days ago in the #tahoe #backcountry 🔠💥 crazy looking back at the footage and seeing how i redirected off the broken block of #snow 🤷ðŸ»â€â™‚ï¸ the #slab itself wasn’t the largest, but it funneled into an exposed rocky chute and took more snow with it running out a long long way. I already had a few plans for if this happened. Plan A was stay left on the high ground where the top snow had been scoured off. Plan B was if i ended up in the funnel, i would cut way right and out but only after looking up hill and making sure it didn’t propagate outwards. Plan B2 if it was propagating to my right and i ended up low, i’d claw my way left back to the high spot. Plan C was fully give up and try to get swept away. We don’t like plan C. Spend enough time riding stuff like this and something is bound to break off and #avvy eventually. Always make a plan that accounts for the various dangers of small and big slides, plan out ‘safe spots’ along your route, and always try to stay on the high spots so when something does break, you’re at the top of it. Also, read the report from your local avalanche center like @savycenter #sierraavalanchecenter for the #laketahoe area. The cross #loaded slab i #triggered was in the forecast. It was no secret.
What’s fascinating about his description of the event is how he had three contingency plans going into the drop, and luckily was able to use his first and safest plan when the avalanche was triggered. We’re glad he made it out okay.
By the way, if you’re into snowboarding, check out Humphrey’s Instagram page. This dude is a badass:
Keep shredding, Tim!
