The expeditionaries — the survivors who took on the role of scouting the terrain — included Parrado, Canessa, Fito Strauch, and others who were among the stronger and more mobile members of the group. Their reconnaissance established the basic geography of the situation: they were in a valley that was roughly oriented east-west. To the west, the ridge rose steeply and appeared to drop to lower terrain on the other side. The other directions offered no obvious route.
The western ridge became the focus of the escape plan.
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## The Avalanche
On October 29, sixteen days after the crash, an avalanche struck the fuselage during the night.
The survivors were inside the fuselage, sleeping. The avalanche — triggered by conditions on the snowfield above them — came without warning. The snow that poured through the openings in the aircraft filled the interior in seconds. Eight people who could not move fast enough to reach air pockets were smothered. Among the dead were Liliana Methol, the only adult woman in the group, who had died being held by her husband Javier. The rugby team’s captain, Marcelo Pérez, was among those killed. Carlos Roque, the aircraft mechanic who had survived the crash, also died.
Nando Parrado, in accounts he has given over the years, described digging an air hole with his hands in the dark interior of the fuselage while the snow was still moving, understanding that the air supply was limited and that they had perhaps minutes before anyone still breathing would suffocate.
They dug for three days. The survivors who remained — now numbering nineteen — worked in shifts to create an exit tunnel through the snow that had filled and covered the fuselage. On October 31, two days after the avalanche, they broke through to the surface. The outside temperature was well below freezing. A three-day blizzard followed the avalanche, trapping them again inside the aircraft.