A trip to Utah to enjoy the snow almost ended in tragedy Tuesday when an avalanche struck a snowmobiler on a backcountry hill — but his younger brother rushed to his aid and saved him.
“I could see his hand and his gloves sticking out a little bit, waving,” Braeden Hansen said Wednesday, a day after the avalanche buried Hunter Hansen, his brother, in the Franklin Basin, close to the Idaho border.
“But by the time I got to him, he was about two feet tall and his head was about two feet under the snow,” Braeden said.
According to the Utah Avalanche Center, the avalanche occurred at about 8,000 feet. The area where the event occurred had a “persistent weak layer,” according to a report about the event.
The brothers enjoyed the snow in some meadows in Logan Canyon. They were climbing to a higher meadow when the avalanche came down the hill.
“I saw the snow ripple and knew it was an avalanche,” said Braeden, who was ahead of his brother.
“I turned around and saw the slide hit Hunter and saw him tumble a little and get buried and then lose sight of him,” he said.
Braeden activated a beacon that showed where his brother was. He found Hunter about 500 feet from where he last saw him.
“I just cleared the snow off his head and took off his helmet so he could breathe again, and then I started digging his body out from there,” Braeden said.
Hunter had taken out his phone to film his brother passing him on the slope, and then something caught his eye. It was the avalanche, where the snow broke apart and started to tumble. It happened too quickly to avoid, he said.
“It just washed me off the mountain,” he said. “The most violent thing I’ve ever felt.”
He tumbled, and when the snow packed, it felt like concrete, he remembered.
“Couldn’t breathe, couldn’t do anything,” he said. “I hit a rock or a tree.”
Hunter said he was bruised and that he would have his leg examined for a possible fracture. He has a wife and a daughter, and his family says his survival is a “Christmas miracle,” he said.
The brothers were connected by radio, but Hunter lay motionless in the snow and could only listen but not respond. He heard their father and his brother talking about him and looking for him.
“I found him, I found him,” came over the radio, Hunter recalled.
“There was a sigh of relief when I felt him start to dig,” he said. He recalled being “on my last breath” and holding it as long as he could before being rescued.
Hunter credited his brother’s quick thinking.
The brothers always carry beacons to help others find them, as well as probes, shovels and airbags when heading inland in case of an avalanche, they said.
“It could happen at any time, any day, and it certainly happened to us,” Braeden Hansen said.
According to the Colorado Avalanche Information Center, an average of 27 people die each year in the United States from avalanches. Utah has the fourth most recorded avalanche deaths since the winters of 1951 and 1952. Colorado, Alaska and Washington state make up the top three.
“You hear so many tragic stories about people getting buried in avalanches and not getting out, so I feel very blessed and fortunate,” Hunter Hansen said.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
