holy crap, this guy will throw off the statistics

[fez]

buried 8 hours and survives?

Mar 2, 7:10 PM EST

Snowmobiler, missing after avalanche, survives

By ALAN SUDERMAN
Associated Press Writer

HELENA, Mont. (AP) -- A snowmobiler buried by an avalanche for about eight hours emerged with apparently little more than scratches, after a relative using a probe found him in an area officials say was off-limits to motorized travel.

Ryan Roberts, 34, of Kalispell, said Friday he was astonished that he survived the avalanche, which swept over him late Thursday afternoon during a snowmobile trip in northwestern Montana's Flathead National Forest. He was found shortly before midnight.

"I guess I was just allowed to live another day," Roberts, a cement worker, said Friday in a telephone interview after his release from Kalispell Regional Medical Center earlier in the day.

Roberts was snowmobiling in the forest's Jewel Basin with his uncle and a friend, neither of them caught in the avalanche.

Roberts said he tried to outrun the sliding snow by driving his snowmobile at about 80 mph, but leaped off the machine as it sped toward trees.

He said he tumbled downhill and was buried face-up by about 4 feet of snow. After it became apparent that he could not move, Roberts said, he tried to remain calm and accept what he thought was his fate.

He said he remembered thinking, "Well, I'm going to die."

Roberts believes he passed out about five minutes later.

Companions immediately began searching for Roberts, who said Friday that he usually carries a transceiver while snowmobiling but did not have it on the trip Thursday. The device emits a signal that can help searchers locate a person under snow.

After searching for two hours, the companions used a cell phone to call for help.

About 18 family members and others traveled to the scene by snowmobile and searched for Roberts. A party that included members of the Flathead County Sheriff's Department also set out to look for Roberts, but officials said they searched in the wrong place after receiving incorrect information about the location.

Dan Root, a distant cousin of Roberts, said that when he reached the scene of the avalanche Friday at about 11 p.m. MST, he did not expect to find the snowmobiler alive. Several other people already had been combing the area for hours.

"I parked my sled, got my probe out and walked up the hill about 5 or 6 feet and hit" Roberts with the probe, Root said. "I probed him the first time."

Root and several other snowmobilers in the search immediately dug through the snow, removed Roberts and put him near a fire. Root said Roberts regained consciousness, but still appeared disoriented.

Roberts credits his survival to a helmet that kept snow out of his face and to the use, on his back, of a thermal pain-relief pad that provided warmth. He also said quick thinking by his family and fellow snowmobilers helped save his life.

Three men sat by the fire and put their legs beneath Roberts so he would not be on the snow. In addition, members of the rescue group heated their clothes by the fire, then placed them on Roberts for warmth. Roberts said that after about five hours by the blaze, he felt able to ride out of the area on his uncle's snowmobile.

The 20-mile trip in rugged country took about an hour before Roberts got to a road where his wife, friends and an ambulance were waiting.

Robert's wife, Billie, said his temperature at the hospital Friday morning was 90 degrees.

Dr. Mark Rabold, an emergency physician in Helena who has cared for avalanche victims, called Roberts' survival "quite extraordinary."

"God was smiling on that boy," Rabold said.

An official at Alaska's Chugach National Forest Avalanche Center estimated at less than 5 percent the odds of surviving under the conditions Roberts endured. About half of the people buried by avalanches die within 30 minutes, said Carl Skustad of the Alaska center.

Ranger Jimmy DeHerrera of the U.S. Forest Service said the agency plans to cite Roberts and his companions for snowmobiling in the prohibited area. The maximum penalty is six months in jail, a $5,000 fine and snowmobile confiscation.

The Forest Service said 787,000 acres of the Flathead forest are open to snowmobiling and signs state the 13,000-acre Jewel Basin is off-limits to snowmobiles.

Roberts said he and his companions had tried to stay outside the prohibited area. He added it will most likely be awhile before he rides a snowmobile again.

"I'm not even allowed to mention those words around my family," Roberts said.

[snowburns]

That's amazing....It's kind of ridiculous the man almost dies and they're still going to fine him, greedy bastards.

[FrankZappa]

I guess if one can survive the asbestos laiden air in Kalispell, sooner or later you don't need air to survive, huh?

Pretty wild...

[Bunion 2020]

Dan Root... (his real name, not making this shit up, and a distant cousin to boot) said. ""I parked my sled, got my probe out and walked up the hill about 5 or 6 feet and hit" Roberts with the probe, Root said. "I probed him the first time."


Almost makes it sound like bobber fish'in with worms.


Fine em???? Fuck yeah!!!!!!

[cold_smoke]

That is amazing

[Fatty]

He also said quick thinking by his family and fellow snowmobilers helped save his life.

Apparently, his family hasn't told him how long he was buried for...

[Avalanche_Observer]

Quite the story. I bet that he doesn't forget his transceiver again

[SuperChief]

That's amazing....It's kind of ridiculous the man almost dies and they're still going to fine him, greedy bastards.

Fuck that, I hope they ass rape everyone of those hillbilly slednecks who think they can disregard all the signs they passed to get to the area and have a little fun.

If it was one of your favorite backcountry haunts I'm sure you'd all feel the same. the place is clearly posted and off limits for several reasons.