A device called an Avalung can delay suffocation by carbon dioxide afixiation in snow burial victims. It expels the victim's exhaled breath away from their face, preventing it from building up and being inhaled.
The best way to increase your chances of being rescued if buried by an avalanche is to carry a radio transceiver beacon. These are portable devices that can both transmit and receive a radio signal. When skiing, they should be set to transmit mode. This allows companions equally equipped to try and home in on your signal using their transceivers in receive mode. Without one of these, finding someone completely buried in the snow comes down to luck.
In 1990, an avalanche at Peak Lenin on the border of Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan brought ice and snow tumbling down on a party of 45 climbers. Only two survived. It was the worst single avalanche disaster recorded.
