Skier rescues man caught in Avalanche in Maine resorts.

By Emily Martinez

Nik Krueger was celebrating his birthday by taking a trip to Sugarloaf Mountain at a Maine resort. He did not know he would have to leap into action when recovering a fellow skier from getting buried by an avalanche. 

This Sunday Krueger, a former Sugarloaf ski instructor, was with a friend on the slopes when he noticed heavy winds pick up. “At that point you know, ‘Hey this is kind of experts-only stuff,” Krueger said. 

They noticed a man at the top of the trail and let him go down first. Once Krueger went down he saw the disaster happen. 

“I look up behind me and my friend is buried,” Krueger said after seeing his friend fall and get stuck in a few feet of snow. “I look below me. I turn my head back around looking down the trail, and I watch this random guy ski over this big pile of snow and the whole thing collapses underneath him and basically swallows him right up.” 

In a Statement released by Sugarloaf on Sunday they said wind slab avalanches happen on open wooded terrain. “Sugarloaf is not considered avalanche terrain nor designated as such,” said the statement. 

Krueger first checked on his friend to make sure he could get out to avoid any more avalanche’s nearby. He then slid down and began digging for about five to 10 minutes until he was able to free the fellow skier. 

After the incident they both cheated and skied off in their own separate ways. Krueger recommends to all skiers to keep tabs on the weather, maintain situational awareness, and stick with a partner. 

“This was a best case scenario, right? Kind of the perfect situation of a good learning moment for everybody,” he said.