Teen Missing in Alps Found Waist-Deep in Snow

American skier was missing for more than 48 hours
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 5, 2015 2:28 AM CST
Teen Missing in Alps Found Waist-Deep in Snow
A man takes in the view during the inauguration of the Peak Walk, a suspension bridge that connects two mountain peaks in Les Diablerets, Switzerland.   (AP Photo/Keystone, Laurent Gillieron)

Eleven skiers have died in the Swiss Alps over the last few days, and police say it's a miracle that 19-year-old American Mark Doose wasn't No. 12. Doose disappeared while skiing near the Diablerets resort on Sunday and survived more than 48 hours until rescuers found him on Tuesday, stuck waist-deep in snow and suffering from hypothermia, Discovery reports. He told rescuers he had gotten lost during a snowstorm and tried to follow the chairlift supports but ended up in a ravine. He says he tried to keep going despite the storm and a broken ski.

Doose, a former Boy Scout from the Chicago area, says he built an igloo to keep warm amid freezing temperatures Monday night, reports Reuters. When he tried to keep going the next day, crossing a pond that came up to his neck, "the ravine just came to a waterfall," he tells Radio Television Suisse. "There was no way down it. I was able to climb up one of the banks on the left side, and at that point I was close enough to start yelling. I probably spent four or five hours just sitting there yelling." Rescue workers say he was exhausted but still conscious when they found him in the snow, and still in surprisingly good shape despite his ordeal. (Click to read about how a man survived for three days in sub-zero wilderness in December.)

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