A chilling video shows a snowmobiler’s point of view as an avalanche buries him in Wyoming.

In the video, which backcountry snowmobiler Jake Dahl posted to Instagram Jan. 24, Dahl and his friends are seen riding around on a hill in Star Valley until one of his companions, Mason Zak, spots the slide. His camera, which seems to be mounted on his helmet, records the entire ordeal.

“Avy!” he shouts toward his friends to warn them as he turns away to escape. “Avy! Avy avy avy avy!”

The snowmobile seems to stall as the person recording turns his head to face it. “No, no,” he mutters as the snow slides down the slope toward him and sucks him under the surface.

The video cuts to pitch-black and everything goes quiet — except for the sound of his breathing.

“Yesterday was one of the scariest days of my life!!” Dahl said in the post. “Avalanches are something I have never witnessed in motion, let alone been in one, you’d never think it will (happen) to you but they can sneak up and they are silent!”

Dahl said he shared the video to raise awareness and “help save lives.”

“It can happen to anyone! It’s best to just be prepared for ‘WHEN,’” he said.

Dahl says he noticed the “massive” avalanche coming toward them and ran for his “avy bag” — which uses an airbag to keep a person close to the surface — but he didn’t reach it in time. He flailed his body in an effort to keep the snow from burying him and ended up about a foot beneath it with one arm exposed, he said.

He dug himself out and screamed for help. A friend who didn’t get caught in the slide dug him out the rest of the way, and they went to find Zak, who was buried.

With help from some fellow snowmobilers, they pinged Zak’s beacon, ripped their shovels out and dug him out from under two to three feet of snow.

“We think he was under for about 7 minutes, he was conscious, just a little confused, but pumped to be alive,” Dahl said.

Another video recorded after the avalanche shows the huge slide and trees it tore down with it.

“Lucky to be alive,” the person recording says, adding that nearly all the snow on the hillside seemed to have broken in the avalanche.

People thanked them for sharing the videos in the comments.

“These experiences will haunt you forever but at least you have some valuable footage to share to others,” someone said. “Good on you guys for being prepared.”

Someone else said the video was “super scary.”

“Being buried is no joke the scariest feeling of my life,” they said.

Another person said the footage of the avalanche sliding toward the camera gave them goosebumps.

“This is a different year for sure!” someone else said.

The scary experience was “a huge eye opener,” Dahl said.

“I’ll never look at terrain the same way!” he said. “I will continue my avalanche education and I highly recommend you do the same if you do anything in the back country!!”

What to know about avalanches

Avalanches happen quickly and catch people by surprise. They can move between 60 and 80 mph and typically happen on slopes of 30-45 degrees, according to experts.

Skiers, snowmobilers and hikers can set off an avalanche when a layer of snow collapses and starts to slide down the slope.

In the U.S., avalanches are most common from December to April, but they can happen at any time if the conditions are right, National Geographic reported.

At least four people in the U.S. have died in avalanches this season as of Jan. 25, according to the Colorado Avalanche Information Center. Thirty people were killed by avalanches in the 2022-2023 avalanche season.

People heading into snow should always check the local avalanche forecast at Avalanche.org, officials with the U.S. Department of Agriculture said, and have an avalanche beacon, probe and shovel ready.

“Emergency services are usually too far away from the scene of an avalanche, and time is important,” Simon Trautman, a national avalanche specialist, said. “A person trapped under the snow may not have more than 20 or 30 minutes. So, in a backcountry scenario, you are your own rescue party.”

If an avalanche breaks out, it’s best to move diagonal to the avalanche to an edge, Trautman said.

“Try to orient your feet downhill so that your lower body, not your head, takes most of the impact,” officials said. “You may also get into a tight ball as another way to protect your head.”

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