I Was Caught in an Avalanche! - Walk the Walk Stories ep.1 - Jacob Wester 

I appreciate this video and your introspection. My one point of feedback would be to try and be consistent and accurate with the language you use and encourage your partners to do the same - this informs and educates everyone, whether they're your best friend, your global youtube audience, or a stranger you meet on the local ski hill. You didn't "crash" or get caught in a "sluff" - you were caught and carried, unintentionally, in a slab avalanche through a wicked terrain trap. Being consistent and accurate with your communication helps us all navigate this wicked learning environment - whether you are in your back yard, in Chamonix or Canada. It might sound nit-picky, but this stuff really matters. Skiing and avalanches are the same worldwide - a universal language is a good thing!

Sjukt bra film. Så himla spännande att få höra allt resonemang och bra förmedling av era känslor från de olika ställena och situationerna utöver själva åkningen.

Chur Bro! Great short movie and debrief story, living outside the lore requires a large amount of honesty, and as you put so well, the detail...

This is a really disappointing video. I'm sure you're fun to ski with, as well as a fun loving-good person, and I understand what it's like to have a life dedicated to skiing coupled with a lassiez-faire risk tolerance, so hopefully you don't take this the wrong way. The whole way you are approaching avalanche safety is (probably) not sustainable and it's not a good message to send to the general public of non-professional skiers. I support you taking whatever risks you want, as I would be a hypocrite to condemn others for a high risk tolerance, but this video feels weird in the sense that you're trying to paint a picture of what you learned, without even the slightest dash of humility for the larger picture. You're approaching avalanches from a very egocentric position as though you're always in control and able to change the outcome simply by your actions. At no point do you discuss the most important technique in avalanche safety: avoidance. Mountains/avalanches are much bigger than our actions, and to try to operate in the nuance of skiing in this way is sure to fail at some point, as it luckily did without consequence on this avalanche. There are so many red flags in this video, many of them human factors like expert halos and heuristic traps, but many quite obvious objective ones in the line selection next to new/old crowns, textured wind loaded terrain, etc. I wish you many pow days ahead, and I don't prescribe that a 30 minute video is enough to truly know anyone's character or entire approach to decision making in regards to risk assessment. However, you're not stacking the odds in your favor for the long term with the style of risk assessment displayed in this video.

Risk is a calculation. Risk is different to different people. It’s incredible I love the way you bring up jaws, because jaw’s is an avalanche of water that people surf everyday but people don’t judge.

Really great video Jacob!

Glad to see Renegades flying in this perfect snow :)

This must have been a life changing experience.

You have to risk it to get the biscuit. Being a skydiver, motocross rider and pilot it only gets fun when there’s risk.

Currently 14 minutes into the video and thought i'll bring in my thoughts on the whole avalanche topic with some background of how i come to my point of view on this topic: I started to watch skiing and snowboarding videos in mid 2000s, probably age 10 - 12 at this point. Early days of youtube where you can find illegal copies of Warren Miller or MSP films etc. and downloading others with Limewire (wasn't always a ski movie that ended up on my parents harddrive... no further comment on that ^^). Definitely watched Seven Sunny Days this way etc. Around this time also switched to snowboarding watching the Nitro team movies (that part of Eero Ettala in "Too Fast To Live, Too Young To Die" is still one of my favourites), the Eurogap movies (hard to beat a Halldor and Eiki Helgason street part) and first snowboard DVDs with multiple Absinthe Films (the Japan part with Eero Ettala and Nicolas Müller in Neverland is still popping up in my mind from time to time). In all those movies, there are always avalanches. Wether you watch a part of Eric Hjorleifson, Sverre Liliequist or Henrik Windstedt. Just watched Cody Townsends Mashup for Powder Magazine from "Days of My Youth" (already 9 years ago...) to check if also there is an avalanche - and yes, there is a brief shot of him riding out with amounts of snow coming down in the background where i would doubt that it's "only sluff". What all those people, you included, have in common: you're riding much gnarlier shit than i would dare to even ride up to. I go touring myself aswell since my snowboarding days (back on skis since 6 - 8 years now). I also released a small slide back then in Engelberg in the last coulouir riding down from Jochstock towards Trübsee before traversing to the chair lift (as a Swede i guess you're familiar with the area :-P ). Was a warm day before and got slushy nearly all the way up to Jochstock. Froze again in the evening and dumped ~40cm of fresh snow during the night. We were one of the first few tracks through there. Because i wasn't used to riding couloirs of some sorts and made some harder speed checks and nearly crashed (already back then was ~100kg), what probably was enough for it to start sliding. Was only a small slide, but combined with the youth naivity of not having avy gear it was enough to give me a good scare. Nowadays, I still prefer powder and fresh snow. But i do regular avy courses, had 3 weeks of winter mountain training in Andermatt with the Swiss army including avalanche exercises with multiple people caught etc. and generally plan defensive if i am the most educated on avalanches in the group. When i go touring by myself, i only take routes that are done by many people and therefor can be sure that there are other people around (e.g. from Flumserberg to Wissmeilen) . On avy risk up to level 2 ("mässig" in Switzerland), I will go up to 30-35° in sections. If it's level 3 (erheblich), or better "3-" instead of "3+" as they do it now, I will only go on routes below 30° on my own. Based on my experience, the problem often is, that the best conditions for how it skis and how it looks on camera mostly don't coexist with good avalanche conditions. More often than not it's either feeling great to ski and great powder or good, stable avalanche conditions. Thinking back, it also feels like there haven't been as many constantly cold winters in the alps in last few years as earlier. This leads to that cycle of snow on warm ground - warm period - freezing, snow on frozen layer - warm period - freezing, snow on frozen layer etc. Therefor you rarely end up with relatively good stable conditions while having decent snow. So, now based on this, looking at the pro skiers role: you have a job to do, that is creating content people will like and engage with to ultimately sell skis, boots, clothing and other gear. One of the big parts of that is creating ski movies. To have shots that make the cut (predominantly in "traditional" ski movies like from e.g. TGR or MSP) they need to stand out between all the shots of other athletes or other people creating videos on youtube. How do you do that...? Well, either they have stunning light (thinking of e.g. the classic Hemsedal spring sessions or the one Faction did in Leysin for their "Faction Collective" movie), great tricks that stand out (the Helgasons, Jesper Tjäder, or Henrik Harlaut etc.) or gnarly lines and gaps (Chad's Gap probably being the ultimate one in this section with Tanner Hall and Candide Thovex or that couloir of Cody Townsend in "Days of my youth" that even made it to some Swiss online media at the time). Following those points, the ultimate stand out shot would be a gnarly line with innovative tricks and beautiful light - i can't think of any shot like this. So, to conclude it before writing a book: it's risk of the job. I think there is no point in not showing that this is just reality in a job like this, that you can't always just wait for the perfect conditions. Don't know how it works with other productions, but I guess there will be some sort of deadline until when they need the shots and might have a couple trips with the whole crew to some area. But the rest is probably just. "we need footage for a 3 min edit, no shots that are previously used for adds for sponsors" and the sponsors need shots aswell for product videos etc. In the end you have to minimise risk within those guidlines. Therefor sometimes the best option is to go for minigolf lines with a good crew, take the risk that there might be some shovels needed, but organise the session accordingly. And to be honest, as a viewer, I like a clip of a pillow line where the pillow collapses or a spine where the snow slides past and the rider skiing the spine until the avalanche is gone. And that shot of Lars skiing out after the drop was bonkers - no idea how he did that! Now i need to watch the remaining 16 minutes... Edit after finishing the video and scrolling through some comments on this video: I wouldn't be able to ski the top part of the line anywhere close to what you've showed (that was gorgeous skiing!), but I would have probably ended up in the same situation. The spot where you break is, based on the shape of the terrain, the logical spot to break. The cliffs on the riders left don't seem to be very rideable (or maybe there is a line or two that work, but not after already skiing 700 m and needing to remember the exact entrance to that line). The only other option would be to stay on that nose and basically go along the fall line. But in the end, I can completely understand how you came to the decision of skiing into this snow field. It's just the risk of being in the mountains and skiing in the backcountry. And the current weather in Tirol just showed that skiing the slopes isn't always save of avys either, where the complete slope came down because it got too warm and completely soaked to the ground. It's really in the detail in this case and not some huge fuck-up that should be obvious... So, knock on wood - nobody got hurt. Good reminder of how small decisions can impact a situation and how easy small snowfields between some bushes can slide. Very glad it was "only a slap on the knuckles" by mother nature in this case. Or one might call it "a friendly reminder"... ^^ Looking forward to more awesome skiing!

Great that you talk about it :)

things of the mountains ! hope you good ! njoylife

29:19 Don't Eat the Yellow Snow

Not sure who this guy is, but a little bit of humility would probably make him an even better skier 😂

To get the girlfriend commentary really makes this channel uniq, more personal and feels more real. More of that please! thanks for the learning experiance as well

The piss spots before they drop at like 29:00 lmao must have been a scenic piss

Look out for the detail…. When the snow condition change was recognised what was he meant to do? Stop… traverse across away from location??? Isn’t it to late by that point. Slufff could take you out if your not bias to left or right.

Thanks for sharing! Considering the huge lines you skied easy to see how you can overlook the wind effect on a runout. But a good lesson, especially with the exposure below. Do you tour with an airbag?

Super sick. Really love the break down of your thoughts ahead of these lines! But im curious about what you mean by "no indication of any avy risk" in Sunnmøre at 15:30 ish. I was there myself at that time drooling on different lines, but didnt dare to go because of grade 3 and later grade 4 avalanche danger, and lots of reports of persistant weak layer after many nights of ice cold clear skies ahead of the snowfall. So i just sticked to minigolf terrain those weeks since i was mostly alone and didnt want to die haha. The snow was unbelievable those days! Did u guys test the snowpack and found no weak layers in those faces you guys skied in Sunnmøre or did you find instability, but concluded that the consequences were so low that it was acceptable? :)

Cool video! never mind the haters, you’re not saying everyone should live like you, and I think explaining and taking lessons from what happened and sharing that is super valuable. Totally unrelated questions, what Radio do you use? Doesn’t look like the classical BCA? Also what are your shoes? Cheers

Close to landing on a rock? Is it just the angle?

Surprised your still alive!

Interesting and good movie, Jakob and Sofia. One question, aren't you using an avalanche backpack? Or did you just not get around to inflating it? It would be interesting to hear your opinion on avalanche backpacks if you have one. :)

The lesson that you should take is, that you‘re actively ignoring avy-risk-science and that riding with that kind of risk is on the deadly edge. I think you‘re addicted by the rush and the kick. It‘s still your decision, but you have to clearify under every video, that you‘re willing to risk your life for the rush and the shot.

Whats shown on this video goes against all basic avalanche security notions and guidelines. Everybody is free to do what they want but if you are a public characther with a big fanbase there is some responsibility coming along with it. Comparing this tipe of risk to surfing is not accurate, since very very few people with low skills would ever go int 15 ft surf, because theid got scared right from the beach. Avalanches are a different thing since many intermediate to advance skiers could get away skiing slopes that could kill the should an avalanche trigger. The problem with avalanche risk is that it is way more deceiving than others, and I think we should help people understand this.

🙏

Ya well. Opinions r like assholes. Im sure ya heard that before, but definatley got a bit lucky rifling through those trees. Moderate or more, and jumpin onto a unsupported convexity. Hmm. Kinda askim for it. But all in all, facts were, isolated slabs, 20 cm ish depth. With clean aproned runouts, skitheshitouttavit as was dun, . Deep instab, or strainer runout, whole nuther ball game. Gotta remember thogh, most people think any moving sno is an avie. Even just sluff, so no point engaging in big debates with every Tom, Dick n Harry. Great day. Knees r intact. Giddyup

Your ego is bigger than all those faces combined lmfao

Avalanches do not care about your skill level. Bad video.

They'll say, " atleast he died doing what he loved" what a narcissistic...

Always scary to see someone get dragged down by avalanche. But from my point of view there's nothing wrong with sharing skiing of a touchy terrain. I think that with each video like that people car learn a little bit more and it gives them a little bit of insight of where and how a slab can be triggered. For example here in Iceland we don't really have any tree lines but still we almost always find a safe terrain to ride even with weak layers present. Definitely more mellow that what you guys shredded but this just comes down to everyones preference, terrain knowledge, skill and risk tolerance. Great video dude.

Great video! Thank you for explaining all of your considerations on the way down all these faces. Really shows that you need to be aware of the small details of your line choice.

Thank you for still being out there 15 and somewhat years later. Everybody who´s 30 - 40 ish y.o and grew up with the freeskiing scene back then knows the value. Many got out of the lime light, some are no longer with us. Many people around the globe started to get into freeskiing because of you. Stay safe & healthy!!

So the lesson is to just go fast and point downhill? You make it sound like its a skill issue for everyone else and posting the clips helps alert everyone to the conditions. This whole video seems like justifying bad decisions, while posting nice clips of "planned avalanche lines". Glad you are okay

Wow, that was edge-ie just to watch! Sofia is a true gem, amazing inner strength. Thank you for sharing the complicated thought process and details of your adventures. Stay ahead of that devil, hopefully he will always flame out. Your mountains look AMAZING. Mad skills from your entire team. 🔥👍 cute puppy too!

I do feel you’re glamorizing avalanches to a degree. But you don’t seem to really deny that. The footage is very impressive and I think people like you that push these limits and document it well could push snow science forward. Do you think “surviving” will continue to push your risk tolerance? Ever see you feeling that your luck has run out and dialing it back? If you do it long enough you’ll eventually have a life altering or ending event, which you seem fine with.

So glad you’re ok! Thank you for sharing! Very educational. You are exactly right imho I can learn a lot a lot from viewing you local experts ski these conditions and listen to your your viewpoint of the different options and risk evaluations and risk management. ❤🙏Enjoy and take care! 😊 What’s that local yellow stain in the snow one minute from the finish?😅😅

In my opinion, you make your own choices and decide your risk tolerance. And that’s all. Obviously, you pay your bill if things don’t go as planned, but it’s just a part of the game. Otherwise, don’t you make snow testing or just don’t show them in your videos?.

Everyone should do what he / she thinks is good. But nobody has to be surprised when someone dies in an Avalanche skiing sketchy stuff like this.

I lost a great friend last year in a slide. He was on guided cat trip and the guide took them to part of the mountain that was unsafe. Things can change quickly up there.

bruh, you were pushing your luck glad all is well and lessons are learned curious why do you ride without avalanche backpack?

Great video Jacob! I was wondering what bindings you have mounted on your Rossignols? An if you would recommend pins or not for ski tours with big lines like this on the descent? I am looking to get a new pair of touring skis for big mountain stuff this year. I would also love to see a video of you skiing at la Grave! Best wishes, Ben.

Skipping the avalanche-talk; can we talk about the music at 4:30? Love, love, love it! 💗 What song is it?? Where can I listen?

Life is short, skiing is fun and life giving. But sometimes we make mistakes. So be it. I think it’s worth it. Everyone should listen to your inner voice and pay attention to the details. There are no guarantees.

Close call 🙏🙏 thanx for sharing - great filming and story - as usual 😊

Sjukt bra video! Och viktig. Väldigt fina resonemang. Stort tack! Bravo herr och fru Wester! 👏

Watch out, yellow snow at 29:19 😅

YayYay!

Others will have to live with it. The loss or digging out a dead body. My buddy failed to rescue a stranger from a crevasse. It has never left him. No one is an island....

If it feels sketchy - turn around and go home. Suffocating in an avalanche is not worth it. Also, others will have to dig out your dead, broken skin bag.

You’re a great skier with great content, however, you come across as quite arrogant and you’re friend even more so. I’m glad you survived the avalanche but I wouldn’t have been too bothered if you hadn’t