This is the heart-stopping moment a skier glided down ‘Airplane Gully’ on Mount Washington and triggered an avalanche.
Dominic Torro, 30, was skiing on Saturday morning when an avalanche barreled down the mountain and took him with it.
Torro was on the mountain with a friend around 11.35am when the freak accident occurred, the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department said.
His current condition is unknown, but he reportedly suffered a severe lower leg injury.
It was not the first time the backcountry skier visited ‘Airplane Gully’ as he also captured himself skiing down the steep mountain in 2022.
Dominic Torro is seen going down the mountain as a piece of snow started to break off and cause an avalanche that took him down
Torro pictured with his girlfriend, Veronica, in December 2022
In the most recent video, released by the Mount Washington Avalanche Center, Torro is initially seen making his journey down the mountain from a distance before the footage changes to a GoPro shot of the frightening moment.
He begins by pushing himself along the soft white snow with his ski poles as he rounds a slight bend and starts going down.
Within the span of four seconds, a giant chunk of snow begins following him down the slope and he quickly loses control and says ‘Woah!’.
Torro tries to brace himself as he hangs onto the slab of snow as more falls from the side of the mountain and blocks his view.
He then disappears into a white cloud of snow as his speed increases down the hill.
A blurry view of the mountain tops peaks through the camera before Torro makes a hard landing as the video clip ends.
His friend and another skier helped him and called 911. At 3.19pm the National Guard Helicopter crew located the injured man and lowered down a medic to access him. He was then flown to Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon.
‘Concern about specific and needed medical action rose to the level that a joint phone call was made to a highly experienced back country paramedic in order to give medical guidance to the two skiers giving the aid,’ Sgt. Glen Lucas from the fish and game department said.
In the hours the skiers waited for the rescue team, they managed to shovel out an area of snow on the side slope so paramedics would have enough space to rescue Torro.
Torro started his journey as he pushed himself along the soft white snow with his ski poles and rounded a slight bend
Torro was rescued at 3.19pm by the National Guard Helicopter crew that found him and lowered down a medic to access him. He was then flown to Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center
Mount Washington is located in New Hampshire and is the highest peak in the Northeastern United States at 6,288feet tall.
The large mountain is known for its sporadic weather, but the Mount Washington Avalanche Center said that it ‘is currently in a general advisory period’ and is ‘not yet in a daily 5-scale avalanche hazard rating.’
‘No hazard rating does not mean no danger,’ the center added.
The name ‘Airplane Gully’ came from a 1959 airplane crash when three AD-6 Skyraiders departed from Moffett Field on a training flight.
The trio of planes flew up the Yosemite Valley before they climbed to the top of the Tanaya Canyon.
Once they realized they entered a ‘blind canyon’, each plane decided to make a 180-degree left turn.
The pilots of two of the planed completed the turns. But, one pilot struck his right wing on the canyon wall before the plane flew into a steep embankment and exploded.
Torro is an avid skier who frequently posts his adventures on social media
Mount Washington is located in New Hampshire and is the highest peak in the Northeastern United States at 6,288feet tall
Torro’s friend and the other skier who helped him decided to hike out and ski down the mountain on their own after he was rescued
The plane landed at the bottom of the gully, and it wasn’t until 1970 that crews decided to remove the aircraft.
Torro’s friend and the other skier who helped him decided to hike out and ski down the mountain on their own after he was rescued.
Officials said that they made it to their vehicles safely.
Avalanches are thick clouds of snow that race down mountaintops at extremely high speeds and according to the Mount Washington Avalanche Center, an average of 25 people ‘require rescue assistance’ per year.
‘Remember, you control your own level of risk by choosing when, how, and where to travel in the mountains,’ the center added.
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