Video: Airbag saves female snowboarder in avalanche

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A female professional snowboarder who triggered an avalanche saved her own life by deploying an airbag that helped her float to safety.

Meesh Hytner was riding down a mountain in Colorado when the avalanche began, and she maintains the airbag enabled her to survive by keeping on the surface of the snow.

She had been riding near the Snake River drainage in Montezuma, Colorado when it happened, and was picked up by a snowmobile afterwards, according to the Daily Mail.

Around 17 natural and man-made avalanches occurred last week in the Vail and Summit Zone, and Backcountry Access said the danger of it happening was "considerable that day".

Meesh described the sensation as like "floating on a mattress down the stairs". Her Float 30 Avalanche Airbag was from Backcountry Access, to whom she expressed her extreme gratitude, saying: "Thank you, this thing saved my life. It's proof that this product works."

Meesh had been taking part in an informal backcountry competition when the avalanche occurred.

See the action below:

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