Utah man buried in avalanche takes ‘last breath’ before being rescued by his brother

A Utah man who was left buried by a deadly avalanche took his last breath before being rescued by his brother.

Hunter Hansen was left submerged 2ft under the snow after he was hit by the wall of white powder as he traveled through the Franklin Basin, in the state’s famous Backcountry on Tuesday. His brother Braeden Hansen, who was just ahead of him, had watched in horror as the violent force of the avalanche knocked him 150 yards down the steep mountainside.

Hunter then struggled to breathe under the weight of the snow drift. But just as he took his ‘last breath’ Braeden came to his rescue after seeing his glove sticking up from ground.

He told NBC News: “I could see his hand, his gloves, kind of poking out, waving… But by the time I got to him, he was about 2 feet, his head was about 2 feet under the snow… I just cleared the snow away from his head and got his helmet off so that he could start breathing again, and then just started digging his body out from there.”

Hunter said he was overwhelmed when Braeden found him. He told NBC News: “There was just a sigh of relief when I felt him start digging… It just washed me down the mountain. The most violent thing I’ve ever felt…Couldn't breathe, couldn't do anything. I slammed into a rock or a tree." He added: “You hear so many tragic stories of people getting buried in avalanches and not making it out, so I feel very blessed and lucky.”

According to the Utah Avalanche Center, the snowdrift took place at around 8,400 feet elevation. Hunter said he had taken out his phone just before the snow drift formed and captured some brief footage of it before Hunter was hit.

He remembered, according to NBC News: “I saw the snow ripple and knew that was an avalanche… I turned around to watch the slide hit Hunter and just watched him kind of get tumbled and buried and then lost sight of him." Braeden said he first tried to call Hunter via his radio. But with no response, he then called his father asking him to send a search party. However, moments later, he came across his brother and then got him out of the snow.

According to the Colorado Avalanche Information Center, an average of 27 people have died in avalanches over the last ten winters. But there is ‘no way to determine the number of people caught or buried in avalanches each year because most non-fatal avalanche incidents are not reported’, the agency says on its website.