Skiier films lucky avalanche escape

This is the terrifying moment a skier got caught in a small avalanche in Colorado's Rocky Mountains, and the traumatic experience was captured on video.

The footage, uploaded to YouTube last Tuesday, was shot using a helmet-mounted camera on the Black Iron Bowl ski route in the Telluride Ski Resort.

It shows an experienced skier making a hard stop before the snow gives way beneath his skis.

The skier can be seen being dragged along by the avalanche but fortunately manages to not get swallowed by snow.

"To get to the Black Iron bowl it’s about a 20 to 25 minute hike up a ridge to get to 12,250 ft," the filmer later wrote online.

"The recent warm weather has made the snowpack very weak and we had just gotten about five inches back there on top of a weak layer in the snowpack.

"I made a hard stop after some nice powder skiing and I triggered the whole snowpack."