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INBOUNDS BURIAL: A survivor's story
By Pat Keane
Chair One, a stone's throw from the burial site.
“Oh, God,” Bill said to himself, “I’m going to die. This is how I’m going to die.” He thought of a story he’d heard about snowboarder who had died from suffocation. He had to get air. After several attempts to clear the snow from his mouth by spitting and pushing it away with his tongue, he got a breath. With one free hand, he tried to dig the snow off of his head. He guessed there was more than a foot of snow between his hand and his mouth. Each movement to clear an air passage packed more snow into his mouth. Each time, he spat it out. He turned his head side to side to clear an air pocket. The situation was beyond desperate. He thought of his wife and kids.
A skier for over 30 years, Bill decided to go for one last run. That’s all Bill was planning to do. One last run. After an never-ending day of deep powder at Mammoth Mountain on New Year’s Day this past season, it was time to head in. Bill was making the last run with his friend Steve. Heading for the Main Lodge, they ducked into the glades on skier’s right of Chair One below the Gravy Chutes at Mammoth. The chair was a snowball’s throw away. As they rallied through the forest, Bill went left and Steve went right.
Then it happened. Bill hit a rock. It ripped his ski away and he went into a forward roll. Nothing out of the ordinary, Bill skis hard many days a year. He expected to land sitting up, get his ski and continue. But something happened. He couldn’t sit up. A heavy weight pressed his chest, pinning him down. He was lying on his back, tilted to the left, his head below his feet. He felt like he was stuck in concrete, with his right hand free, but he was pinned, covered with snow that had packed into his mouth. He couldn’t move his left arm or his left leg. Then panic set in.
He struggled, then tried to calm himself, aware his oxygen supply was diminishing. He started to get lightheaded. How long had it been? He felt as though he was drifting off to sleep, when something squeezed his hand. But the touch was gone before he could squeeze back. He thought he was hallucinating. He felt something else against his leg. Then he heard muffled voices. With his free hand, he tried to point to where his head was. Soon, fingers brushed the snow from his goggles, then his mouth. He was breathing again. John, a snowboarder seeking fresh snow in the trees, just happened to pull up to where Bill was buried, saw a ski, then saw his Bill’s gloved hand sticking up out of the snow. He called Sean, a skier nearby, to help him.
John and Sean dug with a snowboard and their hands, finally pulling Bill out of his cemented burial spot. “Sean cleared my airway just as I was losing my grasp,” Bill would say later. Upon reviewing what caused his near-death experience, Bill could see it was the slough he created as he hit the rock. He had only slid about six feet, the length of the rock. But the snow, about three feet deep, created a slough path that carried approximately 82 cubic feet of powder that landed atop him as he came to rest under the overhanging low end of the rock. When the light fluff piled atop him, it compressed into a cement-like consistency that held him with no hope of self-rescue.
Besides the flat-out good luck that John and Sean came along to find him all but completely buried, Bill actually executed some important moves that likely saved his life. Here is a list of his suggestions:
1) I made one violent, convulsive jerk to get my head and body turned as much on my side as I could. This would keep snow from falling directly into my mouth and give me a chance to breathe.
2) I concentrated all my efforts into creating a larger air pocket rocking my head side-to-side and jutting out my chin to compact the snow away from my mouth and nose. This bought me more time for rescue.
3) I did everything possible to reach as high as I could so that my free body parts could be visible.
4) Once I was able to get some air, enough air to remain conscious, I then focused on relaxing my entire body - my muscles and my breathing.
5) I trusted in God that someone would come for me. This helped me to relax more, buying more time for rescue.
