Man vs Snow | 4 Minutes of Terrifying Avalanche Footage

Kevin Fogolin is a man that doesn’t try to avoid avalanches, he hunts for them. “I’ve always loved snow. As far back as I can remember, it’s always been a passion, always something I’ve been stoked on”. Fogolin, who is based out of British Columbia in Canada, is a consultant who’s main job is to protect workers and infrastructure from avalanches. The Salomon Ski Free TV episodes The Controller, shows an excerpt from the Mike Douglas Kickstarter documentary Snowman, which chronicles Fogolin’s life as an avalanche consultant.

“You can study snow all you want, but if you want to understand it, you’ve got to be out there on the mountains”. Fogolin will occasionally ski the mountains to try to get a good feel of the snow and its characteristics. “Sometimes I think my clients think I’m out there just skiing”, he states as the video shows numerous aerial shots of him taking turn after turn spraying the champagne powder up in the mountains of BC, making viewers forget this is not a ski video.

The real excitement starts when the video follows Fogolin and his crew around in the helicopter as they drop explosives trying to create slides as an avalanche prevention measure. What may have been mistaken as a ski video at first, soon becomes apparent this is about avalanches. You’ll be in awe marveling at the destructive power as each avalanche goes down the mountain completely unopposed.

It’s not until later you realize these are the same things we hope to avoid when riding. How can something so deadly be so breathtaking to watch? Before you can answer that question, the screen fades to black and throws everyone off for a loop. Kevin Fogolin, the man that seeks out avalanches to keep people safe from them, found himself caught in one as the video states that in March of 2009, “everything went wrong”. Before the viewer can have time to figure out what happened, a clip shows Fogolin’s helicopter crashing on the side of a mountain.

The full film Snowman will show the full story of Fogolin’s journey from the crash. Film maker Mike Douglas with his company SwitchbackEntertainment started a Kickstarter campaign to get funding for this documentary. There is no doubt that people who watch this 8 minute long excerpt will want to watch the entire film which will be premiering at the Whistler Film Festival on December 7th. For more information on getting tickets click on the link provided.