‘I prayed like crazy’: Snowmobiler reflects after getting caught in Utah avalanche
AMERICAN FORK, Utah (ABC4) – A Utah man said it’s “an absolute miracle” he survived getting trapped underneath in an avalanche on Saturday.
Robert “Bob” Tillotson was snowmobiling in American Fork Canyon when an avalanche slid down the mountain. He was stuck 3 feet underneath the snow for nearly 15 minutes.
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“It hit me coming from behind,” he said. “It’s just black. You can’t see, you can’t hear, it’s just black.”
Tillotson said he came prepared with an avalanche bag that’s supposed to inflate under his back if deployed, bringing him to the surface, but he said he couldn’t move, and was left to think.
“I was thinking about my family because I knew the chances of me making it were dwindling rapidly,” he said. “I was starting to lose oxygen.”
That’s when other snowmobilers in the area heard he was stuck and came to help. They used the beacon and search setting on their snowmobiles to help track him down.
In video captured by one of the rescuers, they shout, “We’ve got to get him out.”
After minutes of using snow shovels to dig Tillotson out, the snowmobilers are able to pull his face out of the snow.
“I prayed like crazy,” Tillotson said. “More than I ever have in my life.”
Eventually, Tillotson’s rescuers fully dug him out from the snow to safety. They started a fire and used emergency supplies they had on hand to warm him up.
Tillotson said his prayers were answered, and not for the first time.
He said that one year ago, he was trapped in another avalanche. While he admits it wasn’t as severe as the one in American Fork, he said it’s caused him to do some reflecting.
“What hit me as I was laying under there, ‘if I make it am I doing enough to help people?’” he asked. “That’s the direction I’m going, is trying to be smart about my life and being there to help whoever I can.”
Tillotson said after the first avalanche he was stuck in, he took an avalanche safety class.
While Tillotson won’t stop snowmobiling due to his love of the outdoors, he said he’ll be a bit smarter when it comes to snow safety moving forward.
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