The video Forrest Schorderet shared on Instagram is chilling. Carried away by an avalanche, Lake, his brother, almost died. He got out of it thanks to the faultless management of the other three, seasoned in DVA research, but they testify to “make people think”
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Forrest and Lake Schorderet, the two well-known brothers of the pro freeride planet, decided this Saturday, March 20 to take out their skis, and go off-piste to enjoy the great beauty that extends its arms to them in the mountains, in Saint- Luc Chandolin in Valais Switzerland.
With their two friends Per and Fred, whom they know by heart “with whom we have been skiing for 10 years, with whom we did our first Freeride competitions” they have every intention “to make beautiful turns and bring back beautiful images“.
“The weather is fine, the snow is beautiful. We made a few short lines, beautiful photos, the perfect day“says Forrest Schorderet
And then suddenly …
Suddenly the fear, the stress, the euphoria is gone. A big avalanche takes me and my brother Lake
Everything happened in a few minutes, like a tidal wave: “the power of the avalanche takes us down the mountain. Lake was gone, undoubtedly buried within seconds. “
In this screenshot of the video, we see the snow patch suddenly coming off
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© Instagram forrest_schord
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On their helmets, their on-board camera is still recording, and the minutes following the start of the avalanche that they themselves have triggered last … a freezing eternity: through the images, we physically feel, live, the incredible breath of raging powder snow, the thickness of the blinding wave, and the first cries of panic, when they realize that Lake has been washed away, gone, buried somewhere …
If the two brothers and their friends have chosen by mutual agreement broadcast this video on Instagram, “it is especially not, in no case to make buz “ fiercely insists Forrest the elder of the two brothers “but we thought for a long time, and we thought it was important to get the message across, to make all off-piste enthusiasts, pro or not, aware that they must be extremely careful “.
We should have been more careful, we are aware of our mistake and it is important that our example serves others “ insists the freerider.
Miraculous, and still a little stunned by the event, the two brothers agreed to show extracts of their images, and to testify on Swiss television RTS
Lake, 22, was washed away by the avalanche and buried under nearly two meters of snow
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© Instagram forrest_schord
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I find myself completely buried. And all of a sudden, fear takes over. We try to move. We can’t do it. We try to scream, but it’s no use. I told myself that it was over “,
His GoPro continued to turn, and in the images, we perceive, at the same time as him, the lack of oxygen in his straitjacket of snow, the almost complete darkness, and then sounds, calls, “on t love, hold on, here we are Lake, stay calm “perceived as echoes that are difficult to distinguish, then which become more distinct as his rescuers appear, in a ray of light.
Forrest who escaped the casting begins the search with his transceiver and very quickly receives a signal
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© Instagram forrest_schord
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Forrest a posteriori continues his story “Our 2 friends are still upstairs, Per calls for help, Frédo joins me to start the search. We locate my brother after 2min and clear his head after 5min. He is unconscious at first, but he is breathing, he will eventually wake up with a start. The first helicopter arrives after 20 minutes, the second with the doctor 30 minutes later. My brother has nothing, he is fine “.
“We should not have started at the same time two, in this too steep descent, I misjudged the situation
Forrest believes he has “misjudged“the situation, and underestimated the avalanche risk marked by 3, that day.” We shouldn’t have been skiing in this sector, nor going at the same time, it was a big mistake “.
And on his Instagram account, he debriefs:
1)We should never have skied 2 in this face and we should not have jumped this rock
2) We should have made a safety crossing, see if it was stable before setting off.
“We decided to share this testimony while being aware of our mistakes. Its sole purpose is to prevent (…) and to explain the positive and negative points to remember.
Because the positive points in this terrible mishap are far from negligible. “They are miraculous but what saved them was that they were seasoned and well trained in avalanche research, ” said Swiss rescue manager Pascal Gaspoz
“Despite the stress and the fear” writes the freerider, “we managed to organize ourselves well with my friends for the rescue. Soon everyone had a defined task. Per directly called for help, he knows Chando and knew exactly in which sector we were. Then Fred joined me, confirmed to me that the starting signal (60m was good) and then he directly started sounding “.
“We hope it will have an impact on some skier-snowboarders”
“We are aware that we have made mistakes. We wanted to show what we did wrong “, explain Forrest Schorderet. On his instagram account in the comments, many thank the freerisers for sharing this experience, which could have turned into a tragedy. All greet “ the coolness, precision and coordination they have shown “.
“Despite the mistakes you can be proud of your reaction“writes one.”A video that makes you think a lot “ comment another or this comment: “We measure how stressful and emotionally intense a sauveatge can be but that you have to keep calm, and you realize how much you have to be trained, thank you“.
“Regular training and the practice of DVA research in an accident situation is essential,even if sometimes, alas, that is not always enough “ reminded ski patrollers from Val d’Isère, who train regularly at the moment including their avalanche dogs
In the mountains, the season is particularly deadly this year. In Valais alone, eleven people died in avalanches.
Last Tuesday, the former French snowboard champion Julie Pomagalski was swept away by an avalanche in an off-piste area, the canton of Uri. She was 40 years old. Bruno Putelli, a high mountain guide, was also killed there. He had been retired for a year from a first aid post at the CRS Alpes d’Albertville, in Savoie.
