Skier Backflips His Way Out of Mini-Avalanche
What do you do when a mini-avalanche starts cascading down upon you on the slopes?
If you're Sverre Liliequist, you do a backflip.
That was the breathtaking stunt performed by the Swedish skier during his downhill run at the Swatch Skiers Cup in Switzerland this week. Liliequist is a member of Team Europe in the Ryder Cup-style event taking place in Zermatt this week that pits European skiers versus Americans.
Just as Liliequest neared the end of his downhill run, the snow from the mountains behind him began to overturn. As he reached the mountain's peak, Liliequest executed a near-perfect backflip before seeming to disappear in the cloud of snow and then emerging unscathed.
Though the snow fall looks treacherous to the average eye, the event's organizers say the seeming avalanche was somewhat of an optical illusion.
"This was a windslab for sure, but not an avalanche," a representative for the Cup told PlanetSKI. "What is impressive is the size of the snow cloud which looks big, but the amount of snow moving was not that big."
