Rich Nagle Triggers Avalanche In Banff National Park, Escapes

An extreme skier triggered an avalanche, outran it and captured it all on a GoPro camera in Banff National Park on Sunday.

And now his antics are being used by Parks Canada as an example of the dangers that skiers face in the mountains.

Rich Nagle triggered the size-two avalanche about 100 metres wide while skiing at Wawa Ridge on Sunday afternoon, Metro News reported.

He reportedly started the slide after another skier managed to clear the area without incident, Parks Canada said on a Facebook page advising people about safety.

Nagle recounted the experience in an Instagram post.

Beautiful day for touring around on skis in the mountains. The avalanche danger rating is still right in the middle at considerable so we decided to try out a smaller treeline run instead of the bigger alpine lines. Pete went first without incident and skied to a safe location. I jumped onto the slope off of a snow windlip and that was enough to send the whole slope barreling down all around me. I pointed my skis down the mountain and managed to stay upright until I outran the slide and the terrain leveled off. Check out the Gopro helmet cam vid on my YouTube channel (link in my profile). #avalanche #prettynutz #lucky #nevergiveup #greatdayanyway #alpinetouring #skiing #BanffNationalPark #Alberta
A photo posted by Rich Nagle (@richie_rhubarb) on Feb 15, 2015 at 7:43pm PST

Parks Canada shared news of the avalanche on Facebook on Monday to remind people about the dangers present in the mountains.

The video came amid a special avalanche warning that's been issued for the Rocky Mountains, and includes areas such as Banff, Kootenay and Jasper National Parks.

It also came after Canmore's Benjamin John Thackeray was killed in an avalanche in Peter Lougheed Provincial Park on Saturday.