Skier digs 2 men out of snow on Sugarloaf Mountain in Maine

A former ski instructor at Sugarloaf Mountain in Maine rescued one skier and helped his friend dig himself out after the two got buried by a wind slab avalanche that collapsed on them near the summit on Sunday morning.

“If it had been a larger amount of snow and less terrain underneath, someone could have definitely been really, really injured,” said Nik Krueger, 27, who coached and clawed both men out of several feet of snow. “Once you get into those slides, they’re extremely hard to get out of.”

Krueger, an engineer who lives in Old Town, Maine, said lift services near the top of the mountain were unavailable due to a weekend storm that dumped over 24 inches of snow on Sugarloaf. Skiers were forced to use a T-bar, a cable system that pulls people up the mountain by a rod between the legs.

“You can imagine going up on this T-bar and there’s a ton of snow all over the place, it’s crystal blue skies, and the winds are scouring the mountain,” Krueger said by telephone Tuesday evening. “You were definitely not a beginner going up to the section where this happened.”

Krueger said he rode the Tbar as far as it would take him before beginning the short hike to a spot where he found himself staring down a steep incline beside his friend and a man he didn’t know. That man stepped off first, followed by Krueger and then his friend.

“I got two or three turns in, and I look behind me, and my friend is already stuck in the snow,” said Krueger, who spun back around to see a shelf of snow collapse over the third skier and carry him about 20 feet down the mountain.

The man, who requested not to be identified by name, said he was able to swipe the snow away from his face as he came to a stop. He noted he was able to remain calm despite being trapped in an area he had skied dozens of times.

A spokesperson for Sugarloaf classified the collapse as a “wind slab avalanche” triggered when a skier attempted to descend into an open glade. The collapse, according to Sugarloaf, sent approximately 50 feet of snow sliding down the mountain.

After he was sure that his friend could get out himself, Krueger slid down toward the third man and began digging him out with his hands. Krueger unlatched the man’s boots from his skis, retrieved a ski lodged in a nearby snowbank, and clawed through multiple feet of snow until all three were back on their feet.

Krueger said he did not contact the ski patrol. Sugarloaf said ski patrol had been called, but a passing skier’s “quick and immediate response” resulted in the men being freed upon the patrol’s arrival.

Sugarloaf is not considered avalanche terrain, but snow collapse can occur when the snowpack becomes unstable, according to the spokesperson. The 37 inches of snow that had fallen on the mountain over four days presented the “perfect environment and conditions for a wind slab of this type.”

“We laughed about it for a second, and I said, ‘Well, I’ll get out of your way now,’” Krueger recalled. “It was just another part of my day, I saved someone’s life, and I kept rolling.”

‘It was just another part of my day, I saved someone’s life, and I kept rolling.’ NIK KRUEGER,

Engineer who lives in Old Town, Maine