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Skier saves snowboarder's life in terrifying rescue caught on camera

Home> News

Updated 17:34 3 Apr 2023 GMT+1Published 16:56 3 Apr 2023 GMT+1

Skier saves snowboarder's life in terrifying rescue caught on camera

Ian Steger was out in the mountains of Washington State last month when he fell head first into a tree well

Dominic Smithers

Dominic Smithers

Incredible footage has been shared that shows the moment a snowboarder was saved after becoming trapped on a mountainside.

Ian Steger was out in the mountains of Washington State last month when he fell head first into a tree well. Check out the tense footage:

Trapped deep beneath the snow, and alone, he faced certain death.

That was until skier Francis Zuber spotted him, and managed to pull him out from the depths and save his life.

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It's a story that's almost too unbelievable to be true, but luckily the Good Samaritan was wearing a GoPro at the time and captured the whole thing.

In a short clip from the rescue that's been shared widely online, Francis can be seen slaloming down the wooded mountainside when he spots Ian's board poking out.

Ian became trapped after falling into a tree well.
Instagram/@franciszuber

Understandably concerned for whoever's on the other end, he races over and begins digging out the snow, desperately trying to get to the person below.

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Reassuring the trapped snowboarder, Francis says: "Hold on, I'm coming!"

Eventually, he manages to shovel out enough of it that he can see Ian, who is upside down.

"Thank you," he says.

To which Francis replies: "Yeah, no problem."

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Francis managed to dig Ian out.
Instagram/@franciszuber

He goes on: "OK, you're good, I got you. Alright we're both gonna catch our breath for a sec, then I'm gonna help dig you out, OK?"

After he's freed, Ian is later heard telling Francis: "Thanks for that, man."

Speaking about the incident, Ian told ABC7: "You can see in that video that Francis was asking if I was OK.

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"He was letting me know he was coming up to me. I didn't hear any of that.

"It was complete darkness. I could only hear, you know, the sound of my own breathing.

Ian and Francis after the incredible rescue.
Instagram/@ian.steger

Experts have said that Ian would most likely have died if Francis hadn't come to his aid.

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"One of the things that I was thinking about while I was down there was like, wow, like, I'm going to die down here," Ian said.

"And I'm not going to be able to, you know, tell my fiancée how much I love her."

Hero Francis said: "I caught this little flash of red out of the corner of my eye.

"And I knew it was kind of a weird thing to see because we're out of bounds. I knew something was wrong. You know, I yelled up to him, and no response."

Featured Image Credit: Francis Zuber/LOCAL NEWS X /TMX

Topics: US News, Viral

Dominic Smithers
Dominic Smithers

Dominic Smithers is the News/Agenda Desk Lead, covering the latest trends and breaking stories. After graduating from the University of Leeds with a degree in French and History, he went on to write for the Manchester Evening News, the Accrington Observer and the Macclesfield Express. So as you can imagine, he’s spent many a night wondering just how useful that second language has been. But c'est la vie.

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@SmithersDom

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