Thursday, August 2, 2012

MacGyver in Avalanche!

The competition is stiff for the worst-ever representation of an avalanche in popular entertainment.
In particular, I recall the 2002 movie “Trapped: Buried Alive”:


... in which Killington is taken out (or least imperiled by?) an avalanche, or rather the Killington base area serves in part as the stand-in for a supposedly Western ski resort, interspersed with clearly non-Vermont massive alpine terrain threatening from up high.

And of course, many examples of the usual avalanche burials in which the snow is simply brushed aside by the victim.

However, I think this short clip is exemplary for its combination of interspersing obviously incongruent terrain, incorrectly portraying the mechanics of an avalanche burials, deploying a ski pole in a manner that is absolutely impossible, and extricating the victim in a maneuver that would horrify anyone with any first-aid training.

Plus after so much unintentional hilarity, the denouement is wonderfully (and deliberately) hokey:

Pete: “Are you willing to admit now that skiing is dangerous?
MacGyver: “Skiing’s fun.  Avalanches are dangerous.”
Pete: “Walking – that’s how man is supposed to get where he wants to go.  One foot in front of the other.  Safest thing ...”
Pete then falls and breaks his leg.  (Really!)


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