Watch: Snowboarder Narrowly Escapes Avalanche in Tahoe Backcountry

Tim Humphreys is a professional snowboarder living in the Tahoe and has great experience with the area’s backcountry. But if you ride long enough in the backcountry, you’re bound to have a run in with an avalanche.

Humphreys recently triggered an avalanche in the Tahoe backcountry posted a video of his perspective of the event to his popular Instagram page and you can hear the fear in his voice as the snow begins to fall out from under him.:

Here is a full video of the incident:

View this post on Instagram

Full video from that wind slab #avalanche i triggered a few days ago in the #tahoe #backcountry 🏔 💥 crazy looking back at the footage and seeing how i redirected off the broken block of #snow 🤷🏻‍♂️ the #slab itself wasn’t the largest, but it funneled into an exposed rocky chute and took more snow with it running out a long long way. I already had a few plans for if this happened. Plan A was stay left on the high ground where the top snow had been scoured off. Plan B was if i ended up in the funnel, i would cut way right and out but only after looking up hill and making sure it didn’t propagate outwards. Plan B2 if it was propagating to my right and i ended up low, i’d claw my way left back to the high spot. Plan C was fully give up and try to get swept away. We don’t like plan C. Spend enough time riding stuff like this and something is bound to break off and #avvy eventually. Always make a plan that accounts for the various dangers of small and big slides, plan out ‘safe spots’ along your route, and always try to stay on the high spots so when something does break, you’re at the top of it. Also, read the report from your local avalanche center like @savycenter #sierraavalanchecenter for the #laketahoe area. The cross #loaded slab i #triggered was in the forecast. It was no secret. @gopro #gopro #gopromax #snowboarding @nideckersnowboards #nidecker @flowsnowboardn #flow @nanocraftcbd #nanocraftcbd #cbd @neffheadwear #neff @241collection #bigmountain #snowboarder #goprolife

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Here’s how Humphrey’s described the scary incident:

Full video from that wind slab #avalanche i triggered a few days ago in the #tahoe #backcountry ðŸ” 💥 crazy looking back at the footage and seeing how i redirected off the broken block of #snow ðŸ¤·ðŸ»â€â™‚️ the #slab itself wasn’t the largest, but it funneled into an exposed rocky chute and took more snow with it running out a long long way. I already had a few plans for if this happened. Plan A was stay left on the high ground where the top snow had been scoured off. Plan B was if i ended up in the funnel, i would cut way right and out but only after looking up hill and making sure it didn’t propagate outwards. Plan B2 if it was propagating to my right and i ended up low, i’d claw my way left back to the high spot. Plan C was fully give up and try to get swept away. We don’t like plan C. Spend enough time riding stuff like this and something is bound to break off and #avvy eventually. Always make a plan that accounts for the various dangers of small and big slides, plan out ‘safe spots’ along your route, and always try to stay on the high spots so when something does break, you’re at the top of it. Also, read the report from your local avalanche center like @savycenter #sierraavalanchecenter for the #laketahoe area. The cross #loaded slab i #triggered was in the forecast. It was no secret.

What’s fascinating about his description of the event is how he had three contingency plans going into the drop, and luckily was able to use his first and safest plan when the avalanche was triggered. We’re glad he made it out okay.

By the way, if you’re into snowboarding, check out Humphrey’s Instagram page. This dude is a badass:

View this post on Instagram

Sound on! 🔊 I don’t just blindly roll into high consequence terrain with no plan. Mostly everything I do has some level of knowledge and planning behind it. I scoped this chute at @squawalpine maybe 2 weeks ago, but the snow wasn’t quite good enough. Came back on a big pow day confident there was no rocks underneath in the landing, and already seen the chute from the bottom. I had @yowzzers with me at the top and we talked about it for a few minutes, bounced ideas, and came up with the most reasonable plan. I tossed some snowballs to see what the snow was like in the chute (looked icy) so no surprises there. That told me to take it very slow at the start. I knew the landing was deep pow from seeing another person’s track, and tossing a few more snowballs way down. Basically just looking to see if the snowball sinks in or bounces off and that helps me judge the snow depth. The goal was to snipe the fresh pocket of snow between the rocks and the previous track to the left, so i needed to make sure i set a good line into the air. This type of terrain is really dangerous and can put you in the hospital very easily. Always scope your line heavily, make a plan, and stick to it. Shoutout to @wake_of_the_spud and @nickgeisen for the moral support 🙏🏻 @ikonpass @gopro @nideckersnowboards @flowsnowboardn @neffheadwear @nanocraftcbd @241collection #squawvalley #squaw #ikonpass #nidecker #flow #neff #nanocraftcbd #cbd #snowboarder #gopro #gopromax #chute #tahoe #themoreyouknow #educational #safetyfirst #fullsend #sendit #lookbeforeyouleap #steep

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Keep shredding, Tim!

Active NorCal

Telling the Stories of Northern California

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