An avalanche. Seriously? What is Mather Nature doing to you? Did you piss her off? Absentmindedly toss a piece of trash onto the ground instead of a receptacle?
Are you being punished for something?
These thoughts tumble through your mind much like you just tumbled down a mountain with snow. As soon as you slow to a stop you just lie there, absolutely still. Waiting...
What else was going to happen!
After a few moments the shock dissipates and you mentally run a checklist of your body, starting with your toes, gently wiggling each part to make sure there are no injuries.
You breathe a mental sigh of relief after reaching your head. You are positive you will have bruises and plenty of muscle ache tomorrow, but there is nothing serious. You mentally send out your Thanks. Then brush the snow off your face and climb up on top- luckily you are not buried too deep.
Everyone who is still alive (and my snowbound zombies) survived this.
The avalanche was fresh powder and not terribly severe. Although it sure felt like it as you tumbled down, surrounded by everything white. It felt like forever while you were caught in it's massive power, but in reality it all happened very fast.
Tucking into the fetal position is not the best idea. You are denser than the snow and will sink.
Swimming to stay on top of the snow is the most important thing you can do when caught in an avalanche. You want to do everything you can to try to not be buried under the snow and debris (rocks, branches, whole trees) that is also carried down the mountain. Trying to get to the side and out of the slide is the second most important.
Remember that all avalanches are different. If the physics and momentum prevent you from swimming style movements, violently thrashing your body can help, but the point is to do anything and everything to stay on top of the snow. As you feel it slowing, make bigger thrashing movements, trying to keep track of where up is.
An avalanche basically swallows you into what feels like a tomb of icy concrete. Any movement has to be done while you are in the avalanche.
If you curled into the fetal position and covered your head this was not the best choice, the slide can turn you into a rapidly moving ball of snow , and due to the fact you are three times denser than the snow, it buries you faster than the swimmers. But today you are still alive. This arbitrary avalanche was fairly small, considering, and did not bury you very deep and you were able to dig out quickly.
If you find yourself buried, start digging around your face immediately. You want to give yourself as big an air pocket for breathing as possible. Then spit. Watch where gravity takes it. Then you know which way is up.
And always remain calm. Panic is the number one killer in any survival scenario. If you panic your blood pressure rises and breathing increases- especially bad if you are buried under a mountain of snow with limited oxygen!
If buried, remember the air around you is limited- do not yell for help unless you hear rescue nearby.
As you look around you are surprised that you weren't slammed into a boulder or tree! You do not know where the road is above you, but you do know the cascade took you quite a ways down the mountain.
You realize your backpack is hanging from only one strap- the other was ripped during the fall. And there is a gaping slash through it, which is obviously what is making it lighter.
You take inventory. The clothes you are wearing are unharmed, and your gloves are intact. You have a Bic lighter, two mints, and a multitool knife in your pants pocket. You still have one full steel canister of water, three energy granola bars, a mini bag of doritos, a flaregun with one flare, your gloves, one of the extra gloves you brought for your partner and an extra hat, and a few bandages from the first aid kit and a silver foil-like emergency blanket.
If you were walking toward your roommate you lost your snowshoes in the tumble. If you were waiting for rescue they are still in your truck.
You realize you lost your phone as well. You do some searching but fail to locate anything else.
It will be dark in an hour. What do you do?
Option 1 Make an overnight shelter by digging a snow cave!
Option 2 Use the flare gun! Move away from trees and shoot it straight up. Put your emergency blanket over you and wait for rescue.
Option 3 Climb up the hill, Route 12 is up there somewhere!
I will put the three choices in the comments. Place your choice in the corresponding comment. There is one choice that is best for survival.
In 24 hours I will post the challenge for Day 5 as well as the answer to the correct choice.
Everyone who participates in each day's challenge is a winner! The Grand Prize winner will receive 70% of the prize pool. And all other participants who play every day will receive an equal share of 30% of the liquid SBD Prize Pool, even if you die in the game.