I was watching Man vs. Wild last night (all new episode) where Bear Grylls was up in the Yukon demonstrating several survival tactics to use if lost in the rugged, snowy mountains. He goes into how to deal with an avalanche, blizzard and a frozen lake. But the most interesting segment of the show came when he was trying to self arrest himself using an ice axe on a steep slope.

Traveling at 40+ mph, Bear flew down a snowy slope with ice axe in hand. It took around 150 feet to completely stop using this method … but a minute later the camera man comes flying down the mountain and collides right into him. Bear injured his leg and the camera man busted his nose. Both men were fine – though it could have been a lot worse.

I wanted to post a video I found on YouTube showing how to correctly self arrest using an ice axe. You never know when you’ll be in a situation like this, so it’s best to practice and work on your skills so you don’t panic.