Skiing is always a somewhat dangerous sport, but it can become deadly when an avalanche is involved. Three friends decided to go skiing on the Swiss Alps even after a meter of snow had just fallen and the avalanche warning was high.
Finally, the inevitable occurred, and an avalanche covered the skiers with snow. Daniel, who had a helmet camera rolling, was luckily only pushed down by the snow. That was when he and Andrew realized their friend James was missing.
By a stroke of luck, James had raised his hand holding his ski pole up the moment he was smothered by the snow. His friends only found him in time because they saw the tip of the ski pole poking out of the snow.
James wrote about the chilling ordeal here.