Sorin Radu's GoPro Avalanche Video from Romania's Parâng Mountains

Romanian snowboarder Sorin Radu was riding down a slope in the Parâng Mountains when the slope around him broke away. His GoPro Hero3+ kept recording as the snow cracked into waves, swallowed him and spun him downhill. He came out unhurt, and the clip he posted on 3 February 2015 became one of the most watched avalanche videos of that winter.

Sorin Radu's avalanche in the Parâng Mountains

Radu is a mountain rescue volunteer and snow sports instructor, according to Romania Insider. The Romanian daily Gândul reported that he was descending from Vârful Păpușa when the avalanche released. In the footage, cracks spread across the snow, the surface begins to slide in waves, and within seconds he is buried, tumbled and carried down the slope before the snow comes to rest.

The video, titled "Avalanche filmed GoPro Hero3+ – Snowboarding", was picked up by Mashable, ABC News and Time, and by Romanian outlets via the Mediafax news agency.

The Parâng Mountains and skiing in Romania

The Parâng range rises in the Southern Carpathians, above the mining town of Petroșani in Hunedoara County. Its highest summit, Parângul Mare, reaches 2,519 m, making it one of the highest peaks in Romania, and a long, open alpine ridge runs east from it. The Parâng ski area, reached by chairlift from the edge of Petroșani, makes the range popular with both resort riders and ski tourers looking for untracked snow beyond the pistes.

Romania's high Carpathians get serious avalanches every winter. The national weather agency, Meteo Romania (ANM), publishes avalanche bulletins for the main ranges, and the Salvamont mountain rescue service covers the ski areas.

How slab avalanches catch riders

The cracks in Radu's footage are the signature of a slab avalanche, the type behind most avalanche deaths. A cohesive layer of snow sits on a weaker layer beneath it. When a rider's weight collapses the weak layer, a fracture races across the slope and the whole slab starts to move at once. Most avalanche accidents are triggered by the victims themselves or by someone in their group.

Time decides the outcome once a person is buried. Studies of avalanche victims by the Swiss Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research (SLF) and others show that most people dug out within about 15 minutes survive, but survival drops steeply after that. That is why companions with the right gear matter more than any outside rescue team.

Avalanche safety gear and training

Ride off-piste with partners who each carry a transceiver, a probe and a shovel, and practise using them together:

• Check the bulletin for the range you are visiting, such as Meteo Romania's for the Carpathians or SLF’s avalanche information for the Swiss Alps.
• Ride one at a time on steep slopes, and regroup in safe spots out of the runout.
• Consider an airbag pack, which helps keep a caught rider near the surface.
• Take a course to learn how to read terrain and recognise warning signs such as cracking and collapsing snow.

Our companion article on Radu’s incident looks at the same footage again, and the James Mort avalanche account shows another close call caught on camera.

Related reading

• Avalanche Preparation: Training, Terrain, Equipment and Group Decisions
• Cory Richards on Photography, Survival and Finding a Direction
• Aymar Navarro’s Avalanche Incident in the Spanish Pyrenees

Sources