On a snowy Saturday last year, DaltonAnderson was having a great time. He was skiing with his friends Payton Weberand Wyatt Baird. Suddenly, the snow around them began to slide (滑落) . It was anavalanche (雪崩) !
"A lot of snow came down, "Dalton,13, said later. The snow crashed into Dalton and pushed him around. Payton'sbody was almost under the snow. He could breathe but couldn't move. Wyatt'shead was below two feet of the snow and one of his feet was above the snow.
Only Dalton was above the snow. Helearned about avalanches from a TV show, so he knew that there was no time togo for help. Wyatt could die in minutes.
Byusing his hands, Dalton made Payton free first. Payton had a cellphone. Hecalled 911, and the two boys made Wyatt out.
The boys were smart and lucky. Manypeople who were in avalanches died. Avalanches happen on mountainsides. Inabout five seconds, an avalanche can reach nearly 100 miles per hour. Nobodycan run or ski that fast. It's almost impossible to get out of the way.
An avalanche collects snow as ittravels. A large one can grow to 10, 000 tons of snow. So much snow will makeeverything, including trees, houses and of course, people fall in its path asit races downhill.
