A snowmobiler is “extremely fortunate” to be alive after he became buried in an avalanche in the Shrine Bowl at Vail Pass Recreation Area for over an hour Monday, Feb. 17, according to the Summit County Rescue Group.

An immediate 911 call from the other snowmobiler in the group that triggered the avalanche and a quick response from rescue teams helped save the man’s life, Summit County Rescue Group President Ben Butler said the day after the incident.

“Immediately calling 911 was probably the biggest single thing that helped us have a successful outcome,” Butler said. “We had people in the field in the first 30 to 45 minutes after we were notified, which is incredible for the weather conditions.”

Shrine Bowl is located 2 to 3 miles off the Vail Pass trailhead on a “pretty bumpy trail,” Butler said. The two men triggered an avalanche while snowmobiling on an eastern aspect, and one was buried, according to an accident summary from the Colorado Avalanche Information Center.

The unburied man used his cell phone to call 911, with Summit County Rescue Group receiving notification of the avalanche around 12:11 p.m., Butler said. The accident summary states that the unburied man also attempted an avalanche transceiver to locate his partner but did not get a signal.

Summit County Rescue Group responded with four avalanche dog teams and 27 rescue group volunteers. The Rapid Avalanche Deployment team from Copper Mountain also responded with an avalanche dog, handler and avalanche technician, and the Summit County Sheriff’s Office provided equipment and two additional personnel. A Flight For Life helicopter was unavailable to support the operation because of the conditions.

From the trailhead, two avalanche dog teams and 10 rescuers were immediately driven to the scene on snowmobiles staged for further deployment, according to the Summit County Rescue Group.

The Colorado Avalanche Information Center rated the avalanche danger in the area as high, or Level 4 out of 5, for the day amid a series of intense snowstorms. Butler said that conditions were snowy and windy with low visibility.

At 1:13 p.m., one of the rescuers at the avalanche debris field saw a small piece of fabric at the surface of the snow and when he pulled on it, he noticed it was a portion of an avalanche airbag that the buried man had deployed, according to Summit County Rescue Group.

The rescue teams immediately started digging the man out from the snow, where he had been buried for about 65 minutes, Butler said. The man was conscious, breathing and able to converse with rescuers.

Butler noted that the odds of someone surviving after being buried in an avalanche decrease dramatically with every minute that passes. One Canadian study found that a person’s chance of surviving an avalanche burial are about 86% if they are dug up within the first 10 minutes but drop to less than 10% after 35 minutes of burial.

“This is definitely an outlier,” Butler said. “It was an awesome effort by all of those agencies to get into the field quickly, find the gentleman, extricate him and get him back to the trailhead. It’s a pretty cool thing to be a part of.”

Rescuers loaded the man onto an Orion, a specialized gurney on skis, then transported to the trailhead before being taken by a Summit Fire & EMS ambulance to CommonSpirit St. Anthony Summit Hospital, according to Summit County Rescue Group. He reportedly appeared to be suffering mainly from the early stages of hypothermia.

The avalanche triggered by the snowmobilers was about 150 meters wide and ran close to 100 meters, according to the Summit County Rescue Group. The man was reportedly buried just over a half meter deep.

The snowmobiler had a full-face helmet that did not get packed with snow in the avalanche, potentially giving him more ability to breath under the snow, Butler said. The avalanche airbag the man deployed may have also helped create a pocket of air for him to breathe, but it is hard to say for sure, he said. Avalanche airbags are designed to keep backcountry skiers atop of the snow during a slide.

Avalanche officials issued multiple warnings ahead of the Presidents’ Day holiday weekend urging backcountry travelers to avoid avalanche terrain as a snowstorm headed toward Colorado, including a special avalanche warning.

Anyone venturing in the backcountry should  always carry proper safety gear, including an avalanche transceiver, probe and shovel, and know how to use those tools. Backcountry recreationists are strongly encouraged to receive certification in assessing avalanche danger and snowpack conditions before heading out into the backcountry. Avalanche forecasts, warnings and conditions can be found at Avalanche.State.Co.us/