A dashing snowmobiler in Utah saved his brother from being killed in an avalanche — a death-defying feat his family is calling a “Christmas miracle.”
Hunter and Brayden Hansen were enjoying the outdoors Tuesday in Logan Canyon at an elevation of about 8,400 feet when they were hit by an avalanche.
“I saw waves of snow and knew it was an avalanche,” Braden said.
Hunter was thrown about 150 yards from fast-moving ice into the Franklin Basin near the Idaho border – he said he felt as if concrete was hitting him.
“It swept me down the mountain,” he said. told NBC News“The most violent thing I’ve ever felt.”
“Couldn’t breathe, couldn’t do anything,” he said. “I hit a rock or a tree.”
Braden, who was ahead of his brother, sprang into action, locating his brother with a beacon device and immediately began digging.
“I could see his hand, his glove, pointing out, waving,” Braden said.
“But by the time I got to him … his head was about 2 feet under the snow.”
“I just shoveled snow off his head and got his helmet off so he could start breathing again, and then started digging his body out from there,” Braden said.
Hunter remembered the fear of holding his “last breath” while waiting for help.
“I felt a sigh of relief when I realized he had started digging,” he recalled.
Hunter, a married father, suffered only minor injuries and the pair were able to return safely, in what his family is calling a “Christmas miracle.”
Utah Avalanche Center officials Avalanche said This was due to a “persistent weak layer” of snow on the slopes.
He told NBC News that the siblings are experienced snow hikers and travel with radios and beacons — which allow them to find each other in the event of an avalanche, along with shovels and airbag devices.
While he was stuck in the snow, Hunter was able to hear his brother talking to their father as he searched for him.
“You hear a lot of tragic stories of people getting buried in avalanches and not being able to get out, so I feel very blessed and fortunate,” Hunter said.
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