On January 22nd 2010, Chris Farro went through one of the scariest experiences of his life. He pitched forward off a 35 foot cliff into 8 feet of powder. Normally, the more powder the better when dropping large cliffs; however, this day the powder was so deep, he was instantly buried without air. Matt cook was close by, having dropped the cliff minutes earlier, but to trek up-hill in 8 feet of snow is next to impossible. It was his determination and will power combined with Chris’ smart senses to not panic that may have saved Chris’ life.
Matt was about 50 feet below Chris at impact. It took about 3 minutes for him to get up to Chris. When Chris first hit, only his feet were sticking out of the snow. He wasn’t moving them, trying to stay calm and breathing slowly – he knew we would be there to help him out. When Chris was buried, he took off his glove to try to get snow away from his mouth and dig out. As he did that, more snow fell into his mouth, so he decided to sit and wait. If you’ve ever had your hands out of your gloves for 30 seconds on a chairlift on a cold day, you know Chris’ hand was starting to freeze after a few minutes. As the time went on, Chris started getting tunnel vision, and his brain was trying to turn off. He fought it and tried to stay alert. He couldn’t hear anything from under the snow and didn’t hear Matt yelling to him. Matt was finally able to get close enough to where he could hit Chris’ feet with his ski pole – this was an instant relief for Chris, as he knew it was a matter of seconds before he’d be able to breathe again.
Even being this close to him, Matt started to panic, thinking he couldn’t make it any further. He had hit a wall of snow that was seemingly impassible and any time he tried to get higher, he just sank deeper. He decided to start digging straight into where he was and eventually reached Chris under the snow. He grabbed his hands and dragged him out, cleared the snow from his face and the two finally took a breath of relief. They sat both exhausted beyond belief.
All of us were standing by and knew there was nothing we could do. Matt was the closest and there was no way any of us could make it up to Chris in time. We were lucky and fortunate Matt was in the position that he was and that everyone stayed composed and knew exactly what to do. We learned a lot that day and were thankful for having friends close. Lesson? Don’t ski alone in deep powder – it could cost you your life.
This past weekend a woman named Erica Patterson was found dead by Chair 12 at Mammoth Mountain. She reportedly got stuck in a tree well and possibly died from lack of air. We wish all the best to friends and family. Read up on the safety and dangers of skiing in powder conditions here.
1573 Comments
[..YouTube..] omg that was some real shit. thank god you found him.
[..YouTube..] that must have been so scary for both of you
[..YouTube..] Holy…
[..YouTube..] omfg, glad he was okay.
[..YouTube..] Abe, your videos are always amazing, my friend Boomer and I always keep up on you guys out on the west coast and that video of your friend Chris was scary, but it was good to see he came out OK.
Keep skiin, and filming, I had my gopro with me up at Jay Peak, VT yesterday skiing our own ‘epic’ pow on the east coast with 3+ feet of powder. take care man and keep shreddin
[..YouTube..] my heart is poudning
[..YouTube..] just watching it made my heart pound
[..YouTube..] Props to Matt for getting up there quick and digging him out, I’m glad Chris is ok.
[..YouTube..] Scary shit…unbeliveable…Was he okay?
[..YouTube..] thank god you saved him
but…rip cr johnson???
[..YouTube..] Yeah, Matt grew up in Truckee where CR lived. I work with 4frnt and spent some time with CR this summer. Just wanted to pay my respects to someone who was a huge influence to the sport.
Chris I am so thankful that you are ok!
Matt you are a hero!
It is crazy how much of this was on camera.
[..YouTube..] Wow.. this video sure is amazing.. I’m so glad he is alright. It is always hard to see a fellow rider fall. I hope he is okay! Best of wishes to Chris Farro.
[..YouTube..] Wow.. this video sure is amazing.. I’m so glad he is alright. It is always hard to see a fellow rider fall. I hope he is okay! Best of wishes to Chris Farro.
Why did I not know about this until now.. and it happened weeks ago?
Thank you for posting this Abe, hopefully it opens some eyes to the dangers the mountain possesses and I’m so glad Chris was okay and Matt was there.
and…
Ski In Peace CR
[..YouTube..] omfg , it was lucky to gert him up he can die .
[..YouTube..] holy crap, why didnt you check to see how deep and fresh the snow was before dropping 20 ft into it???
[..YouTube..] Bloody hell, nice work getting to him quick enough.
“I almost started crying…”
?? I would have cried like 5 seconds after
[..YouTube..] we knew, and Matt dropped it right before fine, but Chris pitched forward and didn’t land right.
[..YouTube..] +vibes. Good job working your ass off to save your buddy
[..YouTube..] Why didn’t you just use your transciever to roughly locate his location, the probe his exact location and then made the dig with your shovel?
But I guess that mistakes are only in vain if you don’t learn anything from them, so get that equipment and start training with it before you hit the offpist again.
Had the equipment, just not with you? Bring it with you the next time you even look at a ski slope, it won’t do anything good at home.
[..YouTube..] they were in bounds
[..YouTube..] amazing
[..YouTube..] we knew exactly where he was the entire time.. the only issue was the snow being very tough to hike up because of how deep and soft it was. Your post has little relevance to this situation.
Horrifying!! Glad he is okay with apparently no lingering health issues. Goes without saying he was lucky to have friends near, otherwise the outcome would have been tragic. The lesson emphasized in the narrative to not ski alone in deep powder should also extend to watching out for friends/teammates on ALL trails as well as in the terrain park. We were unfortunately reminded of the risks of skiing when our daughter suffered a concussion in February from a fall presumably in the terrain park.
[..YouTube..] holy shit !!
[..YouTube..] powder is fun right?! but not as fun as it should when this stuff happens
[..YouTube..] intense
Still get chills just thinking about this. Glad that Chris is still around.
[..YouTube..] those are some quality friends…
I hope you never have to experience such a situation again.
[..YouTube..] DId you even watch the movie?
If you did, have you ever been outside? (you know not under that thing called a roof..)
Hiking straight up through deep powd is actually more heavy than walking to the toilet.. It´s probobly one of the heaviest things you can ever do, even if it is only 100 feet.
Through the entire movie you could se AND hear how he was trying to get up to his friend.. You can actually see something sticking out of the snow (4:18) Why would they need their trancievers?
FUCK man
that’s fucking scary as shit. glad you’re still with us
[..YouTube..] I didn’t realise that from watching the movie, I thought you had problems digging him up. I’m sorry.
Though I still hope you were correctly equipped (and if you weren’t I still keep to my previus statement about getting the equipment).
[..YouTube..] I’m not even going to bother answering…
[..YouTube..] Guys this is some heavy footage, I applaud you for showing it because people need to see all sides of this sport to fully appreciate it.
I can’t imagine a more sobering scary experience. Thank god you got him out.
[..YouTube..] Abe, I’m in shock. Chris is one lucky dude. It’s a good thing you had a spotter at the bottom. I watched this last night and I couldn’t even say anything. Thanks for posting such a powerful video. We all ski knowing this could happen, but never think it will.
Getting gear might be a good idea but your fast response and knowledge of your friends was great. Keep ripping and stay safe. All of you guys!
that was super scary to watch. I’m glad everything ended ok.
[..YouTube..] Holy fuck man.. i straight up started crying watching this… I am glad you and your homies are all safe man.
I would ride with you guys any day of the week.
As always thanks for sharing your videos abe you totally inspire me.
[..YouTube..] OMG, that’s the most shocking video of powder skiing i’ve ever seen…
that reminds one thing – no matter how ready you are it’s never safe in mountains…
and it’s great to have a real friend who can do just impossible to save you… and you surely have to be ready to do the same for him…
You guys rock.
Good luck to all of you!
[..YouTube..] wow.
It happens almost every year – someone falls in a massive drift or in 10 feet of powder on some ridge and they are just gone.
[..YouTube..] And just think if you wouldn’t have looked back as quickly – and skied down another 500 feet . . .
[..YouTube..] wow good for you matt….oh and by the way this is your cousin
good for you on saving him. You are always the one to save people in snow!
i cannot imagine how scary that must have been for the guy in the snow and for the guys digging him out.
[..YouTube..] @Kolkritan wow dick, why don’t you watch the video and pay attention to what’s going on before you start dishing out your superior wisdom. These fellas almost lost a friend right in front of them while trying to swim through a sea of fluffy powder and you’re gonna lecture them on gear. Hey Abe, next time make sure you have your scuba flippers, and a snowcat within 50 feet before you even think about heading “offpist again”
Abe was nice about it, but you’re a real dick man. There’s my 2 cents.
[..YouTube..] I can hear your heartbeat on the video. Tense Stuff.
[..YouTube..] that was amazing. i think i would have lost hope a minute in if i was stuck in powder and couldn’t breathe. You inspire me!
[..YouTube..] amazing..
[..YouTube..] @kev01218 And if you would have read through what I answered him, you might have noticed that I explained that I misunderstood the situation from the vid, and also that I apologised for having posted something that (quoted #abekislevitz) “had little relevance to the situation”. Don’t know about you, but at least I think it’s enough to apologise for misunderstanding a situation where no one got hurt and where misunderstandings probably are quite common. There you have my 2 corresponding cents.
[..YouTube..] hardcore – thanks for posting this. soft and sultry on top…
[..YouTube..] dude respect to skiers who take care of there homies