january 2006, heather and ben are joining their friend, ben sparling, to help shoot footage in a pristine area of the back country called jones pass. jones pass is kind of the vision of a skier, snowboarder has of big mountain skiing. it involved us just being riders and gist taking our turns and being filmed. i was all for it. the day gets off to a great start. it was beautiful. it was sunny. the day was great. it was great. unbelievable powder turns, fresh snow all day, sunshine, couldn t be any better. but when the time comes for heather to take her turn on the mountain, everything changes. at about 1:00 in the afternoon, heather takes off from the top of the mountain with her husband looking on. suddenly the mountain cracks and there s an explosive sound. i heard the enormous boom immediately and i felt the entire top of that mountain shake. it s a snowboarder s worst fear, an avalanche. i was absolutely terrified.
i scream as loud as i can, avalanche! avalanche! as soon as my board hit the snow, i heard ben yelling avalanche. i knew it was real. you don t yell avalanche unless there s an avalanche coming down. heather quickly turns around and notices the huge tide of snow racing toward her. there was no out. i couldn t go left, i couldn t go right. it just felt like it was coming so fast. heather has only one option. she must outrun the avalanche before it steamrolls over her. go, go, go, go, go! straight, straight, straight! the only thing that i even thought of doing was pointing my board, pointing it straight. and just i was not going to sit down. i was not going to fall. i could hardly see heather at that moment. i was terrified. all i could think was please, please make it, heather. at the bottom of the mountain with his camera trained on heather, ben sparling looks on in horror. when she dropped in and the avalanche triggered, it went from riding as high as you ca
if heather falls, disaster is all but guaranteed. straight, straight! but heather has set her mind on making it down the mountain. i didn t have time to worry. i just knew that the mountain was coming down. you just went into survival mode almost. incredibly heather s able to build up enough speed and get down the hill, leaving the snow mass behind her. i outran this avalanche. and i just remember my friends had their hands in the air and they were hooting and hollering. i just was like i was overwhelmed. i was able to see heather come out of the bottom of the slope. and when i saw she was ahead of the avalanche, i knew she was safe. nice job, nice job.
riders and gist taking our turns and being filmed. i was all for it. the day gets off to a great start. it was beautiful. it was sunny. the day was great. it was great. unbelievable powder turns, fresh snow all day, sunshine, couldn t be any better. but when the time comes for heather to take her turn on the mountain, everything changes. at about 1:00 in the afternoon, heather takes off from the top of the mountain with her husband looking on. suddenly the mountain cracks and there s an explosive sound. i heard the enormous boom immediately and i felt the entire top of that mountain shake. it s a snowboarder s worst fear, an avalanche. i was absolutely terrified. fear had come over my entire body. i had a major adrenaline rush.
earth. who you re going out there with plays a big role. you prepare yourself by wearing beacons, which your friends and family are able to track you out there in case something would happen. january, 2006, heather and ben are joining their friends to help shoot footage in a pristine area of the back country called jones pass. jones pass is kind of the vision of a skier, snowboarder has of big mountain skiing. it involved us just being riders and just taking our turns and being filmed. i was all for it. the day gets off to a great start. it was beautiful, sunny. the day was great. unbelievable powder turns, fresh snow all day, sunshine, couldn t be any better. but when the time comes for heather to take her turn on the mountain, everything changes. at about 1:00 in the afternoon, heather takes the off from the top of the mountain with her