Washington skier buried in avalanche is rescued after wife uses phone app to track him
A skier buried for hours in an avalanche in Washington State last week was saved after his wife followed her feeling that something was wrong when he failed to answer his phone.
Michael Harris was skiing Big Chief Bowl at Stevens Pass when he was caught in the slide.
Harris told FOX13 Seattle that his skis got caught between two slabs, and he was unable to fight against the force of the slide. He said he avoided a boulder and described sliding into a snow hole that allowed him to stay upright despite being completely buried.
"The sensation was being encased in cement," Harris said.
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At some point, he said, his wife Penny called him, but the compact snow made it impossible for him to move his hands to access his Apple Watch or the iPhone in his jacket pocket.
"I’m a religious guy. I said God, I’m in trouble, I don’t know if anyone is going to know where I’m at, but I can’t get out of this on my own," he said.
When he failed to answer, Penny Harris felt the urge to check his location through the Find My iPhone app, she told the outlet.
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"You get a feeling something’s just not right," she said. "I followed my intuition, saw his location, checked it a couple times and saw it wasn’t moving."
Penny Harris said she then called the ski patrol and drove to Stevens Pass. Rescuers used the location tracked by the app to find Harris buried beneath several feet of snow.
Harris was rushed to a hospital for hypothermia, pneumonia, a contusion to his lung, injuries to his kidneys and a right tibial plateau fracture, his family said in a post on GoFundMe created to help with the medical bills.
He underwent surgery and is making a smooth recovery, becoming known around the hospital as "the miracle avalanche man," his family said.
Harris credits his wife and the phone app for saving his life.
"I was inches away from the thing that could save my life, but I just couldn’t get there. And yet because she knew how to use 'Find My iPhone', I’m here today," he told FOX13.