The Avalanche Story

The day before the Avalanche
I left home on Friday morning March 7th, 2008, with 3 friends to travel to Balea – Carpathian Mountains in Sibiu, Romania – to participate in a snowboarding competition. We were planning to test the snow and to check the trail before the contest, then to rest up for the next day.

We enjoyed the three-hour car ride to the mountain. It was a beautiful day. The sun was shining in the blue sky, with some white clouds. My friends and I took the lift up to the chalet that we had rented for the weekend. We took a run down on our boards, and then we went back up to the chalet.

On Friday night, a storm started – a blizzard with powerful winds. I woke up several times during the night because of the noise made by the wind on the roof of the chalet.


Looking for an adventure
I was the first one up in the morning – I was excited and looking forward to participating in the competition. Unfortunately, I could see that the lift was not operating due to the bad weather and the competition seemed therefore to be cancelled. I was disappointed, but I was looking forward to getting down to the bottom of the mountain, in hope that we could spend the day snowboarding at another nearby mountain.

I left the chalet first, and snowboarded over to the lift. After a time, my three friends joined me there. We were hoping that they would open it, but the lift operator said that the weather was “criminal” and the lift would not open until the conditions were safer. I was ready and eager to descend the mountain on my board. I encouraged my friends to join me on the ride down. I even said that I needed an adventure.

At around 11:15 we began our descent. After about fifteen minutes, we arrived at a dangerous area. It was a steep slope, with a cliff with a sharp turn. After making the turn, I was out of sight of my friends, who said they would follow behind.


The Avalanche
Then, the avalanche started. A river of snow surrounded us. The friend that had followed right behind me was carried ahead of me by the wave of snow. I repeatedly tried to stop, but it was impossible. At that moment, I thought the best solution would be to turn and face the mountain and try to stop by pushing with my board as hard as I could into the snow. It was useless – the idea was not working.

I continued being carried down the mountain on my front side. I looked around at the wave of snow that was carrying me, and I saw a rock sticking out of the snow. I thought that if I could reach it with my board, I could use it to stop myself, and no longer be carried down the mountain towards the valley. I was able to wedge my board on the rock, but within a few seconds, I realized that I was becoming trapped as the snow kept coming and piling up on my board. The force was incredible, as the snow piled on top of me. I thought I would be able to get up easily and quickly, but as I tried to lift myself, I realized I was trapped. The snow was like wet cement. I used all my force, but it did not work. The snow was heavy. It was totally dark. In that moment, I realized that it was the end for me.

I panicked at first, and then I began to analyze the situation. I started to think more deeply. I was asking myself many questions and I was trying to find answers: Why would God take my life at this moment? Was I doing anything so bad? Was this a punishment? I was sorry that I was dying so young, at only twenty-five years old.

I felt even greater sorrow for my family, my friends and all those who knew me, who would be disappointed and hurt because of my death.

I was plagued with other questions. Why was I dying is such a stupid way? Could I have avoided this situation? Why was I a snowboarder? Who asked me to become a snowboarder?

At the same time, I was thinking about the fact that no one had seen me when I became trapped in the avalanche. My other two friends that were behind would think that I would have gone full speed before them – which would be reasonable explanation for why they did not see me anymore.

It became very clear to me that I would die there. My main fear was that I would die from asphyxiation and in terrible pain. Why would God choose for me to die from asphyxiation? I did not want to die that way.


2 hours of agony
The first eight to ten minutes that I was buried under the snow were very intense for me. I was sure that there was no hope. I started to breathe very hard – I did not have enough air. I was praying, leaving myself in God’s hands. I relied on my faith that the Lord Jesus Christ would take me to a resting place till the end of the earth, when I would then enter His Kingdom – Heaven – as he promised. This is how I understand things theologically. I was already right with the idea that I would leave my body. It was just a matter of time before it would happen.

Then I realized that I could move my right hand a little bit in front of my face. I had raised my hand as I had fallen in order to protect my face as I was carried down in the avalanche. I tried to make a small tunnel in order to see how deep I was. Perhaps some air could come in, or maybe I could save myself by digging out. With my right hand stretched as far as possible, I made a small tunnel that brought sunshine, and I felt some fresh air. But my hand was not reaching far enough to be out of the snow. I wanted to dig more, but the snow was crumbly and it was filling the small gap that I had before my face. If I dug any further, I risked having my face covered with snow and losing what little ability I had to breathe at all.

I then tried to reach the right pocket of my pants where I had my cell phone. I was unable to reach it. The phone rang several times. I couldn’t answer, but I felt it would have been useless anyway, as I thought no one would reach me in time in order to save me.

I tried to think of what I could do. I finally decided to remove my glove and push my arm as hard as I could towards my pocket. I succeeded in getting my arm between my body and the snow, and with two fingers I unzipped my pocket and grabbed my phone. There was a risk that my hand might have gotten stuck down by my pocket because of the heavy snow, but in fact, I was able to raise my hand with the phone back up to my face. Then I hoped I would have a network signal and enough battery life. I saw that I had two missed calls from my friends. I called the first one, but he was out of the signal range. I called the second one and he answered the call. I told him that the avalanche covered me and that I was under the snow and I was running out of air to breathe and I would soon run out of air and die. They at first laughed, thinking that it was a joke. I told them that I was serious and that I could not hold out much longer. They needed to call someone for help or they needed to come and get me. Realizing that I was not joking, they finally confirmed that they believed me and that they would call for help.

I then called 112 – the emergency number. The operator answered and transferred me to the ski patrol on the mountain. The person who answered the phone asked where I was, but I did not know the area well, so I could not accurately tell him. Later I found out that the information I had provided was incorrect. The rescuer said that they would be there in ten minutes. I knew it was impossible for anyone to reach me that quickly, and I knew that I could not hold out for much longer.

During this time, I was trying to calm myself down, but it was impossible. I was glad that I was able to make the calls, just so someone would know that I had been buried in the avalanche. I had no hope that I would be found. I was a needle in a haystack. I figured they would find my body in the spring.

I waited, sick with worry and dread, for forty-five minutes, then I decided to call everyone again. I called my friends and I begged and screamed and implored them to find me. I told them I was going to die. They too were sick with worry and dread, but there was nothing they could do. They were scared, and as I called them again and again, they began to just hang up the phone immediately when they heard my voice. I was becoming even more panicked than I had been earlier, because I knew the end was near. The person from the ski patrol called twice, asking me where I was and telling me that they were coming right away, but it seemed clear to me that they really had no idea where I was.

I heard steps around me, I screamed for help, but no one heard me. It was so hard for me to endure through this time.
I started to become sleepy. I hoped that I would fall asleep; so that I would not have to suffer so much as I died from suffocation. But I did not fall asleep. My phone was losing the signal, and I had to turn it off and on to get it to work.


Then I slept for 2 hours.

…


The miracle
I woke up the moment they found me. I was very surprised – I was not expecting anyone to find me. I knew that I was being rescued, but at this time, my head hurt and my vision was blurred – I could see only shapes around me. I could hear the rescuers speaking, saying “I found him”; “He’s alive”; “How lucky”; “I stepped on you”; “I passed this place a few times”; “Me too”.

They quickly removed the snow around me. A great heaviness was removed from on top of me. I was trying to stand up, and I was fighting to recover – to be able to see and hear and speak and move. It would not matter how badly I was injured – I was safe now – they found me.

The rescuers removed my snowboard and my backpack, and then they raised me out of the snow. They had to hold me up, as I was unable to stand on my own. They took off my icy helmet; my goggles and my gloves and they gave me a hat and put up my hood to warm my head. They provided me with new warm gloves and they gave me chocolate and some iced tea to raise my blood glucose level. Three rescuers surrounded me and gave me a massage to warm me up. While I was under the snow I was warm – insulated from the icy wind. But now that I was out, I was freezing. My teeth were chattering and I was shivering badly.

Someone called my friends to tell them that I had been rescued and that I was OK. I thanked the rescuers over and over again. My cell phone was covered with ice and the display was frozen. The rescuers stayed with me there on the mountain for about twenty or thirty minutes, then they transported me down the mountain on a snowmobile.

There were another twenty or thirty minutes of adventure as I descended the mountain on the back of the snowmobile. The terrain was extreme – steep and very bumpy. I had to hold on to the driver so as not to fall off, and he was smaller and thinner than me. Once I pulled him right off of the snowmobile but fortunately we were traversing an area that was not too dangerous.

We finally reached the bottom of the mountain where we were met by the press. The rescuers had told me that the press would be waiting for my arrival, and that I should expect to be interviewed. Around fifteen reporters surrounded me, carrying cameras and microphones. I had to answer them, though I would have preferred never to tell anyone about my experience. Especially my family, who I knew would be very worried and upset. I would have never told them about this terrible mishap, but now I knew they would find out from the news.

An ambulance had been called, and the medical technicians told me it would be good to spend one night in the hospital under surveillance, just to make sure I was all right. I felt fine, perhaps a little weak, but I agreed to go in the ambulance to the nearest hospital in Sibiu, about seventy miles away.

They used every possible apparatus on me! They supported my neck, they gave me oxygen, they checked my blood, they put electrodes on me to check my heart and they continually checked my pulse. The siren wailed all the way to the town of Sibiu. The medics carried me on a stretcher from the ambulance to the hospital, where they repeated all the same tests they had performed in the ambulance, plus some others like x-rays and more detailed analysis of my blood. I stayed overnight in the hospital, and in the morning I left in full health.

I traveled home to my family, who were all waiting for me, eager to see that I was healthy after such an ordeal.


Conclusion
The time I spent under the snow was like from another dimension, totally different from the normal world in which we live. During that time I could see clearly what is really significant for life and what is just vanity. If I started living by all the promises I had made to myself while I was under the snow, I would be declared crazy! But if I act with wisdom, perhaps I can reach some of the goals and life purposes that became clear while I was buried beneath the snow.

Being aware of the fact that I have been granted another life on this earth, I am thankful to God, who is almighty and who showed me, in a physical way, how much He loves me. I have a new chance in the game of life, and I do not want to disappoint Him. I know that God has a purpose planned for my life. I am looking forward to fulfilling that purpose.