Helmet Camera Captures Moment Skier and Dog are Swept Away by Avalanche

Skier Ares Masip and her dog Cim filmed the avalanche on her helmet-mounted camera | Photo via Instagram/ @ares_masip

A skier filmed the terrifying moment she and her dog were swept up in a sudden avalanche in the Pyrenees Mountains of Andorra.

Spanish skier Ares Masip captured the incident on a helmet-mounted camera while skiing on Pic de l’Hortell after a routine descent unexpectedly triggered a slide. The footage shows the snow beneath her breaking apart and carrying both Masip and her dog Cim down the slope.

The avalanche occurred on Thursday in the Pic de l’Hortell area at an elevation of around 7,874 feet (2,400 metres). Masip had been skiing in a location she knew well and had previously checked the local avalanche bulletin, which listed the danger level in that area as low.

As Masip began her descent, the snow started to rumble without warning. Within seconds, she lost her balance and fell as the avalanche broke loose. In the video, she can be heard shouting her dog’s name, “Cim, Cim,” as the slope collapsed beneath her.

Cim was not immediately caught in the slide. Masip attempted to push him away from the danger, but the dog ran towards her instead and was pulled into the moving snow. The footage shows both Masip and Cim being dragged downhill by the flowing debris.

After several dramatic seconds, the avalanche came to a stop. Neither Masip nor her dog was buried. She is seen standing up and brushing snow from her skis, while Cim shakes himself off nearby.

“The mountain was falling apart. It was an avalanche. And for me, that was the worst second of all,” Masip tells the BBC.

“Me and Cim went for a stroll as we do every day. We went to the mountain to ski in an area we are familiar with. We had gone down the same route days before,” she says. “I checked the avalanche danger bulletin, and there was risk 1 [meaning an avalanche was unlikely] in that area. I had seen people going down when we were going up.”

In her interview with the BBC, Masip says the slide began suddenly on her fourth turn going down the mountain, and the avalanche lasted for around 30 seconds before stopping.

“The mountain broke down at my feet, and it was breaking as far as I could see,” she tells the news outlet. “For me, that was the worst second of all, a moment of uncertainty. I didn’t know how serious it was.”

Masip says the incident reinforced that while risks can be reduced in mountain sports, they can never be completely eliminated.

“What I learned that day was something that the ones who do mountain sports always remember, that in the mountains, zero risk doesn’t exist,” she explains. “You need and must do everything that’s possible to reduce the risks, but there are certain things that can’t be controlled and that go beyond what you can do.”