BURIED: 2 Snowmobilers and Their Avalanche Survival Story

Avy! Avy! Avy!

Welcome back to another episode of the Sledder Cast podcast. We're still hanging out here in North Branch, Minnesota, at good old Hay Days, and we've got two fellows over here, Jake and Mason. You may not recognize them without a helmet and a snowmobile, but we're going to get to know these guys a little bit better today, and they're going to talk about their avalanche experience. You're probably familiar with it. We'll get into that later.

This was on the Wyoming side. Mason had the GoPro on his helmet, and Jake was the rider who triggered the avalanche. I'm going to try to grab the actual video from you guys so we can overlay portions of it as we're talking about it.

But we're humans. We've got attention spans and they're shrinking daily, big time. So the question I have for you guys is, knowing what the conversation is about today, what are you going to say to that person who right now is just swiping through and catches the first part of this episode? What can you tell that person that's going to get them motivated to watch the entire episode?

I think mostly just the fact that, like I was saying earlier, we're just two regular boys from the Midwest. He moved out west and I still live out here. We go out there like any other normal guy, just riding, and it can happen to anybody. The unexpected can happen very fast, real quick, and the life-threatening experience we went through is kind of interesting for other people to listen to.

Yeah. And we haven't talked about this yet either, so this will be a first time. I saw the video when it posted, but we're going to get to play through this again with you guys. I think the key here is putting ourselves in your shoes, because it really can happen to anyone at any time, fast. Mother Nature does not give a crap how much experience you have.

Like I said, that was the first avalanche I've ever seen, and I was in it. You never know what can happen out there.

So, kick things off here. Who are you guys, what do you do, where do you live, where do you ride?

I'm Mason Zak. I live right here in North Branch, grew up here my whole life. I started going out west a couple years ago and met him out there, and that's how we became friends. I'm a local carpenter, so I work all summer and make enough money to go out and play all winter. Last year I went out for two months. That was the longest I've ever been out there.

And last year was when you showed up on his doorstep.

Yeah, with the topper and the old '73. Put a heater in the back and an air mattress and slept in his driveway all winter.

With Sam's breakfast every day.

Pretty much.

Nice. And Jake?

Yeah, my name is Jake Dahl. I grew up here in Rush City, Minnesota. Me and my girlfriend headed west about five years ago and we've been living there ever since. Living the dream.

Packed up. So was it like, hey, woke up one day and said we're going west? What was it?

Me and some boys went riding out there in early 2019, and I just thought the place was sick. Then that summer, on the Fourth of July, we were just chilling and Sam's uncle was saying, dude, you guys have got to do something. Get out of this place. I've been working here my whole life and I'm sick of it.

That night we started looking up rentals in the area, and we realized pretty quick that Jackson Hole is a pretty expensive place to live.

A little pricey on that side of the mountain.

That's how we stumbled on Star Valley. We found a rental we could afford, and two or three weeks later we went and looked at it. I looked at it on Google Earth and there's a track in the backyard, and I'm like, dude, this is the one. Done deal.

So yeah, I moved out there and have been there ever since. I've got a couple little businesses. I've got a little trash business I take care of in Jackson, and a little landscape business down in Star Valley as well.

Cool. So did Sam ride sleds while you guys were here in Minnesota, or did she pick that up out there?

She kind of picked it up out there. She rode little trail sleds here and there in Minnesota, but she picked it up out there.

Awesome. Well, glad you guys are here, and I'm excited to get into the meat and potatoes of this experience. So let's go back. Who knows when you're listening to this, but this was 2024, earlier this winter. Tee up the time frame, the snow conditions, where we were at, relatively speaking.

It was early to mid January. It was kind of a weird start to the year, really bad. There were just some weird layers, and the snow finally started dumping in the middle of January. That's why we were so gung-ho that day.

It was the best day. Killer day, dude.

Killer day.

We were just ripping through there. We had that 7S screen, and we were literally just following that screen, and I was hot on his tail. It was our best day in the trees all year, so we were on a high for sure. Just ripping.

Did you guys have a destination, or was it just, hey, we're going to hit this zone and play around today?

No destination really. We were just going for a big loop, and we were just about to head back.

And it was you two and Devon? Was anyone else there?

Just the three of us.

Three of you guys. You already said the stoke level was high because you'd been deprived of snow for so long in the season. Was there any thought of avalanche? Walk us through what you'd normally do compared to what was done that day.

It was a pretty normal day. We did our beacon check in the parking lot. We were actually going to start vlogging that day to see how many days we could ride in a row, because they've got their Stoked Out Society thing going on. So we were going to start vlogging for that, kind of for some content, and that was day one.

We set the camera up in the parking lot, talked a little bit to the camera for the first time, and went out ripping just like a normal day. We were taking a lot of videos that day. It went from our best day on the snow to the worst day, real quick.

But we had seen some avalanches, or I did. We were at Sled Fest a week or two before that, and that was my first time seeing any sort of avalanche. I triggered a couple little ones coming up the hill, and they were really small. They didn't run out or anything. It was just a little slab break, and that was my only experience with an avalanche before that.

I'm going back into the memory bank here. That last half of January, it seemed like across the board in that area, Island Park down south to where you guys were, the avy danger was pretty consistently high, just because there was really nothing and then we got some really good snow there for a little bit. What had your avalanche training been before this?

I had taken AIARE a week or two prior, right then. The thing with that was, I'm kind of a hands-on guy. I've got to learn things that way. And with the avy course, everything was in class. The avy danger was high, so they wouldn't even take us into the backcountry and show us anything. I kind of wish I would have seen some of that, but it is what it is.

I had no avy training up to there. I did a couple seminars here in Minnesota, refresher courses, little things, thinking I was doing enough. I wanted to get AIARE 1, and I was looking at classes, but I just couldn't line it up for the time I was out there. Now I'm definitely going to do it.

Oh, for sure. And as far as equipment goes, what were you guys running for avalanche gear?

So here's the thing. When I got caught in that avalanche, I'd been running one of those old ABS bags for the past four years. At Sled Fest I picked up one of the new KLIM bags, and when that avalanche hit me I'm grabbing for the handle, the trigger. On the new KLIM bag the handle switches sides. So I'm grabbing this side, and by the time I realized it, it hit me and there was nothing I could do.

I just had a BCA bag.

Okay. So you had radios, airbag packs, transceiver, probe, shovel?

Yep.

So you had the equipment. And going back, you wish you'd had a little more on-snow training?

Even just experience with the gear. Obviously I didn't know that trigger was like that. And when we took that AIARE course, you learn what that beacon does, what that beeping means, so that was good. But mostly being able to look at a hill and figure out, all right, this is a hill we shouldn't hit because of the slope on it, or maybe the slab on top. That's what I'd like to know a little bit more about, for sure.

Okay, so let's paint a picture here for everyone. We start off from the parking lot in the morning. We're going to do a loop and play around. We're filming day one of a big vlog series, so probably a lot of stop and go, stop and go, film, shoot. What part of the day was this? Obviously it was the last thing you did on the snow, but morning, afternoon, evening when you're packing up?

One more.

One more. Just one more. We stopped, and it was take a right to head out, go up the hill and down to the trail. We were all tired and hungry, and I wanted to do some more reentries. I was trying to learn how to do those, and honestly I was looking for a little steeper hill, not for the consequence. We said let's go hit one more, took a left and went down the creek a little bit, and that was it. Within minutes.

How did you guys hit that? Didn't you hit it a couple times before?

We went up once or twice each, and Jake did a big aired-out reentry. You see in the video the sled kind of kicked out and slammed, and I think that's what initially triggered it.

So you hit it a couple times and come back down. Still in this moment, your mental avalanche radar, was anything beeping at you? Anything going off?

We were being safe throughout the day. There were a couple hills we looked at and said no, we're not going to hit that one. This was towards the end of the day, so I think our judgment was off for sure. Looking back at that hill now, that definitely wasn't a hill we should have been on that day.

Not at all.

But I think we were so mind-blocked because we were ripping through the trees. The stoke was high, so everything was just tunnel vision right there.

You test something, nothing happens, you get a little looser. Maybe you try a little more, you get a little looser.

I think he went a little higher on that one too. I was just about to head up right after him, and that's why I saw it.

Okay, so we're looking at the hillside here. Try to paint a picture of the terrain, the aspect we're looking at.

It wasn't a huge hill. It's kind of a hillside, and there was a little opening where there weren't any trees down at the bottom. The trees just cut off. It came down like this, and there was a creek down here. We came through the trees right here and it opened up. It was steep here and it sloped out, and that's where I was sitting. Jake was going up, and it was just a little opening in the trees.

Being in the trees kind of gave us more confidence. You feel safe in the trees.

Okay. So there are three of you. Position you guys on the mountain right now. We're getting right up to the climb that's going to trigger the avalanche. Where is everyone?

I was up at the top. I lost my sled, so I was walking back up to it. Devon was on the hill, but kind of off to the side, middle of the hill, behind me.

And I was just below you, looking right up at you, and Devon was kind of behind me.

Okay, so Jake, Mason, and then Devon would be over to our left?

Yeah, he was pretty much parallel with me. He was coming down from his hit. I think you can see him come by in the video.

So he's actually facing the other way. He doesn't even know.

I don't even know if he knew Jake was off his snowmobile.

Okay, so that's the setup. Jake goes up and launches the sled.

I remember I was hyped. I was like, dude, that was sick. That was crazy. This is going to be great. Vlog number one.

At what moment, Jake, did you realize this is different?

I had just kind of launched the sled up a little bit, so I started walking back up to it. I was off the sled. It didn't break right away. It broke up top, 100 yards up. So I was walking up, and all of a sudden I hear Mason just screaming on the radio. I'm looking down at my feet, and I hear him scream.

He was on the radio?

On the radio, yeah, saying avy, avy, avy. So I'm walking up and I just see snowballs ripping down, and the only thing I could do was run. So I turned around and started booking it, trying to grab my avy bag. And by that time, obviously the trigger switched sides on my new bag, so I didn't realize it.

By that time you were trying to outrun an avalanche coming at you at 40 miles an hour. Isn't that crazy? That just goes to show, seconds. In that moment, what is going on with your brain? What made you think your only chance was to turn around and run, in snow clothes and boots?

You were booking it, though. You were cooking, dude.

What else do you do? You just run.

Is that on the camera?

Not really. For a split second, I think that's when I said avy and I saw it. I wanted to position myself to run away, so I went to go turn around. For a split second I wasn't looking, and then that's when I panned over the other shoulder.

So if we go back up to where Jake is, a question people might have is, did you run downhill or did you run sideways?

I ran downhill.

So the next question is, in that moment, what made you think to run downhill versus sideways?

I don't know. Just run away. It's coming my way, I'm going to run away from it. Now thinking about it, if it was just shooting down that gully, obviously I probably would have been better off running to the side. But it ripped through all those trees anyway.

When you looked up, could you tell the magnitude of it?

I saw snowballs ripping.

So you didn't know if it was a narrow slide where you could maybe run to the side and get out of it?

I didn't even think about that. It's just the natural instinct. Get the crap out of here.

Okay. What was the sound? Can you remember a sound?

I didn't hear anything.

I didn't hear anything either.

Did you feel anything?

Nothing. Just silent.

Silent, deadly.

The people who actually saved Mason said they heard it, and they were maybe half a mile or three quarters of a mile away. It ripped through the trees. The thing was probably 100 yards wide.

So from the time you heard avy, avy and looked up and saw it with your eyes, how long until the snow was on you?

It was quick, dude. By the time I turned around, I probably made it five steps down the hill and I was out.

And when it first hit you, did it push you forward? Do you remember?

Dude, honestly it just felt like a cloud took me. It wasn't a hard hit or anything. It just kind of swept me away, to be honest.

I'm asking some weird questions, I know, but I'm genuinely curious. Before it hit, were you able to jump up or position yourself?

I was just running away. What I think happened is it swept my legs out from under me, and once it stopped I was sitting like I was in a chair.

So when it hit you, you were going down forward like this? No spinning?

There could have been spinning, because I lost my helmet too. It ripped my helmet off, so I don't know how that happened. But I ended up like that, so I figure it just swept my feet out from under me and carried me down. Honestly, I don't know what happened.

And when everything stopped, what was your situation at that moment?

I had one hand exposed. As soon as it stopped I was like, dude, no way. I just sat there for a second, because I thought there's got to be a second wave coming. I sat there for like five seconds, and then I started digging my face out and screaming.

How far down was your head?

It was probably like six inches under. I was able to dig my face out and just scream. That's all I could do.

Could you see light through the snow, or was it dark?

It was dark.

And you knew your hand was out?

I could feel it. I could move it.

So you knew, okay, I'm near the top. Let me start digging my face out.

Yeah, I dug my face out and started screaming. My buddy Devon came running over and started digging me out, and I was like, dude, we're good, because I watched Mason dart out right away. And then the next thing you know, these three boys come riding up and they start running to the left with their beacons. I was like, oh dude, where's Mason?

Because when you were running down the hill, you saw Mason?

Yeah, I saw him dart out of the woods.

And Devon, was he far enough down or far enough over?

He wasn't far enough over. It ripped through those trees. He went down to that creek bed and came back. He would have gotten hit too if he didn't move.

So was there enough runout before the creek bed for things to die down?

Not really. He had to go basically all the way down to that creek, then he turned around and came back up in there.

So Devon came right back to you?

He went straight to me, because he could hear me screaming.

And you didn't realize Mason was buried until those three boys rolled up?

I thought we were good.

Did those guys just randomly pull up?

We passed them as we were going to that hill.

So they knew where you guys were kind of going. Were they in a position where they could see, or did they just hear something and think, hey, some sleds went over there and that sounded like an avalanche?

They were literally putting their snowmobiles away to leave for the day.

I'm sure you guys have sat down and chatted with them. Share as much as you can of their perspective up to this moment, because I know they played a pretty big role.

There are some local hill climb boys there, and they were practicing hill climb. They were just packing up, and they heard it, and I think they were coming over to check it out and see what was going on.

If we're talking about luck here, they just happened to not be riding their snowmobiles?

Yep. They were just putting their bags together, so they could hear everything. It was like 4:30 at night, the sun's going down, it's time to head out, because we were back there a little bit. So they were about to head out, and they came over.

The training that they had was just perfect. They jumped off their snowmobiles with beacons out, before Jake was even unburied, I think.

How did they zone in on you? Did one guy get a signal?

I don't really know. I think they tracked me from Jake.

Do you remember what the numbers were on that beacon?

I don't remember, no.

Did they all come up to you first, Jake?

Yep. They came running up, saw I was good, and then they started running the other way. That's when they turned it on.

Did they have Devon digging you out by the time they got to you?

Yeah, dude. I talked to Tanner, and he said that when they heard it, they were just getting ready to head out. They heard it rip through the trees, and he's like, dude, everybody get your beacons ready, we're ripping over there. So they came with a plan. They're educated.

I know some of them were in a couple of the stories you shared. Who were they?

There was Tanner Thomas, Braden Dicky and Dante.

All right. So Tanner says pull the beacons out, it could be go time if you need them.

They were ready.

Okay, so let's flip to Mason. Jake's alive, he's screaming. Devon runs up to him, the hill climbers come over as well, and they have a general direction of where you last saw Mason. Mason, now your angle. You're watching Jake go up, he stomps one out, you're pumped, great content, vlog one, day one. And then you see the avalanche wall coming down above Jake. Take us from there.

Seeing Jake go up the hill and do that, I was kind of hyped up. Then I looked up and just saw the snow coming down at Jake, so I was on the radio saying avy, avy. I went around a little bit, just to get myself positioned so I could run out.

Can I pause you real quick? When you're in that moment, is your brain able to decipher big avy, small avy? Or is it just, avy, huge?

I couldn't, just from my brain. I just saw avy, and I was like, holy crap, this is bad. This is going down like something in a video. You never think it'll happen. You see it online or on your phone. I saw that coming down at Jake and I'm like, dude, Jake's done. Avy, avy.

So I'm thinking, all right, get myself positioned, and I wanted to turn around one more time just to see.

Your GoPro's on, though, the whole time.

It was already on before, which is crazy, because all year we had yet to whip out the GoPro, and this was my first day with the GoPro on my helmet. I was randomly turning it on just watching Jake, like, I'm going to go rip one, stomp one out real quick. I turn it on, Jake goes up, and that's when it happened.

So my GoPro's on, and I turn around and pan over one more time just to see Jake, the last time I could see him. My avy training was, if your buddy's getting buried, watch where he is. That's the best thing you can do. So I look back, kind of pinpoint and reference real fast, all right, he's right there. And then I looked and saw it coming through the trees, just like Play-Doh, just peeling through the trees. It took a couple trees down, I think. That's when I tried to hit the throttle, and before I even realized it, it hit me already.

Avy! Avy! Avy! Avy! No, no.

Now, you were telling me before we hit record that this video got shared all over the place, and all different types of people watch this thing. What are some of the common themes you heard from the armchair quarterbacks? Because in your video you hop on and drive forward, and what people are saying is, if the avalanche is coming down, why are you driving towards it?

Mostly it was just people bashing, because it was like, why would you stop and turn around and watch the avalanche come at you? Obviously they weren't there, and maybe a lot of those people don't even know what mountain riding is. And that was just it. I didn't know how fast it was coming at me.

Because you were yelling avy, avy, avy and watching it, and I think that's where people were like, why didn't you just get the crap out of there? But what you're here to say is, I knew Jake was up there and I was trying to watch.

That was the only thing on my mind, just watching him. I wanted to save him. I was like, dude, he's going to get buried, this is bad. And that thing came down way faster than I ever expected. I didn't even know they could go that fast.

So you're on your sled. Share with us what you were doing on the sled the moment the snow hit you.

I had already turned around. The trees kind of came around, and I was in front of some trees, so I thought there was a little protection there. There were trees in front of me too, and then it opens up a little bit to the right. Right as I hit the throttle, the avalanche hit me, same timing, and that catapulted me forward off the snowmobile. It kind of lifted the snowmobile up. The snowmobile was completely upside down when we found it.

That threw me forward, so I went flying with my arms behind me, like a dive. I pretty much dove into the snow forward, and somehow it dragged me around the trees.

When I was watching that the first time, you can't tell how open it is, but you can definitely tell you're in trees. The biggest question I had was, did you pinball off trees? How did you not?

Dude, he got so lucky.

Where I was sitting, there was a tree here and a tree here, and it literally grabbed me and went like that. It doesn't make any sense, but there was a higher power there that day, I think.

So once it sent me face first, I had my hands behind my back, and it just engulfed me. It smacked me so hard.

Did you pull your airbag?

No, I didn't. That was another mistake we made that day. When you see an avalanche, you should pull it right away.

So as soon as you were saying avy, avy, avy, you would have pulled. If you look back, that's what you would have done.

That's definitely what I should have done. Realistically, as hard as that avy hit me, I don't think it would have changed anything for me, just because of the way it swallowed me and sent me head first. I just saw dark right away, and I could feel the snow just going.

Are you downhill on your stomach, face down?

Face down, legs, and my arms stuck completely behind my back.

When we were digging him out, the first thing we see is his BCA bag.

So I was face down.

That's scary.

All I could move was two fingers. I could move my two left fingers, and I could feel it getting tighter. It set up like concrete.

What was the sound like?

I think you can hear me in the video. You can hear my breathing start getting really heavy, and then it just goes.

Refresh me here. Did the video cut out, or did you cut the video?

The video stopped. I was lying there, and by the time I realized what just happened and it all hit me, I hear beep, beep, beep, and I was like, dude, I just videotaped my death. I thought of my parents right away. I literally just videotaped my death. Someone's going to get this camera, someone's going to see it.

I had no hope when I got hit. I was like, Devon's buried, Jake's buried, I'm buried. That's it. This is it.

So from your perspective, it came down through Jake and hit you over there, and there's no one here to get us all.

No.

In the moment, how terrifying is that?

It was the scariest thing in my entire life. I don't wish that on my worst enemy. The way it grabbed me, the darkness, the quietness. I can't even explain it.

Did you try to fight? I think I would get claustrophobic.

I did the quick one too. I tried to move, and I felt how tight it was, and all I could move was my hand. I think what helped me, as bad as it sounds, was not having the hope to be saved. I was like, this is it. So I kind of accepted it immediately, and I just went into a peaceful mindset. I think my breathing started calming down, and it was like I was taking a nap.

If those boys hadn't shown up, I don't know if we would have got him in time.

What was your guys' game plan? You're shook up.

I was ready to go, dude. Once they had those beacons out and they got Mason's signal, I grabbed my stuff and went running over there and started pulling shovels out. It was pretty quick. They hit him with one probe strike, so we just started digging real quick. The training those boys had, everything just came together perfectly.

Was the sled buried as well?

Yeah, we were just able to see the track. That was about it.

So you saw the track, upside down?

No, it was sitting like this. It was buried, buried.

So is that kind of where they started from?

No, you couldn't even see his sled from where we were.

So they had beacons on where Jake was, got a signal, and then just started dialing in that signal. Textbook. One probe strike. Did you feel it?

No. I think at that point, how much time, we're guessing about five to seven minutes.

That's what we estimated.

I'm sure that felt like 30 minutes.

It felt like it. But at that point I can't remember if I passed out or not. In my own head I said my goodbyes, and it got super peaceful. It was so peaceful, I just thought I was taking a nap. I don't remember any of the digging. They said when they got closer to me I had a mouthful of snow, and I was trying my best to scream, but I don't remember any of that. I think I was just about to go, in and out of passing out.

He was barely conscious when we pulled him out. He was just moaning. That was about it.

So you don't feel the probe. You're peacefully passing away, as far as you're concerned.

I said my goodbyes to my family, and I had some core memories come through my head, from being a kid all the way up. Just big ones, like a birthday party at a hotel or something. Just weird memories. I had just gone on a camping trip a couple months before that in Glacier, and a memory of that came through. That's what I really remember.

Wow. That's tough, man.

It is. And the creepiest thing about it is, I've always been super close with my mom. I think I was buried at like 4:30, and my mom called me at like 4:35 and left me a voicemail. She said, honey, what's wrong? Something's wrong, something doesn't feel right. I called her after the avalanche, and she said, I felt something detach from me. And I'm like, I'm pretty sure that's when I was saying goodbye. She knew something was wrong. That's the most bone-chilling part right there. That's the worst part.

Holy smokes, guys. You see the video and you see the magnitude, but you don't feel the magnitude of it. You can kind of put yourself in that situation, but hearing this...

I was actually peaceful, because I knew I tried. My fingers could barely move, and that was it. There was nothing I could do, and I already thought my two buddies were buried.

Then when I finally realized I was getting saved, I think I started freaking out. I was like, dude, who's here right now? Who's saving me? Because they're buried, there's no way. And I remember seeing a green jacket and thinking, no one I know has a green jacket.

What was the first thing you remember hearing?

Not really anything. All I remember is starting to freak out, like, who's saving me, who's saving me? And the second I felt myself able to get up, I jumped up and hugged the dude right in front of me and said, dude, you just saved my life. It was just some random guy I'd never met before. Then I went around and started hugging everybody. There's no way, you guys literally just saved my life.

Actually, I think I remember coming to and saying, where's Jake? Where's Jake? Because that was my last memory. And I saw him, and I remember going up to him.

That was a core hug right there. That brought us closer than we've ever been.

How did Devon handle all this?

He was pretty shaken up.

Did he see you, Mason?

No, no. He was jetting. So when he turned back around, I think he thought Mason was good too.

I think he saw me. He went that way and I went like this, so by the time he was out of the trees I was still there. He thought I was gone too.

You should have been.

In hindsight, I'm no good to him if I'm buried too. It's kind of every man for himself to a certain point. If I had ridden out and been able to turn around and come save you, it would have been a lot different.

Have you talked with Devon much about the experience? Because Jake, you were able to partially unbury yourself, and if those guys weren't there, this would have all fallen on Devon. Now that he knows who was buried and who wasn't, have you had much conversation?

I haven't really talked to him too much, to be honest, just because I don't live out there.

The two weeks after the avalanche, we barely did any riding. I was so shaken up. A couple days later we did ride out to the spot and checked it out, to self-analyze and see what we could do different and try to learn from it. Even getting on the snowmobile again was hard. Just trying to climb a totally safe hill.

I can't imagine the mental games going on.

I'll never look at a hill the same again, ever.

I wanted to go back out there, because I lost my helmet, so I wanted to go probe around for it. I went out there about a month ago on my dirt bike and found it.

You got it? And the GoPro works?

The GoPro works and everything.

No way. So you got the footage from that day?

I didn't have it recording. It was dead. But I was just stoked to get it back.

The best footage from the whole year is from that day. Our best day.

Are you thinking about posting any of that stuff from that day, or is it a little...

A little bit. We both did a post on our Instagrams telling our stories, just to get the awareness out there, even to our close friends who ride with us. It happened to us.

So looking back, perspective has changed. I'm sure we've already talked through this throughout the episode, but if there were one or two things that, if you had done them, the day would have been drastically different?

Not do the one more. I'll never do the one more. That was it. We should have looked at each other and self-analyzed a little better. Hey dude, we're tired, we're hungry, it's time to go back, it's 4:00. But we went for that one more hit.

I have this question here. What role do you think luck played in your survival, versus preparedness?

100%, it was all luck. The luck that those guys were there and had the training.

There's no luck in their training. They had the right training and education, and textbook plays all the way through the board.

And they weren't ripping up the hill on one more run.

There was something that saved us that day, for sure.

I always think about it. Dude, if I had tripped, I would have been 10 feet under.

The hill climb guys took a video of the probe, and a 12-foot probe couldn't even touch the ground in the middle. And where I was, I think the people who went out and did the testing said it was 18 degrees. Realistically it should have run out by then, but I think it had so much momentum coming down that steep hill.

There's kind of a gully there, and that's where it was the deepest, and that's where I was, and I was on top of it.

And how deep were you, Mason?

It was like two or three feet.

So two or three feet down, that way, head first. What were you going to say?

I just want to shout out those boys that saved me again. They sat me down, gave me water, and dug out my snowmobile. They were shoveling like madmen. I couldn't even do anything. I kind of went into shock right after. I remember just sitting there staring off into nothing, and looking over at Jake, and Jake's doing the same thing.

And the ride out was honestly even harder. Jake's riding out with no helmet, we're riding out in the dark, I forgot to put the scratchers down, and the sled got to like 212. Had to shut her down. Then we kind of split up for a second, so that started getting scary.

Didn't have a helmet either.

Guys, it sounds like this moment right here today should have been someone else sitting here on this episode.

I think about that a lot. It definitely slowed me down in life a little bit, just looking at everything I do. I do a lot of adrenaline sports and stuff, so now I've slowed down big time.

I feel like it hit Mason a lot harder than it did me, because he was down there. I had some hope.

Yeah, you had hope. Well, I know it was maybe a week or so after, I reached out to you and said, hey, we do this podcast, if you're open to chat about it we'd love to have you. And you said, I think we just need a little more time. Glad we were able to give it some time and chat about the experience.

There's lots of avalanche safety content out there already, but I think it's good to share and talk about these experiences, because of the frequency of reminding ourselves. You can have a ton of training or a little bit of training, and the mountain doesn't care.

Exactly.

But your preparedness does matter. Ask the three boys who were there, ready. When it was their time to shine, they shined, when it mattered. That's a cool part of the story.

I've even talked to those boys this summer, and they're like, dude, that scared the hell out of me. They didn't even ride for a little while after that either. And I think Dante was kind of new to riding in the mountains, so he was shaken up.

I do remember giving him a hug and kind of panning back, and he was just kind of like, what is going on.

Tanner was definitely the one who held the whole show, for sure. I think his video went the most viral, him probing, or Dicky's. They took a video of the probe and gave some context on it right after.

You guys were saying that with that video, you had some people reach out. We'll lighten things up a little bit. But some of the aftermath: I know you had people reach out wanting rights to the video, and news stations calling. What was the aftermath like?

There were so many people reaching out. ABC started calling me, and I'm like, whatever, I don't really care to do this right now. And then all of a sudden they started calling my parents. I was like, how the hell do you guys even get their phone numbers? It was weird.

Everybody came out of the woodwork, just chasing that next story.

They were mostly reaching out to Mason. There was one lady who did a full interview with us, like 30 minutes on the phone. She was from overseas, and she did her own report on it.

I can't remember what she posted it on, but it's out there. I read it somewhere. And I had some people reach out to me for the rights to the GoPro video. I gave it to them, and I don't know what they ended up doing with it, but I think it went out and did its thing, because it was circulating on all the social media platforms for sure.

You're going to get a check in the mail in like 10 years and be set for life, dude.

They tried paying me. I have three $1,400 PayPal payments right now and I can't get them. They're in euros or something, and it's locked in PayPal. I don't even care at this point. It is what it is. I'm not trying to get paid. Going from, I was dead, a few thousand bucks, you know? I'd just like to get the awareness out there and show people.

For sure. Well, we'll lighten it up even more. We end each episode with the same two questions we ask everyone. What are you guys riding?

I just switched from Ski-Doo and went to Polaris. I got a Polaris 9R.

So you have a 9R coming. And you have a Boost?

'24 Boost.

Okay. So pretend those machines are stock, bone naked. No aftermarket parts on them. You only get three. What are the three you're going to put on there? And wraps don't count.

I'm going to go handlebar setup, and then the suspension, and probably some bumpers.

Bumpers for sure.

I'm a tree magnet, so bumpers are number one on my list. I'll be hitting trees. And I tried his finger throttle, and I think finger throttle is my go-to now.

Okay. You've been converted to the finger.

I like the brake and the finger. It's just a mental thing for me. Boom, boom, boom. And a clutch kit. Those are my three right there.

I like it. Cool. And then the last question. I'm not sure you guys scrolled down this far, but the last question is, what is one thing that none of us know about you? What's an interesting thing that those of us watching this episode don't know about you?

Oh gosh. I don't even know. I stunt ride Harleys. I've got that under my belt.

Starting your own team Harley now?

Me and a couple boys, we all stunt ride. We do wheelies and burnouts on Harley-Davidsons. That's kind of our thing. Little summertime hobby.

What was the question again?

One thing no one knows about you. What's that secret?

Honestly, lately I've been getting into all the conspiracies.

Oh, okay. So what's the craziest conspiracy you're all in on?

Man, there are so many of them. The list goes on. The food system, things like that. The pharmaceutical stuff. I just listen to a lot of podcasts. It gets your brain thinking. There's a lot of stuff in there, and the whole COVID thing kind of brought it out, I think. There are a lot of like-minded people who live by me now, and it's good to have those conversations.

For sure. Cool. Well, Mason, Jake, appreciate you guys so much for coming on here, talking about your avalanche experience and sharing what you learned from it. Hopefully it helps all of us get more training.

For sure. Just think about it more. Plan more ahead.

Be a little more prepared, and encourage others to do the same.

Exactly. Just watch what you're riding. Look at what's above you.

Yep, big one. Duncan Lee was on our podcast last winter, and he shared what he learned from Jeremy Hanke: when you ride in avalanche terrain, always know what's above you, what's below you, and what's going to happen when this breaks. So there we go. All right, we'll let you guys get back to the old Hay Days shenanigans. Thanks for tuning in to another episode of the Sledder Cast podcast.

Thanks, guys.