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Searchers find third body buried by Idaho avalanche

Survivor recounts ordeal on Facebook page for skiers

By NICHOLAS K. GERANIOS, Associated Press
Published: January 9, 2020, 7:58pm
3 Photos
The Coeur d&#039;Alene Fire Department K-9 Team responds to Silver Mountain for an avalanche Tuesday in Kellogg, Idaho.
The Coeur d'Alene Fire Department K-9 Team responds to Silver Mountain for an avalanche Tuesday in Kellogg, Idaho. (KHQ) Photo Gallery

COEUR D’ALENE, Idaho — Buried under about 10 feet of snow after an avalanche this week at an Idaho ski resort, Bill Fuzak made peace with his predicament and prepared for death.

“I had already relegated myself to the inevitable as I knew the air would not last long,” Fuzak, 62, wrote on a public Facebook page for skiers. “I’m really surprised how calm I felt but knew there was nothing I could do but wait and pray.”

His prayers were answered. Fuzak became one of four survivors extricated from Tuesday’s avalanche at the Silver Mountain Resort near Kellogg, Idaho. Two other skiers were killed, and the body of a third skier was recovered on Thursday. The resort remained closed Thursday.

Fuzak, a skier who lives in the nearby Spokane area, said he was entombed in the snow for about 50 minutes, much longer than most avalanche survivors.

Unable to move anything but his right hand, he cleared snow from his face and mouth. At some point, he passed out.

“The first thing I remember when coming back to consciousness was a group of rescuers cheering that a survivor had been located: me,” Fuzak wrote in what he called a “personal summary” on Facebook about the ordeal.

Fuzak wrote that he was among a group of skiers and snowboarders he knew, heading down Wardner Peak on a difficult run called 16-to-1 about 11 a.m.

“The snow started to fracture above us as well as below us and the slide started to propagate and accelerate,” he wrote.

Fuzak then fell and said he started “swimming to try and stay on top of the slide.”

The slide eventually stopped. Completely buried, Fuzak managed to punch a hole through the snow that let air flow in.

“Within seconds, another, more powerful slide hit and buried my breathing hole under what felt like feet of snow,” Fuzak wrote. “At this point I tried to calm my breathing and conserve air.”

The resort did not realize that another skier was missing until a day after the avalanche, when it received a call Wednesday morning from a concerned family member unable to get in touch with that person.

That prompted searchers to resume their hunt on Wednesday and Thursday.

Shoshone County Sheriff Mike Gunderson told KHQ-TV that a third body buried under the avalanche was found Thursday by searchers in a helicopter and identified as the person reported missing on Wednesday. He said there were no other reports of missing persons on the mountain.

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