A frightening situation unfolded at Hakuba Cortina Ski Resort in Japan where a group of skiers and snowboarders taking their last run of the day followed the sound of muffled screams and discovered a female snowboarder who had fallen approximately 15 feet down a hole above a creek.
Unable to extricate herself, there is no telling how long the woman would have remained at the bottom of the hole or what her ultimate outcome may have been had the passersby not responded to her distress calls.
The strangers pooled their resources and used a length of paracord a snowboarder had in his backpack to pull her out. The woman was clearly shaken up by the ordeal but seemed otherwise unharmed. The incident serves as a great reminder to always ski with a friend when off-piste.
