Experienced skiers are always aware of their surroundings, even when they are speeding down the slopes. This is what helped skier Francis Zuber to spot a snowboarder in trouble even though the man was buried upside down in the snow.
Zuber was recently skiing with a group of friends at Washington’s Mt. Baker Ski Area and chose to hit some remote areas of the ski resort. While going downhill, he noticed some bright colors in the snow. Zuber immediately stopped and went to check it out. As it turned out, the color belonged to a snowboard, and its owner was still attached to it.
Zuber started digging around and quickly uncovered a face of a snowboarder. After making sure the man could breathe, he dug him out completely and probably saved his life.
“We figure [he was buried] somewhere between five and seven minutes; he was probably at either a third or just the halfway point of his possible survival time in there,” Zuber later told the CBC.
The man who Zuber rescued turned out to be Washington-native Ian Steger. During a ride with fellow snowboarders, he hit a tree well and got flipped upside down.
“What happened is when we went into the trees, they were so narrow that we all found our own avenues and lanes,” Steger explained. “The one I chose happened to be the one that had a big tree well in it, a hole that I fell into.”
Fortunately, Zuber was there to provide him aid, and things worked out for the best. But something tells us that it will be a while before Steger goes snowboarding outside the slopes.
