Phipps watched as the two men were nearly engulfed by an avalanche

 RJ Phipps was hiking up Tuckerman Ravine on Mount Washington over the weekend with his wife when he took out his camera to shoot a snowboarder and skier. Within seconds, Phipps watched as the two men were nearly engulfed by an avalanche. He caught it all on video. The unidentified skier was able to scramble to the side of the avalanche on Saturday while the snowboarder appears to almost surf the avalanche down the mountain. The snowboarder, who had been sitting down when the avalanche was triggered, ended up several hundred feet down the ravine and waist deep in snow. Both people escaped injury. The location of the avalanche was about 4,800 feet up on the mountain. Jeff Fongemie, acting director of the Mount Washington Avalanche Center, said the avalanche was unintentionally triggered by the skier, who had backcountry experience in multiple snow climates and mountain ranges. Because of recent snow storms, Fongemie described the potential for an avalanche in Tuckerman Ravine on Saturday as considerable. This one had the potential to “easily bury and kill a person,” he added.