A dramatic video has captured the moment a pair of snowboarders were rescued by Good Samaritans after an avalanche.
The footage shows professional snowboarder Victor Liebenguth rushing to dig Emma Bodkin out of the snow in Verbier, Switzerland on January 30.
Liebenguth was nearby when he saw the large avalanche strike - burying Emma and another woman - and immediately went to their aid.
“Unfortunately two girls were snowboarding in the middle of the face and the avalanche hit them so hard,” he said.
He and his group of friends were first on the scene and used beacons to find the trapped sports enthusiasts.
"The beacon is a tool that allows you to detect other people wearing a beacon in the same area, but also allows you to be detected in case you’re getting caught under an avalanche,” he explains.
“There’s basically two modes, like, ‘search mode’ and ‘transmission mode’.
"We quickly found the first one, second one was 70m [230 ft] down the face and quickly rescued as well.”
People are required to wear beacons when free-riding, which means skiing or snowboarding on open terrain.
Almost a metre of snow had fallen on “a four-weeks-dry terrain” on the day of the dramatic rescue, leading to the avalanche risk.
Verbier Ski Resort had warned of a "very high avalanche danger", but despite this Liebenguth says there were possibly 10 people riding down the mountain face when it struck.
In the videos, voices can be heard saying in French: “Put your beacons on search mode and start searching for potential other people caught in the avalanche.”
According to Liebenguth, the orange bag which can also be seen is an avalanche airbag Bodkin was likely pulling when she was caught.
In an Instagram post, he warned of the dangers of free-riding without proper equipment and knowledge and says he hopes it urges more people to seek the right training.
The Verbier Ski Resort posted a statement warning that free-riding and skiing “requires strong knowledge of conditions, terrain and great experience in risk assessment".
