AS SEEN IN THE 2012 FREESKIER BACKCOUNTRY EDITION

We were in Monterosa, Italy scoping around for something to shoot when Kaj Zackrisson found a pretty mellow line he wanted to ski. It had snowed a lot during the last week and we knew it was a bit unstable, but the slope wasn’t too steep and none of us expected it to slide. It released on his third or fourth turn. I tried to keep him in the frame so I could see where he went, but the snow cloud got so big we lost him. Luckily, he ended up surfing on the snow. He actually jumped a cliff while in the avalanche and landed on his feet! It was a close call. The local police wanted to arrest him because it was close to a busy ski run, but after pretending he didn’t understand a word of Italian, they let him go. — Words and photo by Mattias Fredriksson.