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It happens every winter. A snowboarder or skier gets buried in a tree well, or deep snow, and nearly suffocates. The rescue caught on camera for the world to see. Or sometimes, situations like this can kill the victim. Thankfully, this was one of those miracle moments.
While the U.S. has suffered through a rough start to winter, Europe has been blessed with a better outlook. Several storms have helped the Old Continent salvage the season. During one storm last week in Switzerland, skier Matteo Zilla came across an appendage sticking out of the snow. Completely by chance. And it’s a good thing he did.
“We were skiing in Engelberg on a powder day,” he said on social media. “It was snowing and we received around 40 to 50 centimeters (20 inches) of fresh powder. I saw a guy far away who was trying to walk up without skis, so I thought maybe he had lost them and I went down to help search. But then I turned my head and saw a foot sticking out of the snow. I immediately went over and removed the snow from his face and mouth, speaking to him to check if he was injured. We realized he wasn’t injured and very slowly removed the rest of the snow from his body. We found out he had been skiing down, didn’t see some small bushes and flipped over into the snow. My emotions were on one side, but they weren’t important. The most important thing was saving his life.”
The young boy, who was not identified, came out none the worse for wear. “”We released him and fortunately no consequences,” Zilla said.
It’s kind of a miracle Zilla was skiing exactly where he was that day. Otherwise things might’ve ended differently. You may remember a similar incident in 2023 when a skier happened upon trapped snowboarder Ian Steger at Washington’s Mt. Baker? The incident went viral. You can read our interview with Steger about that scary accident here.
