Like the bass produced by a trunk full of subwoofers. The ground rumbles under my feet, and my ears can't even comprehend the situation. I was peering over the edge of a cornice, atop Whistler Blackcomb, and it should have been my last glimpse of life.

It was my first photoshoot ever, Justin from cross clothing invited me along, put me in a brand new suit, and we had already snapped off some great shots when we began investigating said cornice. Justin and I explored the landing zone, threw snowballs up to mark our sending zone, and positioned the camerawoman. When we were on top of this cornice I really began to tremble, without clicking into my skis, I stepped beyond the marking of our snowballs. As if I had just triggered a boobie trap I looked back at Justin, and he was horrified. The natural noise produced by breaking ice and snow is something you never want to hear, an avalanche is the calmest kind of horrible noises.

I dropped straight down. Probably only 20 feet altogether, I was stuck like glue waste deep in snow and the rest of the cornice tumbled down the steeps directly at the bunny trail filled with skiers below. The giant snowballs came to rest before the open trails below, but within these snowballs were all of my equipment that came down behind me. The photographer was in a safe position to witness the whole ordeal, and it would take the rest of the day to salvage my skis and regain composure.

Lessons learned the hard way could easily be the last lesson learned when in the backcountry. I would like to continue telling my stories in effort of spreading knowledge and love of skiing.

Pics or it didnt happen? Please help me track down this photo! Cross ran the photo in their catalog, and Im tracking down the originals, cash reward!