What started as a leisurely ski down a Monsabee mountain slope in British Columbia soon became a nightmare for helmet-camera-clad Chris Bilbao who captured tape from the dark, snowy inside of a near-deadly avalanche.

Footage lets viewers in on a terrifying tumble that lasted a near five-minutes. If not for his fellow skiers uncovering him with a snow shovel, Bilbao would have been a dead man.

“I tumbled head over heels about four or five times,” he told CTV. “I ended up at the bottom half-way buried and very thankful to be alive.”