One of the hikers, Britain’s Harry Shimmin, managed to capture on video the moment snow erupted from a mountain peak in the distance, before covering the slope and engulfing the group. Once at the highest point of the route, Shimmin left the group to take pictures of the scenery when he suddenly heard “the sound of deep ice cracking behind him,” according to the caption of the video, which he posted on Instagram. . “I left it to the last second to move, and yes, I know it would be safer to move to the shelter right away,” she wrote in the post. “I’m very aware that I took a big risk. I felt like I was in control, but regardless when the snow started to come and it got dark/hard to breathe, I bricked it and thought I might die.” “When we joined (the team), almost everyone was crying with happiness to be alive,” Simin, a British army officer, told CNN on Monday. The group consisted of nine British tourists and one American, plus three guides and two riders. Shimmin told CNN that the American hiker seriously injured her knee. Guides took her on horseback to a medical facility near a gold mine, before she was sent to the United States for treatment. “I had seen much smaller avalanches before and videos of other avalanches, but honestly my first thought was — ‘let’s see if I can get a good video of this,’” he told CNN. “He came closer to me much faster than I expected.” The 27-year-old’s apparent calm about this near-death experience may be explained by his other hobbies — shimmin’ holds the record for most backflips in a sky dive, 19 in total, according to Guinness World Records. “I’m somewhat experienced in hiking and I’m very keen on snow sports!” he told CNN. He said he completed avalanche training on two separate occasions, once as part of a para-ski course and another time to become a ski instructor. “Avalanche training didn’t help!” he joked, saying he will continue to pursue his passion for extreme travel experiences. CNN’s Sana Noor Haq contributed to this article.
