Stranded Skier Saves Himself By Building Snow Cave

Who: A 16-year-old skier
Where: Wildschönau Ski Area, Austian Tyrol
His mistake: Trying to take a short cut
What happened: The boy fell about 30 meters and landed in steep terrain where he was unable to extricate himself.

According to police reports, the 16-year-old boy was skiing on Tuesday when he tried to take a short cut and went out of bounds. He fell about 30 meters and landed in deep snow where he was unable to extricate himself or ski back. He tried to ski downhill but got stuck so he built himself a snow cave where he was able to survive the night during a snowstorm.

The boy waited eight hours for rescuers to find him. Forty volunteer rescuers from the Austrian Bergrettung searched for hours and found the boy after midnight after he spent eight hours in the snow cave. The lucky boy suffered only mild hypothermia. Despite his mistake in skiing out of bounds the boy was smart enough to make a snow cave which may have saved his life.

Read the story (in German) here.