This the moment two workers at mountain observatory open the front door to find a wall of tightly packed snow which they have to battle through to get home.
The footage was filmed at the Meteorology Observatory at the summit of Poland’s Kasprowy Wierch, at an altitude 1,987 metres (6,519 feet), after a snowstorm which saw half a metre of snow fall in four hours and some regions record depths of up to three metres in the Tatra Mountains.
In the video, the workers at the observatory open the door to find the wall of snow tightly packed against it.
One of the workers then throws his skis and ski poles on top of the wall and begins clearing his way out.
His colleague jokes: “The most important thing is to have a safe job in comfortable conditions.”
And his friend replies: “Everybody would like to work here!”
As the mountaineer begins digging at the snow with his hands to clear a path, the men joke: “The best thing about this dream job is it is so easy to get back home!”
Other images from the snowstorms show a mountain shelter in The Five Lakes Valley where 23 hikers were stuck as the shelter was completely covered by snow and the way back to the town of Zakopane had been blocked off by avalanches.
Rescuers from the Tatra Volunteer Search and Rescue (TOPR) had to evacuate all guests and staff at the shelter using a helicopter as the building was becoming buried deeper and deeper in the snow.
The local authorities have advised against hiking in the Tatra Mountains, where avalanches warnings are high.
Local meteorological reports stated that some areas have experienced between 2.5 to 3 metres (8.2 to 9.8 feet) of snow.
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Story By: Bartosz Staszewski, Sub-Editor: Michael Leidig, Agency: Central European News
