All language subtitles for Raging.Planet.S01E04.1080p.DSCP.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.H.264-WiLF

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NARRATOR: It was the ultimate skiing
experience

and nearly the last run of this man's
life.

An avalanche can wipe out anyone and
anything in its path...

...and trap its victims in a tomb of
ice and snow.

By the time we got there, it was
already too late.

Its force is irresistible and deadly.

♪ Theme music

Mountain ranges are beautiful.

But for those who live and play on
these slopes,

there's a constant danger.

Around the world, there are more than
a million avalanches a year.

95% of their victims accidentally
trigger the avalanche themselves.

This snowboarder beat the odds and
survived.

But another alpine joyrider wouldn't
be so lucky.

Woo!

In January 2005,

Sam Kavanagh and his four friends

were celebrating the new year in
Montana.

All were highly experienced skiers.

They thought they knew how to have
fun and avoid avalanches.

Woohoo!

We were definitely powder-hungry.

We wanted to taste it, feel it
and more importantly,

just to go and play in it.

It was an opportunity for us all to
get together

and act like 12-year-olds again.

The friends recorded the fun to
show their families at home.

Woo!
Whoa!

They set up camp 40km from the
nearest civilisation

and had no way to communicate with
the outside world.

One of the group was Sam's best
friend, Blake.

(MAN LAUGHS) Woo!

It was on the last day on the last
ski run of the trip

that the fun stopped.

I heard the words 'avalanche' and it
just chilled my spine.

Sam's first reaction was to grab the
nearest tree.

The thinking was that the avalanche
would hit me

and that the snow would rush past
me,

the worst case scenario, I'd be
partially buried,

but I'd be against this tree.

But Sam hadn't reckoned with the
incredible power of the avalanche.

I could feel it vibrate under my
skis.

It looked like something reaching
out to grab me.

And the energy of it, you know, it
was alive.

I mean, it wasn't just on the
ground, it was in the trees,

it was in the air, as if you're in
the most horrendous blizzard

you've ever been in.

And then suddenly this force out of
a cloud of darkness hit me.

It shattered Sam's leg and threw him
down the mountain.

Blake had disappeared.

His friends began a desperate search
for him.

As they started to kick around the
avalanche debris,

they saw a corner of his backpack.

And they rolled him out

and I remember sitting up on the
slope 50 yards away

and my thought of just, 'Yes!'

You know, I could see it all
happening

and I could see Blake roll out

and I was waiting for my best friend
to stand up.

And, um... 40 minutes went by and he
never did.

Um...

Blake was dead and Sam badly injured.

It took two full days to get him to
the nearest hospital.

Sam was lucky to survive,

but he lost his friend and his leg.

It changed my life.

It changed the life of not just
myself,

it changed the life of families, it
changed the life

of the four other guys that had to
wrestle with it.

And it was... it went from best
turns of the year

to the most devastating moment
that we'll all experience.

*

*

Avalanches happen without warning.

Research shows that most are
triggered on slopes

with a 35- to 45-degree angle.

Even then, some slopes are more
likely to slide than others.

When snow falls, it lies like a
blanket

and each new snowfall adds a new
layer.

These layers don't always bind
together

and that creates the perfect
conditions for an avalanche.

The problem is it's impossible to
tell just by looking at a slope

if you're in danger or not.

The warning signs are hidden deep in
the snow.

Ron Johnson is an avalanche
forecaster in Montana.

He looks for the crucial indicators
in the different layers of snow.

Basically, I'm looking for two
layers.

A slab, a cohesive mass of snow

and a weak layer underneath that
slab,

cos that's the components for a slab
avalanche.

Changing temperatures, wind and
sunlight

can all create weak layers in the
snow.

This surface, because it's a warm,
sunny day, is already wet.

So tonight, if it clears off and
gets cold,

this'll be an ice crust tomorrow.

That's the reason these layers are
formed.

Same process - wet during the day,
cold at night.

These layers can and do slide on top
of each other.

Here the weak, underlying layer has
fractured

and the top layer has broken away,

sending thousands of tons of snow
roaring down the mountain.

An avalanche of this size can wipe
out everything in its path.

The worst avalanche disaster in US
history

was in 1910 in the Cascade Mountains
of Washington State.

On the 23rd of February,

during one of the harshest winters on
record,

a passenger train was making its way
through Stevens Pass.

(TRAIN WHISTLE BLOWS)

The train steamed through the Cascade
Tunnel,

but on the other side, heavy snow
forced it to stop

at the small town of Wellington...

...the Great Northern Railway Station
high in the mountains.

(BELL RINGS)

A second train carrying mail was also
trapped by the snow.

The town was too small to accommodate
the stranded passengers and crew,

so they were all forced to sleep on
the train.

Four days later, the crowded trains
were still stranded

when the weather changed from snow to
violent thunderstorms.

(THUNDER CRASHES)

Warm wind and rain began to
destabilise the snow on the mountain

high above the trains.

On the sixth night, disaster struck.

A 4.5m high wall of snow swept down
the mountain.

The sleeping passengers and crew in
the trains never stood a chance.

(PERSON SCREAMS)

(MORE PEOPLE SCREAM)

96 people were killed, including
eight children.

There were only 23 survivors.

The search for bodies was quickly
called off

because of the deep snow.

The last few were not recovered until
five months later.

This is the site of Wellington today.

In 1910, the town was renamed Tye

because of the unpleasant
associations of the old name,

but it was soon abandoned and
eventually burned down.

After the avalanche disaster,

the Great Northern Railroad began
construction

of concrete snow sheds to protect the
trains.

Today, 100 years later,

we understand much more clearly

how an avalanche of snow can be so
destructive.

European scientists

at the Swiss Institute For Snow And
Avalanche Research

have been calculating the enormous
internal forces of an avalanche.

There have only been a few research
groups

which have been able to look inside
an avalanche

and see what the internal velocities
are and what the pressures are.

Perry Bartelt and his colleagues

set up monitoring instruments on a
slope

to measure the amount of snow an
avalanche collects

as it moves downhill.

Avalanches need food to grow

and that food they find on the
slope in existing snow cover.

So as they move downwards, they
continually eat that snow

and they gain, then energy
and then velocity.

The scientists calculate that when a
human is hit by an avalanche,

the force is the same as being struck
by 100 compact cars.

To carry out their research,

the team triggers avalanches in the
safety of a reinforced bunker

on the far side of the valley.

In 1999, they inadvertently set off
their biggest avalanche ever.

At first, the scientists were
excited.

But then excitement turned to alarm.

The avalanche didn't stop.

It kept on coming towards the bunker.

Inside, the scientists could feel the
air being pushed ahead of the snow.

The approaching shock wave threatened
to burst their eardrums.

The bunker was buried under 4.5m of
snow.

But the reinforced building protected
everyone inside.

They did still have to dig themselves
out.

Tempting fate is a risky business,

as this TV reporter in New Zealand is
about to find out.

Vicious weather, extremely hard
rock - I'll start again.

Vicious weather, extremely hard rock

and avalanches all contributed to
making the tunnel

through these mountains New
Zealand's longest road tunnel,

not in length, but in terms of time
taken to build it.

Vicious weather, extremely hard rock
and avalanches all contributed

to making the tunnel through these
mountains

New Zealand's longest road tunnel,

not in length, but in times of
term...

Vicious weather, extremely hard rock
and avalanches

all contributed to making the tunnel
through these mountains

New Zealand's longest road tunnel,
not in terms of length,

but in terms of time taken to build
it.

These men were lucky.

Getting swept away in an avalanche is
an easy way to die.

Here in the Canadian Rockies,

Hale and the Kicking Horse Mountain
Safety Team

are preparing a graphic demonstration

of what happens to the human body
when it's hit by a big one.

The purpose of the exercise is to
simulate

a real-life avalanche rescue
scenario.

To do this, they use two lifelike
dummies,

which are accurate replicas of the
human body.

Each dummy weighs the same as an
average man.

To add realism, they're given
snowboards.

Good to go.

Using high explosives, the team
triggers an avalanche.

The dummies are right in the way of
hundreds of tons of snow

travelling at over 160km/h.

As soon as it stops,

the snow sets like concrete around
anyone who's been buried.

That's why it's often impossible for
victims to dig themselves out,

so survivors of an avalanche have to
move fast to reach their friends.

It takes only minutes for them to
suffocate.

If you cannot conduct a self-rescue
within your group,

the chances of survival are really
slim.

Today, the Kicking Horse team
practises procedures

for one survivor and one fatality.

At this point, we've located two
subjects.

One is breathing and conscious, the
second, no resps.

EMS has been activated and
the helicopter is on its way.

It's clear that if these rescue
dummies had been humans,

the odds of either of them surviving
would have been almost zero.

It's taken our team about five
minutes

to excavate the bodies.

And as you can see behind us,

they're quite contorted and banged
up.

If this had been a real situation,

we would be lucky to find either of
these individuals alive.

Skiers and snowboarders aren't the
only ones who get into trouble.

When snowmobilers climb mountains,
they risk their lives.

*

*

The majority of avalanche victims
are snowmobilers.

They like to see who can ride

their machines the highest up a
steep slope.

It's called high-marking.

The weight of a 300kg snowmobile and
its rider

powering across the snow can easily
set off an avalanche.

Snowmobiler Kemp O'Neill was
high-marking with friends

when an avalanche hit him.

There were signs that day that we
chose not to pay attention to

and it was snowing hard when we
went,

which is not a good sign.

Kemp ignored the signs and that
nearly cost him his life.

The mountain above me broke loose.

I heard it snap, I glanced over my
shoulder

and my first thought was, 'You're
screwed.'

When it hit me, it was like having a
bus parked on top of you.

I slid about 600 yards down the
mountain

and I never saw anything but snow
all the way down.

When the avalanche finally stopped,
Kemp was completely buried.

I never knew anything so white could
be so black.

It's pitch-black dark when you're
3ft under.

(PANTS)

There's no light.

No oxygen, no light.

It is just, it's quiet.

With the snow packed in around him,
he began to suffocate slowly.

So I had the snow right, flat on my
face

and the first few breaths, you're
breathing snow in

and then what happens is the snow
will actually create an ice shield

from the heat of your breath,

which chokes the oxygen off from
you.

Using a snow probe,

Kemp's friends frantically searched
for him.

They actually found my face first,
which is the luck of the draw.

If they'd found his feet first,

he would have been dead before they
got to his face.

It was 15 minutes before they got me
dug out

and I was conscious probably 12, 13
minutes of that.

I was unconscious when they found
me.

And my lips were blue, my face was
blue.

I think I was probably just five
minutes from being dead

when they found me.

Looking back, there were several
dumb things we did

that we should have went and played
someplace else.

If Kemp had checked the avalanche
forecast for that day,

he might well have gone somewhere
else.

Avalanche warnings can save lives.

The Gallatin National Forest
Avalanche Center

is issuing a Backcountry avalanche
warning.

Today, the avalanche danger is high
on all slopes.

Today is not the day to mess about
in the Backcountry.

Natural and human-triggered
avalanches are likely.

Avalanche forecasters combine weather
information

about the present and past to make
accurate predictions.

The key lies buried in the snow

and Ron Johnson knows just how to
find it.

I'm putting my shovel on the top

and I'm just going to be
incrementally increasing the force

on this column.

I'm just going to start out with
taps from my wrist.

We have just a little bit of a
break.

With that break, you want to take a
look at these crystals.

And it's right here that that break
occurred.

And this depth is only about 5cm,

so it's not much of a - it doesn't
pose a hazard today,

but perhaps it poses a hazard if a
predicted storm comes in

and there's enough snow added to
this layer

that perhaps tomorrow this is a
significant weak layer.

With each new snowstorm,

the weak layer gets deeper and
deeper.

This is an avalanche waiting to
happen.

Forecasting is one way to protect
people,

but perhaps the best way is to make
sure

the snow never builds up in the first
place.

It's early morning at Bridger Bowl,
Montana.

The ski patrol is working high on the
peaks

before the holiday skiers arrive.

Their job is to trigger minor
snowslides

so that skiers doesn't.

But this is still a dangerous thing
to do.

The patrol carries explosives in
their backpacks

and targets any dangerous ledges of
snow

which have built up overnight.

A simple fuse gives the crew time to
set the charge

and get out of the way.

More than 100,000 rounds of
explosives

are used in avalanche protection
across America every year.

It's not just skiers who need to be
protected.

Avalanches can block highways,

threaten vehicles and even sweep them
off the road.

For those hard-to-get-at places,

the Bridger Bowl Snow Patrol has
another weapon in its arsenal.

The Patrol Team has borrowed a 75mm
recoilless rifle from the army.

They're going to use this anti-tank
gun

to blast the snow off the mountain.

Rather than target the snow, they
aim for exposed rock.

Vibrations from the impact are enough
to trigger an avalanche.

(WHISTLE BLOWS)

Trains that travel through snowy
mountains

are particularly vulnerable.

Where avalanches are common,

sheds deflect the snow over the top
of the rails.

But it's just not possible to protect
every bit of track with sheds.

In British Columbia, Jim Bay has a
contract

with the Canadian Pacific Railway to
keep avalanches off the tracks.

With his local knowledge and 35 years
of experience in the mountains,

Jim knows exactly which slopes are a
threat.

He also knows the best way to clear
the snow.

Avalanche control is still based
largely on explosives

and, in our case, explosives thrown
from a helicopter.

Lighting dynamite fuses in a
helicopter

is dangerous work.

They get into position right over the
avalanche starting zone.

Leaving a long enough fuse is vital.

Jim looks out for overhanging ridges
of snow known as cornices.

If you can use a relatively small
explosive charge

to drop a large cornice that could
weigh many, many tons,

it forms a very effective triggering
force to that slope.

Despite all his years in the
mountains,

Jim is still fascinated by the sight
of an avalanche.

Avalanches are beautiful natural
events

that are fascinating to watch,

much like when you find yourself
staring at a fire.

It's very difficult to take your
eyes off them

because of the constant motion and
the interplay with light

and the incredible, awesome force
that they can generate.

It's just mesmerising.

But sometimes the snow is a little
too hypnotic.

This professional cameraman was so
focused on filming the avalanche

he didn't realise it was heading
straight for him.

Luckily for him, he escaped with his
life.

To save lives, it's vital to
understand

the underlying cause of an avalanche

and exactly how the dangerous weak
layers form.

In the Swiss Alps at the Institute
For Snow And Avalanche Research,

Martin Hegley is studying how tiny
changes in the microstructure of snow

can have big consequences.

Martin needs to wear a full thermal
bodysuit.

His lab is kept well below freezing

to recreate temperatures found on the
world's highest mountains.

To guarantee consistency in his
experiments,

Martin makes his own snow.

We really imitate the process

that happens up in the clouds up in
the sky.

To copy nature in the lab, steam is
blown over suspended threads.

Because the temperature is well below
freezing,

the steam turns into perfect
snowflakes.

Martin's snowflakes are truly
beautiful under a microscope.

These are the real thing.

And no two are exactly alike.

This freshly created snow

binds together well because the arms
of each flake

interlock in a complex mesh.

But as the temperature varies, the
crystals change shape

and can develop smooth edges which
don't mesh.

It's crystals like these that
create weak layers in the snow.

That's a type of snow that I as a
skier, I don't like

because this will form a layer where
avalanche can then slide,

so these are very dangerous
conditions.

The tiniest changes in the structure
of snow crystals

can have dramatic consequences for
the unsuspecting.

In 1999, a tremendous build-up of
snow in the Alps

caused the worst avalanche disaster
in 40 years.

The small Austrian village of
Galtur

is surrounded by mountains.

The residents thought they were safe.

They'd never been hit by an avalanche
before.

But on the 23rd of February 1999,
all that changed.

170,000 tons of snow broke loose from
the slopes above.

In the village, the first sign of the
approaching danger

was a violent shuddering.

The avalanche reached 300km/h.

On its way down, it doubled in size.

As it hit the village,

it weighed over 300,000 tons.

57 people were buried alive.

Rescuers began to look for survivors.

Over the next 24 hours, they saved
26 people, but 31 died.

Since the disaster, all new buildings
have to be avalanche-proof

and above the village, they've built
avalanche fences for protection.

Defences like these can protect
built-up areas.

But when people venture out on remote
mountain slopes,

they become much more vulnerable.

When an avalanche strikes in
Gallatin County, Montana,

the Search And Rescue Team goes into
action.

Over here!

Today, they're in training

and their challenge is to find two
bodies

that could be buried anywhere in the
snow.

The team has a well-rehearsed routine

to ensure they stand the best chance
of getting a victim out alive.

When you first arrive to the scene,
you go to areas of high probability.

You look for clues - gloves, skis,
mitts -

try to figure out where there's a
good likelihood they'll be.

Using that high probability area,
you do random probes

around clues that might be on the
surface of the snow.

Probe poles allow rescuers to feel
deep beneath the snow's surface,

but it's still like searching for a
needle in a haystack.

A pole can narrowly miss a victim
and the rescuers would move on.

They need more sensitive equipment.

They need Tucker the rescue dog.

*

*

MAN: One patient for transport to
the hospital.

We've got another one that we're not
required to move.

There is no detector more effective
at finding avalanche victims

than the nose of a highly trained
rescue dog.

On this training exercise,

Tucker demonstrates his impressive
skill.

His canine sense of smell

and ability to move quickly in snow

make him a lot better at finding
buried people

than a human with a probe.

The last thing you want to do

is have to probe an entire
slide path.

It's exhausting and it's incredibly
time-consuming.

So our ace in the hole's the dog.

Whenever we have a Backcountry
avalanche,

we try to get a dog and a handler
there as fast as we can.

I think we've got something here.
Can I get some probers, shovellers?

When it comes to finding a victim,
Tucker is fast.

Thatta boy! Good boy! OK, let's
go!

Victim No.1 is just a dummy,

but many real people have reason to
be grateful to Tucker

and rescue dogs like him.

Now the team goes after the second
test victim.

A buried skier stands a much better
chance of being found alive

if they carry a radio transceiver.

This transmits a signal that can be
picked up by rescuers.

(DEVICE BEEPS)

If you're going to be travelling in
any sort of avalanche terrain,

it's imperative that you carry a
avalanche transceiver.

It's important not only you have
one, but your partners have them.

(DEVICE BEEPS)

The team home in on the beacon's
signal

and quickly locate the buried victim.

We've got two signals. Go ahead and
take the...

I got something!

Hi. What's your name? Stewart?

Hi, Stewart.

More shovels are needed to help dig
out the volunteer victim.

Speed is essential.

After 30 minutes, chances of survival
drop to 50%,

40 minutes after being buried,
chances are just 30%.

Survival also depends on how deep a
victim is buried.

Burials less than 3ft,

you have a much greater chance of
survivability.

Anything deeper than 3ft, your odds
go down.

As far as survivability after about
6ft to 8ft,

the chance of survival's very, very,
very, very low.

It's vital to get them off the
mountain as quickly as possible.

We have the patient wrapped up in
the burrito on the sled.

We're ready for transport, so you
can send the helicopter in. Over.

Even after a victim's rescued, they
can die from hypothermia or shock.

The reality is that the power of an
avalanche

is often too much for a skier to
endure

and no amount of technology can save
them.

In January 2008, ski guide Justin
Lozier was skiing and snowboarding

with two friends in the Gore
Mountains of Colorado.

It seemed like an average day,

but it didn't turn out to be like
that.

It was probably the worst day of my
life.

Justin and his friends Jim Muguerza
and Jesse Brigham

were well-trained in avalanche
survival techniques,

but when disaster struck, it caught
them completely off guard.

I ran the line, I got down to the
safe zone, signal,

Jim came down, same line, and then
I signalled again.

Jesse came down and on his second
turn in,

just the whole slope exploded.

I saw it rushing at us and just
started freaking out.

I couldn't believe what was
happening.

I was extremely surprised

by how much energy and how much
force that avalanche had.

When the avalanche stopped, their
friend Jesse was nowhere to be seen.

We pulled out our beacons
immediately, starting searching.

(DEVICE BEEPS)

And then once I got the signal, I
just immediately started digging.

By the, by the time we got there...

...it was already too late.

It was so hard to get him out.

Um, he was literally just,

he was just encased in concrete

and you could barely budge him.

It just took all our strength to
just pull him out.

When we pulled him out, it was...
just horrible.

I think those images will haunt me
for the rest of my life.

Around 200 people are killed by
avalanches every year.

And the number is steadily rising

as more and more skiers, boarders and
snowmobilers

venture into wilderness areas.

Most victims have plenty of mountain
experience,

yet they still get caught by the
unpredictable

and deadly force of an avalanche.

itfc subtitles

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