A Victoria man was at the right spot at the right time to capture an avalanche rolling down a mountain on his drone.
The man, who goes by Mactac on social media channels and asked to remain anonymous, was out filming on May 2 when an avalanche started moving on Mount Nahmint in the Alberni Valley.
"I turned around, I looked at the top of the mountain because I just heard this roar happening,” he says in an interview with Glacier Media. “We could hear this huge roar coming from the mountain."
Realizing what was happening, he quickly got the drone ready to take off.
"I realized that this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”
His drone, which he built himself, is operated with goggles. He started flying close to the avalanche.
“It was luck that we were there in the right place at the right time,” he says.
During the seven-minute video that he posted online, his drone flies up the mountain along the path of the avalanche as it rolls down the mountain.
“In some places in there, I was maybe six inches off the ground climbing up the rocks,” he says.
He’s been flying for a long time and calls this a hobby and passion of his.
“The power that is being released when that kind of thing happens ... it just gave me a new appreciation for nature."
Since posting the video online, he’s been contacted by many people: those who are interested and in awe of the natural phenomenon.
"I've never seen anything like that. It was spectacular,” he says. "I feel so lucky to have not only just witnessed it, because I've never seen an avalanche before but also to get that drone up there at the right time is just amazing.”
