Alta, UT – Nearby skiers were shooting video of a skier when she was caught in an avalanche outside of Alta Ski Area in Utah on Monday.

The unidentified skier dropped into a north-facing 40-degree aspect at around 9,200 feet of elevation in Grizzly Gulch, just outside the Alta Ski Area boundary, at about 2:30 p.m. on Monday afternoon when the two foot-deep, 150 foot-wide avalanche broke and enveloped her. Bystanders were filming the skier when the incident occurred, and quickly stopped the cameras and rushed to her rescue.

The victim deployed an avalanche airbag when the slide broke, but she was nevertheless buried under a foot of snow at the bottom of the ravine. Rescuers, including videographer Aaron Rice, used avalanche probes to locate the victim before extricating her in approximately five minutes, according to a report filed with the Utah Avalanche Center. Rescuers speculated that the victim would have been buried far deeper were it not for her airbag.

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