© YouTubeA bear chases a skier down a mountain in Romania. The skier ditched his backpack, which distracted the bear long enough for the unidentified man to escape.
Fate was bearing down on him, but quick-thinking most likely saved this skier's life.
As a tourist enjoyed the slopes in Romania earlier this week, bystanders on the ski lift above him started raising the alarm.
"He's chasing you! Go faster!" they cried as they spotted the huge brown bear in hot pursuit.
The unidentified skier's flight for life was caught on video by various bystanders who also hooted and hollered from the lift, trying to distract the bear or scare it way. Undeterred, the massive animal raced down the slope toward the fleeing skier.
As the animal was closing in, the skier ditched his backpack, and the bear stopped to investigate. This life-saving measure distracted the creature long enough for the skier to get away, wildlife experts said.
Authorities arrived soon after.
It's not the first time brown bears have been spotted near the popular ski slopes of Predeal, Romania, especially as a warming climate disrupts hibernation or cuts it short. In 2019, at least six fatal brown bear attacks were recorded in Romania, BBC News reported at the time, a stark increase over the 11 people killed there from 2000 to 2015.
"The skier did the right thing," Ion Zaharia, a Brasov, Romania, police spokesperson told ABC News. "The bear was distracted by things inside his backpack. We are considering to relocate the bear, who should be hibernating now, anyway, but in recent years, we have more bears confronting skiers in the winter."
European brown bears can weigh from 400 to 700 pounds, depending on whether they're male or female, according to the conservation organization World Wide Fund for Nature. About 6,000 of those, or 60% of the continental population, live in Romania, according to conservation group Mossy Earth.