Full burial, skier trigger avalanche north side of Independence Lake

I was the third skier on the south facing north side avalanche chute. I triggered the slab avalanche about 40' from the crown line in the shown in the first video. The crown size varied from 10" to 48" and went about 100' wide. The slide went from an elevation of about 8,400' down to 7,400'. The bed layer was glazed ice. We did not dig a pit.

When I triggered the avalanche, I saw cracking everywhere. I tried to ski out at a fast 45 degrees to the left but was immediately buried. I pulled my BCA float bag. I lost one ski and both poles. I was taken from about 70' below the crown line to 100' from the edge of the debris pile, about 1,000 vertical feet. My ski felt like it was pulling me down while my airbag felt like it was pulling me up. I tried swimming to the surface and kept my mouth shut but I was still inhaling snow. Given the fades from light to dark and back again, I had a good idea which way was up. I believed that I was going to downhill head first on my back. My ride took about 30 to 40 seconds. As I felt the avalanche settle, I tried to protect my airway with one arm while sticking the other up to the surface to aid rescuers. My gloved hand almost broke the surface.

My ski buddies were in a safe zone on the skiers left about 200' from the bottom edge of the slide. They performed a beacon search near the bottom of the debris pile but were not far enough down in the debris to get a signal. They were moving too quickly and believed I was upslope. They then hiked up the slope while performing a beacon search. Meanwhile, I began flicking snow with my one free glove. I had been able to create an air pocket with my other hand but was still breathing snow. I sensed lighter snow above me. I kept digging and flicking snow with my free hand. After about 5 minutes I was able to move my digging arm enough to create a tunnel to breath through to the surface. After another 10 minutes of one arm digging I was able to reach my radio tell my friends I was fully buried but had an airway. They had made it about 800' vertical feet up the slide path by then and then began running back down to dig me out. By the time they reached me, I had freed my other arm. My only injuries were some bruising and a small cut. [This person was buried for a total of 45 minutes]

We made many mistakes yesterday. I know I am alive more from luck than anything else.