SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A 43-year-old Utah woman who survived an avalanche says she felt a 'strange serenity' while trapped under the snow before she went unconscious.
Elisabeth Malloy suffered frost bite in her toes and fingers, but lived to tell her harrowing story thanks to her boyfriend, avalanche rescue beacons, a skier that wandered by and avalanche rescue teams.
During a Wednesday press conference, Malloy and Adam Morrey said they are lucky to be alive. They said they were backcountry skiing in the mountains east of Salt Lake City on Saturday when they triggered and were engulfed by a 700-foot wide avalanche.
Morrey found Malloy using avalanche rescue beacons, dug her up and did CPR to save her. Another skier helped them down the mountain, and a rescue helicopter flew them to safety.
