Amie Engerbretson has skiied since she was 10 months old. At 23, she’s still a skier, but also a model and general women’s snowsports poster girl. With a bunch of sponsorships under her belt (K2 skis, Smith Optics, Marker Bindings to name a few…) she’s enjoying a great career on the snow. But for someone who skis pretty much all Winter every year, accidents are likely…

On the 9th of December 2013, Amie found herself caught in an avalanche that nearly took her life but also acted as a wake up call to better decision making in the mountain.

 

It was a soft slab avalanche that stretched three metres across and down the slope, with Amie inside it. She survived by pulling her avalanche air bag and with the help of her friends and passers by digging her out.

This interactive image shows Amie’s path through the avalanche:

 

 

In the sound clip below, Amie talks about what it was like being buried in avalanche debris for five minutes , and what she thinks of the increasing numbers of people jumping on the back country band wagon.

Below is a short video of the avalanche Amie was involved in. It was taken by  hikers who noticed some avalanche activity in the area that Amie was skiing. They stopped filming to go and help rescue her.

You can read the avalanche report of Amie’s accident here.