The man, who is in his fifties, was found conscious under about 1.5 meters of snow just after midnight on Wednesday. He had then spent nearly seven hours in an air pocket from which he had been able to call the police.
People who are swept away by an avalanche are usually suffocated within ten minutes if they are buried under the snow. Some survive longer, but seven hours is almost unique in history, says Audun Hetland, avalanche researcher from Tromsø University, to the newspaper iTromsø.
The man was part of a group of three foreign tourists who were on a skiing trip in a region where the authorities had warned of a high avalanche risk. Another person in the company was also swept away by the avalanche and ended up in the water in a fjord below.
He managed to get ashore and was subsequently able to contact the authorities. A search operation has been ongoing during the day for a woman who is still missing, but on Wednesday evening, the police in Troms say that the woman is presumed dead.
The woman is in her fifties and a Slovenian citizen.
