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The old adage, “never ski alone,” took on real meaning this season for pro skier Ahmet Dadali. While on a film trip recently, he attempted a trick off a step down and hit an overhanging tree branch that sent him plummeting into the snow head first. His friends, who were filming, rushed to save him when they heard his calls for help.
“I don’t want to sound overdramatic,” he wrote on Instagram, “but without the homies to help me out of this mess, I may not have made it. We always have avalanche danger on our minds when we approach the backcountry so we tend to forget the many other ways we can find ourselves in a dangerous situation.”
Dadali, who grew up in western New York, was stuck upside down and says he thought he could break through on his own but as he began to struggle beneath the snow, more of the white stuff piled into his mouth. He was also wearing a mouth piece which further complicated matters as he struggled for air. “You’re not supposed to panick,” Dadali said. “But I panicked.” Hard to blame the man.
Editor’s Note: Learn to make smart, safe decisions on your quest for untracked powder in the Essential Guide to Backcountry Basics and Avalanche Awareness with splitboard aficionado Nick Russell and avalanche instructor Sam Thackeray supported by White Claw. The Inertia readers save 10% with code INERTIA10.
