How to Survive an Avalanche

Picture yourself skiing in Mont Blanc, the winter dream of your coldest imagination. The luxury kisses your face as the freezing breeze washes away all traces of stress you’ve accumulated from the busy city streets. Your skis traverse the terrain, sashaying in a way that not even your very feet can follow. You can never be happier being numbed by snowflakes from the Alps. You are in your dream getaway, sashaying to and fro—a paradise!

What you thought is the best day of your life, however, turns sour in a few seconds as the worst natural disaster in an icy mountain hit you—an avalanche! What should you do then? You might be surprised, but the things people generally think will save them do not actually fulfill the job any better.

When there is danger, run. That is the favorite option the brain likes to feed human. The tendency is, you will follow it. After all, when a looming disaster literally chases you, there is no other way to go but away from it, right? Wrong!

In time of such great disaster, think of this rule—avalanche is inescapable! Not even concrete buildings stand a chance against it. But that doesn’t mean you need to run because you can’t to begin with. The best thing to do then is run toward the avalanche.

Avalanche is the god of the mountain. It travels faster than any man and any ski can go. It will be pointless to run because you will be buried anyway. The best thing to do is not to distance yourself horizontally but to run toward the disaster, hoping that some protruding rocks or large trees can cover you up, enough to give you a literal breathing space. Facing the avalanche head on will also allow you to see its movement clearly. Thus, you can know what parts or areas will have shallower covering.

You will still end up being buried, but at least you can give rescuers time to recover you alive.

This rule, nonetheless, is only applicable for those still on the mountain trying to survive a disaster and not on the foot of the roaring mountain. If the latter is the case, you will still have time to escape.