While skiing down a treacherous slope can be a dangerous -- and potentially deadly -- affair, imagine doing it with an angry, several hundred-pound bear nipping at your heels.
That's exactly what happened to a skier in Romania as he navigated the slopes at Predeal Mountain Resort in Brasov County. In a video that depicts the harrowing run, panicked onlookers can be heard screaming from the overhead chairlifts, "Faster, faster!," "Go, the bear is chasing you! Faster!" and, "God forbid, don't look back!"
And the bear probably would have caught the unlucky skier, had the man not come up with a plan to throw the beast off his trail, says police spokesman Ion Zaharia. The skier, who was visiting from another country, tossed his backpack to the side, causing its contents to spill out onto the snow. The move distracted the bear long enough for the skier to make good his escape, Zaharia says.
Photo: Getty Images