BURIED ALIVE: Real Life Avalanche Burial & Rescue

Some stories are harder to tell than others. This is a tough one. On December 9th 2019, a crew of Jones team riders headed out into the Lake Tahoe backcountry for a multi-day avalanche rescue course. The goal of the training session was to practice avalanche beacon searches and backcountry rescue skills. On the first morning of the course, the team started the day with a sunrise shred lap. Little did they know, this pre-training shred session would test their rescue skills like never before. After six riders had already safely ridden the run, Jones filmer Greg Weaver dropped in and set off a mid-slope avalanche that carried him to the bottom of the face and fully buried him face down, three feet under the snow. Several team riders witnessed the slide and immediately jumped into action to rescue Greg. The team’s previous rescue training paid off as they found him and dug him out in under four minutes. We’re humbled to share the story of this accident, and the lessons learned from e