Last Saturday or Sunday you may have caught an AP article about an avy in AK triggered by a skier, who was recovered after 40 minutes (!!!!), transported, treated and released later in the day. Below is a link to a website with photos taken at the time the avalanche was triggered. Phenomenal photos...

Sunburst Avalanche (scroll down for photos)

One reason this guy survived, aside from the quick action of other skiers in the area, is that there were a number of trained Avy searchers and Avy dogs across the highway doing a body recovery of another avy victim from 10 days earlier. They were able to respond with dogs and a helo within minutes after witnessing the avy. I wasn't able to be there, but I know most of the people who were. Despite the extraordinarily high risk, tons of people were still out skiing in the area.

The skier was very very lucky... the liklihood of surviving after 40 minutes buried is quite low. He was apparently blue when he was dug out, but amazingly did not suffer any lasting consequences and was released from the ER the same day. The cat only has 8 more lives.

MNS