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NEW HAMPSHIRE, USA — A snowboarder on the southeast face of Mount Washington was fortunate to escape unscathed after getting caught in an avalanche Saturday morning.

The snowboarder was coming down Tuckerman's Ravine, a popular slope for backcountry skiers and snowboarders. The snowboarder was coming down the mountain with a skier, who watched the avalanche from above.

R.J. Phipps was out hiking with his wife that morning and caught the avalanche on video. He posted the video to a New Hampshire hiking Facebook group with the following:

"Saturday morning we decided to take our first winter trip up into the bowl of Tuckerman's Ravine to check out the backcountry skiers. With temps below zero and Mt Washington Avalanche center forecasting considerable chance of avalanches at that elevation and on eastern facing terrain, we were not sure what to expect. No matter, with this being a classic area for viewing as well as skiers, we were expecting something epic and were not disappointed. Within 5 minutes of arriving we captured a video of a snowboarder being swept off of the headwall into the rocks below. Incredibly they were only partially buried in the debris and able to self rescue."

“We weren’t in the bowl for maybe more than 30 seconds. ... We walked into the bowl, look up on the headwall, see the skier and snowboarder, and my wife’s like, ‘Are you getting this?’" Phipps told NEWS CENTER Maine. "So I pulled out my phone and started taping, and then it went off. So literally we were there for seconds.”

Phipps likened the sound of the avalanche to that of a rumbling freight train.

Jeff Fongemie, director of the Mount Washington Avalanche Center, wrote the avalanche forecast for Saturday. Avalanche forecasts are posted on the center's website daily. He forecasted a considerable hazard rating for avalanches on Saturday.