Alaska hiker rescued an hour after being buried upside down in avalanche

An Alaska hiker was buried upside down in an avalanche for more than an hour and was rescued alive on December 9. The avalanche took place on Flattop Mountain around 1pm. According to the Chugach National Forest Avalanche Information Center, a slab of frozen debris two to three feet got dislodged and fell down the slope amid strong winds. Hiker, Alex Kuprienko, of Anchorage said that he was hiking a mountain trail around 2:30pm when he noticed two feet popping out from the fresh avalanche debris.

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Trapped man showed signs of hypothermia

He decided to go ahead and take a look closer. When he went up he saw a guy buried in the snow with his legs sticking up. He was on his back with his face-up and head-down into the snow. The avalanche has blocked the hiker under the large blocks of debris making it impossible to free himself. Kuprienko said without wasting time he began to dig the snow with his bare hands. He said that he was able to free the man within five minutes. The trapped hiker was not named. The avalanche center announced that he showed signs of hypothermia but remained conscious.

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Kuprienko called 911 and helped the man

Kuprienko said he called 911 and helped the man to the parking lot beneath the trail where medical officials were waiting. Kuprienko said that the hiker was trapped for an hour and it was a miracle that he was able to breathe for such long hours.

Meanwhile, a 29-year-old woman has died in an avalanche while skiing in northern Colorado, where communities along the Rocky Mountains have seen record or near-record snowfall since September. The unidentified woman from Fort Collins was buried in the powerful slide on Sunday, authorities said. Other members of her ski party dug her from the snow but found that she wasn’t breathing, according to the Larimer County Sheriff’s Office.

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