Avalanche

My friend Robert and I were hiking at the end of the day above the Austrian resort of Hochfügen. He decided to call it a day, but I carried on to the top and rode on my own (never a good idea). Halfway down I dropped into a gully, did one turn and realised it wasn't powder, but hard, wind-packed snow.
I skipped out on my heel edge and fell, setting off an avalanche which took the whole gully with it. I remember heading for trees, and managed to grab a trunk for half a second. But the avalanche ripped me off and took me over a cliff, and I landed headfirst in a hole with tons of snow pouring over me.

Thankfully, my board acted like an umbrella, and though I was jammed in, I had a small air pocket. Even more luckily, I could move my left hand a little, which was just near the pocket with my mobile phone in it. Amazingly, I managed to press the green button. The phone rang and I heard Robert's voice. I explained that I was buried, and fast running out of air. He alerted the helicopter rescue.
His sense of direction is terrible though, and when my phone battery died after two hours, I thought I was a goner. But eventually I heard the helicopter. They found me from the transceiver signal and dug me out.
Sascha Hamm, professional British freeride snowboarder
Snow joke: true-life ski stories, The Guardian