Wife Finds Skier Husband Buried Under Avalanche with “Find My iPhone”
Michael Harris was enjoying skiing at Stevens Pass Ski Resort in Washington on Thursday, February 26, when he unexpectedly found himself trapped in an avalanche. Buried beneath the snow for over four hours, he was unsure of his survival prospects, until his wife utilized the “Find My iPhone” feature to pinpoint his location and bring him to safety.
After realizing her husband was unaccounted for, Penny attempted to call Michael’s phone, but he was unable to answer. She opted to use the Find My app to track him down and noticed that his phone had remained stationary for the last three hours. “You get a sense that something’s definitely off,” she remembered. “I trusted my instincts, checked his location, monitored it a few times, and confirmed it wasn’t moving.”
Penny successfully reached out to ski patrol and provided the coordinates of Michael’s phone. It wasn’t long before the family was informed that he had been located and was being transported down the mountain on a sled. Rushed to the hospital, Michael was found to be hypothermic, facing a contused lung, pneumonia, kidney damage, and a fracture in his right tibial plateau. “It’s nothing short of a miracle that he survived without sustaining life-altering or life-threatening injuries,” his daughter Lauren mentioned in a GoFundMe campaign set up to assist with some of the family’s medical expenses. “I’ve been thanking God since the incident for keeping him with us.”
Now recuperating at home following surgery, Michael is undergoing regular physiotherapy and beginning to regain movement in his legs. He feels immensely grateful to his wife for saving his life, as well as to all the contributors to the GoFundMe campaign, which has raised over $38,000 as of this writing.
“As I lie here in bed composing this post, I’ve started to become aware of my breathing. Inhale. Exhale. All Automatic,” he shared in an update. “I’m amazed by the plentiful supply of oxygen I can readily access, while just 10 days ago on that mountainside it was a precious and dwindling resource I was close to depleting.” Michael concluded with, “We all rely on it to live and prosper, yet it’s always there. So easy to overlook, but this morning, each breath feels invaluable and something to be cherished.”