Review of ‘Buried: The 1982 Alpine Meadows Avalanche’ Documentary on Netflix
‘Buried: The 1982 Alpine Meadows Avalanche’ is a can’t-miss documentary conveniently hosted on Netflix.
Buried: The 1982 Alpine Meadows Avalanche is a documentary that covers one of the deadliest avalanches in North American history.
The film debuted in 2022 to live audiences and has been available to rent on Amazon Prime and Apple TV+; the film was also released on Netflix, the world’s most popular streaming service, on November 8th, 2023. Trailer below.
Review of Buried: The 1982 Alpine Meadows Avalanche
As a still-new resident of Truckee, California, I was admittedly intimidated to watch Buried: The 1982 Alpine Meadows Avalanche. I feared the worst as my anxious brain consumed itself with questions: Would I be able to ski Alpine again without worrying about constant avalanches? Should I ski Alpine again? Should I ever ski again in general? Avalanches? In-bounds? What did I get myself into by moving here?
After mustering up the courage and knowing I simply had to watch this critically acclaimed documentary, I pressed ‘Play’ one evening while scrolling through Netflix.
If you were already familiar with what happened in the 1982 avalanche at Alpine Meadows, the beginning of the film can be hard to watch. The impending doom of lives lost can almost feel suffocating, but the producers of the film weave the story in a way that isn’t solely focused on the slide itself. Instead, using fantastic interviews, first-hand accounts, and immaculate photography, the film allows the viewer to develop an understanding of the people involved.
One might think that this would make the film harder to watch, but I found it to be necessary to fully appreciate the magnitude of the situation. Alpine Meadows was, and arguably still is, one of the most avalanche-prone ski resorts in the world. It’s easy to assume that the 1982 slide happened from pure negligence, but that couldn’t have been further from the truth.
Instead, Buried: The 1982 Alpine Meadows Avalanche is a testament to the sheer power of Mother Nature. Despite countless avalanche mitigation work throughout the season, bombing runs from on-the-ground ski patrol, cannons, and explosives dropped by helicopters, the avalanche happened. Simply put, there’s very little, if anything at all, that the Alpine Meadows team could have done differently to prevent this tragedy.
I cried, laughed, gritted my teeth in anxiety, and jumped for joy all while watching this 96 minute documentary, and the history buff inside of me couldn’t get enough. The 1982 avalanche at Alpine Meadows is one of the most tragic avalanche incidents in North American history, but it served as a seminal learning opportunity for the industry, and propelled avalanche rescue dogs into the limelight.
I refuse to give this documentary a rating or even use the words ‘Good’ or ‘Bad’ to describe it. Simply put, it’s a must-watch for every single skier in the world, and honestly, I feel more comfortable skiing at Alpine than ever.
