In just two months this winter the Alps experienced one of their most devastating avalanche seasons in 50 years. More than 70 lives were claimed in 60 days. Many of the victims were not alpine skiers but, instead, people cooking dinner, running errands, or asleep in their beds. National Geographic Television presents a new world premiere Special, “Avalanche: the White Death,” premiering on Saturday, May 8, at 8:00 p.m. (ET) on NBC. Peter Coyote narrates this program, which explores and explains the forces behind one of nature’s most awesome disasters: the avalanche.
“Avalanche: the White Death” travels the globe’s snowy peaks to interview avalanche experts, skiers, and climbers to gain understanding into this lethal phenomenon and learn how to survive it. In the first American broadcast of gripping footage, viewers see an avalanche thundering towards veteran mountain climbers in Annapurna, Nepal. Viewers also meet a Yakima, Washington, snowmobiler and hear his account of being buried by an avalanche. They see Japanese scientists recreate an avalanche with millions of Ping Pong balls to learn more about avalanche dynamics. And viewers meet the residents of Juneau, Alaska, who defy nature daily, working and living in a city that lies in the direct path of potential avalanches.
Like the snowflakes that form them, no two avalanches are alike. Slab avalanches are triggered by unstable slabs of snow sliding away from another underlying, thin layer of snow. Such a slab can envelop entire slopes as it hurtles downward, crushing all that lies in its path. Powder avalanches resemble sand rolling down a dune. They are less dense but move even faster than slabs and are often preceded by a deadly shock wave.
Keenly aware of the risks, avalanche experts Doug Fesler and Jill Fredston are wary when they take cinematographer Steve Kroschel out to film the perfect avalanche. However, Fesler believes that such avalanche footage can alert those at risk to the power and danger posed by avalanches. “They’re awesome, terrible things” says Fesler. “They’ll rip you to shreds, they’ll Maytag you, but they’re also beautiful to watch, so delicate and graceful.” Fesler notes that in the Western world, most avalanche victims have placed themselves in harm’s way. Many come from urban areas and see the mountains as a playground, beautiful and benign.
No amount of training can make places in avalanche country entirely safe. “Avalanche: the White Death” highlights some memorable stories.
On March 22, 1962, a fast-moving avalanche raced down Alaska’s Mount Juneau and smashed into the neighborhoods below. Miraculously, no one was hurt. But there was an immediate outcry: How could a residential community have been built in the path of potential avalanches?
A devastating snow slide fell near Niigata, Japan, in 1986. Many homes were engulfed, and nearly 40 people were trapped. Twenty-one lost their lives, making the avalanche one of the most deadly to hit Japan since World War II.
Probably one of the greatest avalanche survival stories is Lester Morlang’s. In November 1986 in Silverton, Colorado, Lester and his friend were buried by an avalanche while trying to build a snow shed beside a mine. Though it is hard to imagine, Lester was lucky—he was warmly dressed, and the snow that swept him off his feet and buried him more than 30 feet (9 meters) deep was packed loosely around him. These two conditions would allow him to survive the intense cold and the arduous dig out of his snow tomb. Encountering blizzard conditions when he surfaced, Lester retreated to wait out the storm. But another avalanche hit, and Lester was buried a second time. Luckily, the snow was again loosely packed around him and he only had three feet (0.9 meters) of snow to dig out of. Meanwhile, rescuers deliberately set off smaller avalanches to clear the slopes for their search. Ironically, these safety measures backfired and Lester was confronted with yet another avalanche. Unbelievably, he survived this third avalanche and was finally spotted and rescued.
In 1988 the Austrian town of St. Anton was devastated when an avalanche destroyed homes that had stood for almost 400 years.
In January 1998 in Yakima, Washington, three snowmobilers were overcome by an avalanche while racing up a mountain. Brian Sali was buried alive, and his friends had no idea where to start searching for him. Brian’s friends thought fast and sawed off a branch and started poking the snow to find him. With only minutes left to live, Brian was found and rescued.
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