If a person gets buried underneath an avalanche of snow...?

Question

And he/she is buried upside down, will he/she be able to tell the difference between up and down, and dig his/her way out?

Answer 1

Yes.They'll be able to tell the difference in direction.But they might be too weak or confused to dig their way out of the snow.

Answer 2

Yes due to the presence of proprioreceptors in the ears which allows us to tell in which direction is gravity acting. But this mostly depends on the person because in most of these cases, the victim is too disorientated to actually make sense of things

BART

Answer 3

Barring head injuries which may interfere with a sense of direction a person should be able to know which way is up. If they are otherwise unhurt they should try to punch out a cavity in the snow so that arms and legs dont get pinned in place as snow settles as well as providing breathing space before attempting to dig their way out. How deeply they are buried can be a factor as to whether they have the energy or the breathable air sufficient to get out.