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Phone app, 'wife's intuition' saves skier buried by avalanche
A powder day at Stevens Pass turned into a fight for survival last week for a man from Bothell.
Bothell, wash. - A powder day at Stevens Pass turned into a fight for survival last week for a man from Bothell.
The skier was buried by an avalanche for four hours until a piece of technology saved his life.
The backstory:
These days, phones aren't just for making calls, and watches aren't just for keeping time. And for Michael Harris last Thursday, his tech was "watching" out for him in a way he never imagined he'd need it.
"Can’t live without our phones," said Michael Harris, an avid skier.
As he had many times before, Harris was skiing Big Chief Bowl in Stevens pass, but this time, the snow gave way.
"Because I was on skis I got caught between two slabs," he said.
Realizing he was caught in an avalanche, he tried using a swimming motion to work his way out, but the slide was too strong.
Harris was able to avoid a boulder, and slid into what he described as a "snow hole" where he stayed upright, but the snow buried him.
"The sensation was being encased in cement," he said.
Unable to move, he couldn't reach his Apple Watch with his hands, or the iPhone in his jacket pocket.
"Signed, sealed and delivered right here over my heart. So, my wife was calling me, and when I was buried, I heard something. I felt someone calling me, because I felt it vibrate I could hear it ring, yet my hand couldn’t get to it," said Harris.
Down in the "hole" beneath the snow, he thought of his wife and kids.
"I’m a religious guy. I said God, I’m in trouble, I don’t know if anyone is going to know where I’m at but I can’t get out of this on my own," he said.
His wife Penny felt the urge to check Michael's location through the Find My iPhone app.
"You get a feeling something’s just not right," Penny Harris said. "I followed my intuition, saw his location, checked it a couple times and saw it wasn’t moving."
She contacted the ski patrol and drove up to wait for them at Stevens Pass. They used the app location to find him several feet down, with the help of his iPhone and watch.
"Right now I’m just blessed and happy," said Penny.
Michael was rushed to the hospital and treated for hypothermia, a broken bone and other injuries.
Michael and Penny Harris in the hospital
"It shows the fracture and here’s the repair," he said, showing us a photo.
His family created an online fundraiser to help with medical bills and the hospital staff started calling him the "Miracle Avalanche Man."
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"I was inches away from the thing that could save my life, but I just couldn’t get there. And yet because she knew how to use 'Find My iPhone', I’m here today," he said.
Sometimes help arrives right on time, and if not for his family and tech, he might not be here today.
"I feel like I got a second life because I’ve got him," said Penny.
"In that moment, the only thing I wanted was to see my wife and my kids. That was a big takeaway. They were important to me. They are even more important to me now," said Michael.
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The Source: Information in this story came from original FOX 13 Seattle reporting and interviews.