Dude is super lucky. And rescuer did a great job.
Sims said:
I've been stuck in a strikingly similar fashion with about a foot less depth (also a snowboarder).
Past the panic, the struggle is whatever snow you're able to displace to your side is usually replaced by falling snow. Trying to leverage the tree trunk, usually brings more snow down from the branches.
I was under for a couple minutes and it seemed like hours. I was able to climb the tree to get out. My face was all scraped up because I was using that to brace myself against the tree.
Time is limited. Outside of other trauma or being trapped in such a way that your chest physically can't expand...your breath melts the snow immediately in front of your nose/mouth, which then forms an ice crust at the edge of what melts. Your remaining oxygen is now whatever is in this small pocket. So if you have a free-ish hand or one near your face, you want to make this pocket as big as possible.MAS444 said:
Question for those who know...I'm assuming there is some amount of air you can get down there covered in snow like that? Or no? It's obviously not enough to breathe very long. I'm just curious how he was able to breathe at all. Unless it had just happened.