An Alaska man survived three excruciating hours pinned by a 700-pound boulder with only minor injuries through dumb luck, a “great wife,” surprising cell service and a tourist helicopter, according to rescue workers and reports.
Kell Morris, 61, the hiker who survived the ordeal, said he is one of the luckiest men alive.
“And luckier that I have such a great wife,” he told the Associated Press Thursday.
Morris and his wife Jo Roop had decided last Saturday to hike a remote glacier south of Anchorage to avoid the crowd of tourists that visit the Kenai Peninsula during the holidays.
They opted for an isolated trail behind a state prison instead, according to reports.
Morris said he tried avoiding the monstrous boulders – some weighing up to 1,000 pounds – along the creek bank.
But then, without warning, a 700-pound boulder came tumbling down and pinned him face down into a freezing creek, according to reports and a press release from the rescue workers.
Morris fell down the 20-foot embankment face down in the water, then was walloped by what rescue workers described as “an avalanche of boulders.”
“Everything, the whole side slid out from under me,” Morris told the AP.
Through dumb luck, he landed surrounded by rocks that supported the weight of the 700-pound boulder – the only thing that stopped him from getting crushed, Seward Fire Chief Clinton Crites said.
The trapped hiker felt intense pain in his left leg and kept anticipating the terrible moment his femur would snap, he said.
“When it first happened, I was doubtful that there was going to be a good outcome,” Morristold the outlet.
His wife, a former state trooper and current police officer, tried desperately to pry him out from beneath the boulder to no avail before she left to find a cell signal and call for help.
That’s when Morris had another stroke of luck.
After only walking 300 yards, his wife was able to find cell service and call 911, relying on her professional experience to send GPS coordinates to dispatch, according to reports.
A volunteer at the neighboring Bear Creek Fire Department heard the call while working at Seward Helicopter Tours and flew a helicopter to the scene.
Firefighters unable to access the scene with their all-terrain vehicles would eventually jump out of the helicopter, according to Crites.
By the time rescue workers arrived, Morris was hypothermic from the glacier water, Crites said.
His wife was holding his head out of the water to allow him to breathe.
“I think if we hadn’t had that private helicopter assist us, it would have taken us at least another 45 minutes to get to him, and I’m not sure he had that much time,” the fire chief said.
Firefighters used airbags to slightly lift the boulder.
“But then it just became an all-hands brute force of ‘one, two, three, push,’ ” Crites said. “And seven guys were able to lift it enough to pull the victim out.”
Rescue workers placed Morris in a basket and an Alaska National Guard helicopter took him to a nearby hospital, where he spent two nights recovering from minor injuries.
“I fully anticipated a body recovery, not him walking away without a scratch on him,” Crites said.
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