A group of 10 hikers managed to survive an avalanche in the Tian Shan mountains in Kyrgyzstan. One of the hikers, Harry Shimmin, separated from the group to take pictures from a nearby peak when he heard the sound of deep ice cracking behind him. From his vantage point, he managed to catch the harrowing experience on video.
‘I was bricking it and thought I might die,’ Shimmin posted on social media. The avalanche nearly engulfed him as he took cover behind a rock while filming the spectacle.
‘I’m very aware that I took a big risk. I felt in control, but regardless, when the snow started coming over and it got dark, harder to breathe,’ he added, ‘behind the rock it was like being inside a blizzard. Once it was over the adrenaline rush hit me hard. I was only covered in a small layer of snow, without a scratch.’
Shimmin said that he knew the rest of the group was further away and should be okay. ‘ If we had walked five minutes further on our trek, we would all be dead.’
Watch Shimmin’s narrow escape in the video below.
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