Avalanche at the Mine: Buried Under a Machine

Summary

Real Survival Stories: Avalanche at the Mine—Buried Under a Machine

Podcast: Real Survival Stories
Host: John Hopkins (Noiser)
Air Date: July 15, 2026
Episode Theme:
A harrowing true account of Les Morlang, a Colorado gold miner, who survived 21 hours buried under 50 feet of snow after a devastating avalanche at the Bessie G mine in 1985. The episode explores the physical and psychological struggles of survival against nature, the bonds of friendship, and the resilience of the human spirit.

---

Main Discussion Points & Insights

Setting the Scene: Life in the La Plata Mountains

• Colorado, November 17, 1985: Les and his colleague Jack Ritter race against an oncoming blizzard to complete work at the Bessie G mine ([00:56]–[05:31]).
• Bessie G Mine: A reclaimed gold and silver mine, operated by Jack Ritter—off the beaten track, unfinished, and under extreme pressure to be profitable.
• Les’s Background: Grew up on a local farm, hands-on, pragmatic, and a self-described “mechanic at heart.”
  • “I love mathematics, but I’m really a mechanic at heart.” — Les Morlang ([11:41])

The Avalanche and Immediate Survival

• Warning Signs & The Avalanche:

  • A minor snow slide occurs, serving as an ignored omen. Moments later, a massive avalanche hits, burying both men ([17:09]–[18:55]).
  • “He handed it up to me and all of a sudden there was a little blast of snow about a pickup load and it knocked me down in the bucket … and there was our warning. We didn’t take heed.” — Les Morlang ([17:09])

• Being Buried Alive:

  • Les is left disoriented, upside down, entombed by snow and pressed by immense weight ([18:55]–[23:38]).
  • “My hard hat and everything in life was back behind me. First thing, you’re just trying to breathe, but the pressure on your chest doesn’t allow you anything.” — Les Morlang ([19:59])
  • Forced to conserve oxygen and battle rising claustrophobia. He realizes he's upside down by the direction saliva runs ([21:08]).

Digging Out: The Ordeal

• Methodical Escape Attempts:

  • Les creates an air pocket with his hands, flips himself right-side up, and digs inch by inch using a personal system ([23:38]–[25:51]).
  • “I had a little system: I’d reach up 1, 2, 3, would push it down to my knees, and 4 was packing.” — Les Morlang ([24:28])

• Mental Struggles and Motivations:

  • Overwhelming loneliness and despair set in, but Les is determined not to give up, motivated by thoughts of his wife and son.
  • “Flashbacks of seeing my son and my wife. I had to get out … Said it a thousand times. Don’t ever give up. There’s always hope. If you can move that little finger, move it.” — Les Morlang ([05:31], [26:39], [44:26])

• Physical Toll:

  • Multiple hours of digging lead to frostbite and extreme pain, forcing Les to improvise with what he has.
  • “I was ripping up my shirt ... when they’d get cold ... I'd go for a back piece, rip it out and wrap them around my hands.” — Les Morlang ([25:51])

The Surface: Temporary Salvation, New Peril

• Emergence After 21 Hours:

  • Les finally punches through to the surface after nearly a day, but the storm still rages and no help is in sight ([28:07]).
  • “At last, Les punches through the layer above his head and for the first time in nearly a day, he is not greeted by more snow, but a sliver of gray sky.” — Narrator ([28:07])

• Forced to Shelter Again:

  • Fails to start a fire due to frozen hands, is exposed to the elements, and ultimately digs back into the snow for shelter ([29:35]–[30:35]).
  • “The storm was still cooking pretty good. Only thing I could do, dig back in.” — Les Morlang ([30:22])

• Small Comfort in Nature:

  • A pika chirps at Les in his snow cave, becoming an unlikely comfort:
  • “There was a pika giving me heck that evening ... But man, was that ever so inviting to hear that after his long, lonely, silent struggle.” — Les Morlang ([31:10])

• A Second Avalanche:

  • Slides over his cave instead of burying him, inadvertently insulating him and aiding survival ([32:30]).
  • “The second avalanche covered my hole, so it did me a favor. It closed my entrance off. That stopped any wind or anything. I’m sure that helped me survive.” — Les Morlang ([32:49])

Final Escape & Rescue

• Daylight and Descent:

  • Les emerges again, sun shining, and begins his descent down the mountain, choosing not to wait for rescuers—a choice he later regrets ([34:02], [34:22]).
  • “I'm like, okay, that's it, I’m out of here. I'm not gonna wait for anybody. Which was the wrong thing to do. If I’d have stayed there, they’d have seen me.” — Les Morlang ([34:22])

• Missed by Rescue Helo, Surviving More Avalanches:

  • A first rescue helicopter misses him. On foot, he survives controlled avalanche blasts set by rescuers ([35:58]–[37:01]).
  • “I hear these explosions going off and I knew what they were doing … screaming and scratching and a horrible noise.” — Les Morlang ([36:46])

• Final Rescue:

  • Flags down the search helicopter at last. Sheriff Butch Nolan waves back, confirming he’s been seen ([38:23]).
  • “When I got up on top of that rock and here they come around the corner. Beautiful music. The chopper’s coming right up to me.” — Les Morlang ([38:23])

Aftermath, Loss, and Reflection

• Survivor's Guilt:

  • In the hospital, Les learns Jack did not survive ([39:57]–[40:24]).
  • “When they found Jack, he was beside the loader, reaching up towards the control seat to let me down.” — Les Morlang ([39:57])

• Avoiding Amputation:

  • Nearly loses his fingers to frostbite, but wife Anita intervenes, ensuring he receives proper care ([41:06]).

• The Importance of Family:

  • Les credits his wife Anita for getting him through physically and emotionally ([41:56], [42:55]).
  • “The best thing was being married to Anita. That probably made us closer than ever ... She took care of me. That was like a little infant, basically.” — Les Morlang ([41:56])
  • “Even after everything was all done, I didn’t know if I should be alive or not or want to be. But when you have somebody like her, it’s easy. We’re high school sweethearts. We’ve been married 52 years.” — Les Morlang ([42:55])

• Enduring Lessons:

  • Les emphasizes the need for hope and persistence through even the most overwhelming adversity ([44:26]).
  • “Don’t ever give up. There’s always hope. If you could move that little thing, fingers, move it. ... It may seem like the end of the world, but don’t give up. Just try.” — Les Morlang ([44:26])

---

Memorable Quotes & Timestamps

• On Determination in Crisis:
  • “Don’t ever give up. There’s always hope. If you can move that little finger, move it.” — Les Morlang ([05:31], [44:26])
• On the Avalanche’s Shock:
  • “All of a sudden there was a little blast of snow... we didn’t take heed.” — Les Morlang ([17:09])
• On Love and Survival:
  • “The best thing was being married to Anita. That probably made us closer than ever.” — Les Morlang ([41:56])
• On Survivor’s Guilt and Loss:
  • “When they found Jack ... he went pretty quick.” — Les Morlang ([39:57])
• On Comfort in Loneliness:
  • “There was a pika giving me heck that evening … man, was that ever so inviting.” — Les Morlang ([31:10])

---

Key Timestamps

• [00:56]—Opening scene, blizzard hits mine
• [17:09]—First snow blast and avalanche begins
• [19:59]—Realization of being trapped and initial panic
• [24:28]—Developing a digging system to escape
• [28:07]—Breakthrough to the surface after 21 hours
• [32:49]—Second avalanche provides insulation
• [34:22]—Decision to descend mountain alone
• [38:23]—Final rescue by helicopter
• [39:57]—News of Jack’s fate
• [44:26]—Enduring lesson: never give up hope

---

Episode Takeaways

• Survival under unimaginable odds is driven by both practical ingenuity and a sense of purpose.
• Isolation and adversity test the limits of human resilience, but even simple comforts—like the sound of a small animal—can make a difference.
• Emotional aftermath—grief, guilt, and gratitude—can be as lasting as physical scars.
• Persistence and hope, even in the bleakest moment, are central to survival.

---

Next Episode Preview

Rebecca Hay’s 2016 ballooning disaster and another extraordinary battle for survival.

---

Tone: The episode blends gritty realism with heartfelt reflection, keeping Les Morlang’s plainspoken, earnest voice at its core. The narrative is immersive, moving from breathtaking descriptions of the mountains to minute accounts of physical and emotional endurance.

Transcript

[Progressive Insurance Narrator]

Insurance isn't one size fits all, and shopping for it shouldn't feel like squeezing into something that just doesn't fit. That's why drivers have enjoyed Progressive's name your price tool for years. With the name your price tool, you tell them what you want to pay and they show you options that fit your budget enough. Hunting for discounts, trying to calculate rates and tinkering with coverages. Maybe you're picking out your very first policy, or maybe you're just looking for something that works better for you and your family. Either way, they make it simple to see your options. No guesswork, no surprises. Ready to see how easy and fun shopping for car insurance can be? Visit progressive.com and give the name your price tool a try. Take the stress out of shopping and find coverage that fits your life on your terms. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates Price and coverage match limited by state law.

[Narrator (John Hopkins)]

It's late afternoon on November 17, 1985, in the skies above southwest Colorado. A heavy mantle of cloud, which has been steadily gathering mass all afternoon, finally breaks. Snow streams down like ticket tape, blinding flurries that swirl and eddy in the 50 mile an hour gusts. On a steep hillside among the frozen peaks of the La Plata Mountains, a scattering of timber lies strewn across the surface of the snow. A mechanical loader, toppled onto its side and half buried by deep fresh drifts, continues to rumble and splutter, belching coils of black smoke into the blizzard. That sound, that monotonous drone of machinery, is what 31 year old Les Morlang clings onto. Because where he is stunned and disorientated beneath 50ft of snow, it's the only thing telling him which direction to dig.

[Les Morlang]

The loader thankfully told me which way to go. And then after I kind of got adjusted and then got my torso free to breathe, that's when I decided I could dig out. After I got the moxied into the brain, I guess.

[Narrator (John Hopkins)]

Fueled by desperation and guided by the distant rumble of the loader, Les begins to frantically claw at the snow above his head. But compressed by the weight of the deposits above, the clumps around him have started to firm up, hardening like setting cement. Les must hack and chisel at the snow with his fingertips, then push it down past his body before squirming into the space he has created. Gradually, he establishes a kind of rhythm.

[Les Morlang]

What I do is after I got my torso loose a little bit so I could kind of turn and start digging on my incline and I had a little system, I'd reach up 1, 23 would push it down to my knees, and 4 was packing.

[Narrator (John Hopkins)]

Millimeter by millimeter, Les inches his way towards the surface. At times, the claustrophobia becomes overwhelming, triggering the impulse to scream and thrash his limbs. But Les has to keep his composure. Panicking will only use up more precious oxygen and cause him to asphyxiate faster. Besides, even if his voice could penetrate the fathoms of snow separating him from daylight, there's no one up there to hear him.

[Les Morlang]

That's a pretty lonely feeling. Up there, you might as well be out in the Alaska tundra with no help. Just nobody can get to you.

[Narrator (John Hopkins)]

Ever wondered what you would do when disaster strikes? If your life depended on your next decision, could you make the right choice? Welcome to Real Survival Stories. These are the astonishing tales of ordinary people thrown into extraordinary situations. People suddenly forced to fight for their lives. In this episode, we meet 31 year old Les Morlan in November 1985. Les, a mechanic at a gold mine in the mountains of Colorado, is racing to complete some essential construction work before a blizzard rolls in. While keeping one eye on the approaching storm, Les and his colleague Jack are operating a mechanical loader when they are caught off guard by something that no forecast could have predicted. A devastating natural disaster that descends on the mine where the two men are working. They will become separated and Les will be left buried beneath 50ft of compacted snow and ice.

[Les Morlang]

My hard hat and everything in life was back behind me. First thing, you're just trying to breathe, but the pressure on your chest doesn't allow you anything

[Narrator (John Hopkins)]

disorientated. Running out of oxygen and with nobody around to help, Les will have to claw his way to the surface in more ways than one. He will have to dig deeper.

[Les Morlang]

Think the flashbacks of seeing my son and my wife. I had to get out. Said it a thousand times. Don't ever give up. There's always hope. If you can move that little finger, move it.

[Narrator (John Hopkins)]

I'm John Hopkins from the Noiser Podcast Network. This is Real Survival Stories. It's 1pm on Nov. 17, 1985, fringing the Eastern border of Colorado's high Plain. A wild beast beautiful region of winding canyons and rolling copper colored hills. The La Plata Mountains are a jagged chain of alpine peaks that rise like a prehistoric spine from the earth. Winter has arrived in the high Plain and a recent blizzard has left its mark on this uniquely dramatic landscape. The red sandstone cliffs are banded with snow and the sprawling sand flats shiver beneath heavy blankets of white. Pinpricked here and there by a solitary snow dusted Cactus. Meanwhile, up among the lofty peaks of the La Platas, a deep freeze has set in. These are just the first throes of winter, but already the pine forests lie half buried by deep drifts, their boughs slumped and spangled with silvery frost. Above the timberline, things become starker still. The mountaintops are encased in ice, their white silhouettes faintly embossed against the pale overcast sky. Just below a treeless ridgeline, where the wind has sculpted the snow into a precarious overhanging cornice, two men trudge along a footpath carved into the hillside. 31 year old Les Morley, dressed for work in rubber boots, hard hat and overalls, walks alongside his colleague Jack Ritter. Les is a mechanic and electrician at the Bessie G, one of the many gold and silver mines that run through the hills of La Plata County.

[Les Morlang]

I would do all the mechanical and millwright, like setting up the air system and electrical and water. You have generators outside the mine by the portal and that runs everything inside. So my job was to keep all the motors going and do the electrical. We had a pretty nice mine.

[Narrator (John Hopkins)]

Les and Jack have come to check on the progress of a work crew who are supposed to be finishing the construction of a snowshed over the mine's entrance, known as the portal. When completed, the snowshed will protect the portal from snow, enabling the miners to work longer into the unforgiving winter months. But when Jack and Les arrive at the work site, they make an unwelcome discovery. The rest of the crew has already packed up and left, presumably driven down the mountain by the adverse weather.

[Les Morlang]

We come back from town and that was about 1 o', clock, 2 o' clock before we got back to the mine and nobody was there. Everybody had left. We were kind of at a standstill, but they were supposed to have this done and it wasn't. And Jack asked me, he said, you want to try it? And of course I'm all in. I'm just a kid.

[Narrator (John Hopkins)]

If you want something done right and more to the point, done quickly, do it yourself. And so Jack and Les get to work, anxious to make the most of the three remaining hours of daylight. Les gets behind the wheel of a loader while Jack fills the bucket with timber. Les then begins ferrying the wood up to the mine's entrance, trundling along the rutted track from the lumber pile to the mine shaft. As he steers the vehicle, Les glances up at the frigid chalk colored sky. It feels like it could start snowing again any minute. They'd Better get a move on. The last thing they want is to get stranded up here. Les Morlan was born and raised in nearby Silverton. And just like the hills of southwest Colorado, he is tough, rugged and weather hardened. The son of a livestock farmer, Les spent much of his boyhood helping out on the ranch, rounding up cattle and harvesting sugar beets.

[Les Morlang]

Well, I grew up on a farm here locally and we've been here all our lives. I had two brothers and one sister and our family wasn't that tight knit. My mom and dad didn't talk that much. I didn't realize that dad was just hanging in there till we graduated and then they were getting a divorce, which they did.

[Narrator (John Hopkins)]

Though family life wasn't always harmonious, Les describes happy memories of childhood wrangling cattle on horseback during the week and racing motorcycles on weekends. At school, Les wasn't exactly a model student. Growing up on a farm, the emphasis was always on the practical. Traditional academic subjects could feel a little abstract too far removed from the hard scrabble reality of life. As soon as he was old enough, Les left school and entered the world of work. He trained as a land surveyor, doing topographical mapping for a local firm. The job suited Les, appealing to his logical, pragmatic mind.

[Les Morlang]

So that was my formal education was about eight years of surveying. I really liked it because English, when you go to school, makes no sense. Mathematics work and you can do it from different directions and make it work. So I love mathematics, but I'm really a mechanic at heart.

[Narrator (John Hopkins)]

In 1974, aged 20, Les married his high school sweetheart, Anita. A few years later, the couple moved from the Silverton area to the town of Green River, Utah, where Les took a job as a mechanic. Though just four hours northwest of Silverton, Green river is a world apart. A dusty, one stoplight town in the middle of Utah's high desert. But as it happened, Les and Anita wouldn't stay here for long. One day, Les got a call out of the blue from an old family friend back in Colorado. A guy named Jack Ritter.

[Les Morlang]

I got to know Jack through Jeff. His son and my younger brother were buddies, girl chasers. Together we were all pretty close, all of their family and all of our family got along well. It's better than family because they weren't related to you. Jackie was always quiet, always a listener, always.

[Narrator (John Hopkins)]

Jack is a veteran Colorado miner turned contractor. These days he runs a company that buys up old disused mines and gets them operational again using modern methods to extract every last ounce of remaining low grade ore. Ever since the discovery of Gold in Colorado in 1858. Enterprising fortune seekers have set up mining operations in the foothills of the Southern Rockies. By 1985, after more than a century of intensive extraction, most of those operations have closed. The region is littered with abandoned mines. However, with the advent of modern mining and refining technology, a new industry of mine reclamation has flourished. In recent years, mines deemed exhausted and no longer profitable have been given a new lease of life by the next generation of fortune seekers, people like Jack Ritter. When Jack rang Les, he told him he'd recently acquired the Bessie G, an old gold and silver mine in La Plata county, inactive since the 1950s. Jack told Les that unlike most of the sites he reclaimed, the Bessie G was nowhere close to being exhausted.

[Les Morlang]

Jack knew about so many mines and everything he knew. This one had the best record and amount, and there was never a mother load found, so it's still there. Back then, we could get two and a half ounces per ton and that was mineable. That was you. We could make money.

[Narrator (John Hopkins)]

Jack wanted Les to come and work for him as a millwright, a kind of industrial mechanic, stroke electrician. Jack made a persuasive pitch, but Les wasn't convinced right away. The job would be unpaid until such a time as the mine started making a profit, which could take months. After giving it some thought, Les presented Jack with his terms.

[Les Morlang]

We were working for ourselves for free, and I had a new house that I built, and I told Jack I'd come and work for him. If my house is paid for, if you pay the payment, I can handle everything else. And that was the deal.

[Narrator (John Hopkins)]

Now it's three years later, and still the Bessie G hasn't yielded enough gold to make a profit. With only a year left on their contract, the pressure is mounting for Jack and Les to find the motherlode, that elusive deposit of untapped ore rumored to dwell somewhere inside the mountain. If they don't, then everything they've invested all this time, money and perspiration will be for naught. It's why they're working so hard to keep the mine open through the winter. They simply can't afford to down tools until spring. But as they work on the snowshed, trying to maximize every second of daylight, nightfall isn't the only thing nipping at their heels. A further blizzard is forecast. And if they don't protect the mine's entrance before it hits, it will mean another unaffordable setback. Les sweats through his work clothes as he stands in the bucket of the loader raised high off the ground laying lengths of wood across the unfinished frame of the snowshed.

[Les Morlang]

We have a loader. It's on tracks. And we would carry our wood on it and then we would raise it up with it. And that's where I was. I was inside the bucket maybe like 10ft off the ground. 10, 12ft off the ground.

[Narrator (John Hopkins)]

Jack reaches down for another length of timber. He turns and stretching, passes it up to Les.

[Les Morlang]

He handed it up to me and all of a sudden there was a little blast of snow about a pickup load and it knocked me down in the bucket and Jack. Oh. You all right? Yeah, I'm all right. Everything. And there was our warning. We didn't take heed.

[Narrator (John Hopkins)]

Shaken, Les gets to his feet inside the bucket. Blinking snow from his eyes, he squints up the mountain beyond the portal. But there's no sign of a bigger avalanche following this little one. The vibrations of the loader must have dislodged some surface powder. A loose drift. No harm done. Brushing snow from the folds of his overalls, Les gets back to work. A few minutes go by. Jack hands Les another length of timber. The final one. And just as he goes to place the plank, the earth rumbles and growls. But because of the engine of the loader, a constant thrumming in their ears. Les and Jack don't hear it coming. Not until it's too late. In the fraction of a second before the avalanche hits, there is time only to adopt a half baked brace position, to instinctively turn from the roaring white cloud and raise their arms to protect their faces and windpipes. And then the mountain engulfs them.

[Les Morlang]

I don't remember. I really don't know what was going on or anything. You're just fighting for a breath.

[Narrator (John Hopkins)]

It's about 5pm on Nov. 17, 1985, in the LA Plata Mountains of southwest Colorado. The blizzard that has been threatening all afternoon has finally made landfall. Snow streams from the sky, an opaque cascade that twists in the wind. On a remote mountainside below a curved, treeless ridge, a few lengths of timber lie scattered across the surface of the frozen ground. A mechanical loader, still emitting smoke, has toppled onto its side and is slowly being covered over by the steadily falling snow. But of the two men who were working here just moments ago, there isn't a trace. The avalanche, a massive one, struck without warning, consigning the men to a grim fate, a swift burial and an unmarked grave. Meanwhile, somewhere beneath the surface, Les Morlang is being crushed by the weight of 50ft of compacted snow and ice.

[Les Morlang]

My hard hat and everything. And life was back behind me. First thing. You're just trying to breathe, but the pressure on your chest doesn't allow you anything.

[Narrator (John Hopkins)]

A pulverizing force tightens around Les's body, blocking his airways and squeezing the life from his lungs. His mouth and nostrils are packed with snow, inducing violent coughs and spasms. A horrible pressure builds inside his head as the giant mound of frozen precipitation settles above him. Fortunately, Les's hands are up around his face, not pinned down by his side. And by slowly curling and uncurling his fingers, he is able to carve out an air pocket a few centimeters around his mouth and nose, enabling a trickle of oxygen to pass between his gritted teeth. He hungrily sucks air. A string of spittle drips down his face. It is only then that Les realizes something. He is upside down, his legs awkwardly splayed above his head.

[Les Morlang]

Because of the pressure on you, you're kind of like in a weightless situation. You can't tell where the gravity is unless you have some space. So anyway, that saliva ran. And then I realized, well, I'm upside down.

[Narrator (John Hopkins)]

Les hangs there, suspended and immobile, as his head fills with blood and his heart thumps against his ribs in a staccato drumbeat of panic. There is a tingling numbness as the pervasive cold starts leaking into his body. An almost imperceptible luminescence filters down from the surface, tinting the snow around Les's face an eerie glacial blue. High above him, he can hear the distant rumble of the loader. Does that mean Jack is up there somewhere? Maybe trying to dig him out with all the energy his compressed lungs can muster. Les bellows Jack's name, but in the cramped space, his voice is a stunted, echoless yelp, immediately snuffed out by the snow. He tries again, each cry for help tinged with ever greater uncertainty.

[Les Morlang]

Not knowing if he's live or dead or Somebody's gonna help you, you know. There was nobody else up there. That's a pretty lonely feeling. Up there, you might as well be out in the Alaska tundra with no help, nobody can get to you.

[Narrator (John Hopkins)]

Buried beneath 50ft of freezing snow, Les's body is being put through immense stress. As oxygen levels drop, the heart beats faster to compensate, increasing the body's need for air and thus creating a deadly, vicious cycle. Nearly two thirds of avalanche victims die this way, asphyxiating in a fit of claustrophobic panic, and few will survive more than half an hour. After several minutes of fruitless yelling, Les initial instinct to Call for help has given way to a new resolve. If Jack isn't able to dig him out, he is going to have to do it himself.

[Les Morlang]

The loader thankfully told me which way to go. And then after I kind of got adjusted and then got my torso free to breathe, that's when I decided I could dig out.

[Narrator (John Hopkins)]

Les begins the less than straightforward task of flipping his body the right way around. He writhes and wriggles, flexing every muscle and straining every ligament, trying to make some room around his torso. Compressed by the weight of the avalanche, the snow has started to set around him like a plaster cast, hardening into thick cement. Finally, after a solid shift of concentrated squirming, there is enough room around Les's chest to free his elbows. With the full use of his arms, he bashes away more snow, building a pocket of space large enough to rotate his body the full 180 degrees. Then, angled slightly to the horizontal, he starts to dig.

[Les Morlang]

What I do is, after I got my torso loose a little bit so I could kind of turn and start digging on my incline, and I had a little system, I'd reach up, 1, 2, 3, would push it down to my knees, and 4 was packing.

[Narrator (John Hopkins)]

Soon, Les establishes a rhythm. He loosens the snow above his head, pulls it right down, then tramples it with his boots and so on. Loosen, pull, trample, loosen, pull, trample, repeat. The hours pile up. Les's hands, shoulders and forearms become machine like in their consistency. Intense physical exertion is one way to stave off the immediate effects of hypothermia, but it won't protect his vulnerable extremities, and it's Les's hands that soon start to suffer the most. He is wearing a pair of galvanized rubber work gloves, but after several hours of digging, his fingers feel like raw, bloody stumps. He has to periodically stop and warm them by shoving them inside his overalls and tucking them under his armpits. At one stage, he starts ripping pieces off his T shirt.

[Les Morlang]

I was ripping up my shirt as I'd go along, and then when they'd get cold, then I'd go for a back piece, rip it out and wrap them around my hands

[Narrator (John Hopkins)]

somewhere above his head. Day turns to night, then passes into day again, and still Les keeps digging. By now, the loader has fallen silent. All Les has to keep him company is the sound of his own labored breathing. There are times when it seems like he could dig forever and never get out. But whenever his determination begins to waver, he pauses, steels himself and continues focusing on survival not for his own sake, but for the sake of others.

[Les Morlang]

Think the flashbacks of seeing my son and my wife. I had to get out. I had to get out. I just. They couldn't leave her with a new house payment and all that stuff. Just thinking about that and, you know, all the promises you make when you're on the edge of dying.

[Narrator (John Hopkins)]

Les perseveres. He isn't especially religious, but sometimes he prays aloud, issuing solemn vows to the heavens, promising that if he gets out of this alive, he will live a good life no matter what.

[Les Morlang]

You're praying hard and promising the good Lord and you're gonna get out and take care of your family.

[Narrator (John Hopkins)]

After 21 hours, Les has squirmed, wriggled and clawed his way to within just a few meters of the surface. He can see the murky gray light above leaking down through the crystalline particles. Almost there. He reaches up, grasping for purchase, but the snow here is softer and collapses under his touch. He has to keep pushing it down hard, compacting it with his boots and using it as a platform to push off from.

[Les Morlang]

I was getting close to the outside, so I'm trying to jump some stuff, but there's nothing to get a hold of. So I'm down in this hole and I'm just flapping my wings like that, trying to get out.

[Narrator (John Hopkins)]

At last, Les punches through the layer above his head and for the first time in nearly a day, he is not greeted by more snow, but a sliver of gray sky. Adrenaline surging, he heaves himself through the hole and collapses in a gasping, shuddering heap. He is out quickly. He looks around for Jack, but there's no one here. The blizzard is still raging and horizontal snow buffets his exposed face. He calls for help, but no rescue party would venture up the mountain in these conditions. No one is coming. Les shields his eyes from the blinding snow which clumps in his eyelashes. As the wind shrieks and howls in his ears, a grim truth dawns on him. His grueling ordeal is still far from over. He is going to have to survive another night on the mountain. It's about 5pm Les kneels in the snow, his head bent against the blizzard. He has managed to retrieve some old receipts and a matchbook from a pocket of his overalls. Incredibly, the matches are still fit for purpose, though the same can't be said for Les's body, which is frozen stiff.

[Les Morlang]

Had matches but my hands wouldn't work. I did get the matches striked and burned some of the receipts, but I Couldn't get any fire or anything going.

[Narrator (John Hopkins)]

Giving up on the fire, Les wraps his arms around himself and hunches over convulsing violent shivers. These must be 60 mile an hour winds. He peers around for somewhere to shelter from the storm. One of the mine's outbuildings or vehicles. But the avalanche has buried everything, erasing all traces of the Bessie G.

[Les Morlang]

He

[Narrator (John Hopkins)]

looks down at the hole in the snow he has just emerged from. It seems crazy, but he was warmer in there than he is out here.

[Les Morlang]

The storm was still cooking pretty good. Only thing I could do, dig back in.

[Narrator (John Hopkins)]

And so, with no other option, Les does the unthinkable. He begins digging himself back into the snow pile.

[Les Morlang]

Took my helmet off, left my liner on, took it off and dug with that. So I dug back in and up, just. Just a little. And then waited for the next day.

[Narrator (John Hopkins)]

Les carves out a hollow and hunkers down in his snow cave. It could be hours before the storm passes. He shivers and rocks and tries everything he can to conserve his strength and body heat. At one point, he hears something strange. A sudden clamor of snuffles and squeaks.

[Les Morlang]

There was a pika giving me heck that evening. The little rabbit rats, they're called pikas. I guess I got into some of his storage. I suppose he was chirping, just chirping at me. But man, was that ever so inviting

[Narrator (John Hopkins)]

to hear that after his long, lonely, silent struggle. The noisy protestations of the pika are an odd source of comfort. A reminder that even here in the most inhospitable of environments, life clings on. Eventually soothed by the squeaking rodent and completely drained by the exertions of the last 24 hours, Les manages to drift off. But he hasn't been asleep for long when a different sound startles him awake. A faint rumble building to a climactic roar. It's another avalanche

[Les Morlang]

I could hear. It's kind of like crackling and slide sound. And of course I'm in my little hole and I just. I figured it would mask me. But no, it's sliding over the top of the old snow.

[Narrator (John Hopkins)]

Les braces for the inevitable, but it never arrives. Instead of crushing him, the loose snowpack slides down the mountain in one big chunk, passing over the top of his cave. In fact, this second avalanche might prove to be a blessing in disguise.

[Les Morlang]

The second avalanche covered my hole, so it did me a favor. It closed my entrance off. That stopped any wind or anything. I'm sure that helped me survive.

[Narrator (John Hopkins)]

It's hard to say how much snow has been deposited on top of him by this second avalanche. But he can worry about that in the morning. For now, insulated from the wind, Les huddles in his makeshift igloo and succumbs once again to the welcome oblivion of sleep. When Les wakes, it's dawn. A cold blue light leaks down through the drifts. As the sun comes up once again, Les starts digging his way to the surface. This time there's only about three feet burying him and it doesn't take long to reach daylight.

[Les Morlang]

You know, I wouldn't hope for much more digging, but anyway, I did. And then I could see that light again like a cloudy day. And yeah, you're just exuberant, you know, breaking out. I broke out and the sun was shining. Man, how awesome it is now.

[Narrator (John Hopkins)]

Bright and calm. It has finally stopped snowing and the wind has lost its ferocity again. He looks around for Jack, but maybe his friend has already made it down the mountain. Maybe he has already sent a search and rescue team to come and look for him here at the mine site. But Les is in no mood to hang around.

[Les Morlang]

I'm like, okay, that's it, I'm out of here. I'm not gonna wait for anybody. Which was the wrong thing to do. If I'd have stayed there, they'd have seen me.

[Narrator (John Hopkins)]

Les gets to his feet and begins making his way downhill to the east. The mountain flattens into a wide alpine valley. If Les has his bearings right, there is a creek somewhere down there which he'll be able to follow back to civilization. He staggers through the deep fresh deposits, eager to reach the compacted snow further down the slope.

[Les Morlang]

Anyway, I made it down to the hard pack. I couldn't really tell you how. I rolled some. I skidded a lot in my rubber suit. That helped, so I made it down to the hard pack.

[Narrator (John Hopkins)]

Les picks his way down the mountain. Frostbite gnaws at his fingers and toes and hypothermia has turned his skin a cadaverous gray. He looks like a dead man walking. Soon he reaches the timberline. Storm battered pines shiver in the gentle gusts, shedding clumps of snow from their branches. Les weaves through the trees, his sights set on the valley below. He's made it a few kilometers when he hears something. The pulsing thump, thump, thump of propellers. A moment later, he sees a helicopter flying towards him, close enough to feel its downdrafts. He screams through the roar of the engine, frantically waving his arms above his head.

[Les Morlang]

It's probably 70ft from me, flying up and I'm above them, watching them go up the hill.

[Narrator (John Hopkins)]

But the aircraft doesn't stop. It continues up the mountain, missing Les completely furious, he has no choice but to continue his long stagger downhill. About half an hour later, another noise stops him in his tracks. At first it sounds like a thunderclap, echoing off the surrounding peaks and jostling the branches of the pines. But after a closer listen, it becomes clear what's going on. They're setting off explosive charges, trying to trigger more avalanches in order to clear the way for rescuers.

[Les Morlang]

I'm walking down there and I hear these explosions going off and I knew what they were doing because it was like screaming and scratching and a horrible noise.

[Narrator (John Hopkins)]

As the explosions reverberate around him, shaking the mountain beneath his feet, Les shelters behind a sturdy looking tree and braces himself. He has already survived two avalanches. Now in the process of trying to save him, his would be rescuers are about to set off a third. And surely this one really will finish him off. Les cowers behind the tree's trunk, every fiber of his body tense as he awaits the third avalanche. Small stones and fine grained snow skitter down the mountain as the explosive charges detonate. There is a whooshing sound and Les turns to see a monstrous white cloud hurtling through the trees. But thankfully it's some distance away. He watches as the avalanche thunders by. Once the vibrations have stopped, he steps out from behind the tree and continues downhill. Perhaps his luck is finally shifting. Suddenly he hears the chopper approaching again, swooping into view from beyond the curve of the mountain. Determined not to let the rescuers miss him again, Les clambers to the top of a boulder and screams into the deafening roar of propellers.

[Les Morlang]

When I got up on top of that rock and here they come around the corner. Beautiful music. The choppers coming right up to me. I raised my hands up and Butch Nolan, one of the Plantaganna sheriffs, he raised his hand so I knew they seen me.

[Narrator (John Hopkins)]

The helicopter swings around before coming in to land on a rocky ledge, the granular snow billowing in the rotor wash. Les stumbles over, limping across the ground until he's close enough to hurl himself forward, reach out with both hands and grab hold of one of the helicopter skids. Not until he can feel the solid steel in his hands does he allow himself to breathe again.

[Les Morlang]

Jane.

[Narrator (John Hopkins)]

He has made it.

[Les Morlang]

We headed for the hospital and they were laughing and crying and happy and I was chewing their ass at something horrible because I I'm out of my mind. I'm asking about Jack and they're not telling me anything.

[Narrator (John Hopkins)]

He fires questions at the rescuers. Where's Jack? Was he rescued first? What condition is he in? But all he gets are sympathetic looks. A few hours later, Les is lying in a hospital bed, his frostbitten limbs wrapped in gauze, when somebody comes in to update him about Jack. Les sits up.

[Les Morlang]

When they found Jack, he was beside the loader, reaching up towards the control seat to let me down. And it looked like the weight of the snow pushed him down against the track and he hit his head and so he went pretty quick.

[Narrator (John Hopkins)]

It turns out Les was the fortunate one. He will have to process the tragic death of his friend later, because as he recuperates in hospital, the full extent of his own injuries becomes clear. The doctor who first examines Les informs him that his fingers may need to be amputated. The frostbite is too far along. Necrosis has set in. This is a shattering diagnosis. Les is a mechanic. Without his fingers, he doesn't have a livelihood. But before he is wheeled into surgery, his wife, Anita, manages to contact Les's own doctor, who intervenes at the last minute.

[Les Morlang]

The doctor over there wanted to cut him off, so Anita called my doctor and he got a hold of that doctor and told him, don't you touch him one little bit till I see. So with that information, I thought, I can get out of here.

[Narrator (John Hopkins)]

Before he is officially discharged, Les has a group of friends smuggle him out of his ward and transfer him to a different hospital closer to home. There, the doctors manage to avoid complete amputation. It's a major relief. But even so, he has a long, difficult road to recovery ahead of him. Looking back now, Les says that he wouldn't have coped without the love and support of his wife.

[Les Morlang]

The best thing was being married to Anita. That probably made us closer than ever. You never know you could get closer, but you can when you're in that kind of situation. And she took care of me. That was like a little infant, basically.

[Narrator (John Hopkins)]

In the end, Les does lose a few toes and some sections of his fingers. Ultimately, it's a small price to pay for survival. But even after most of his frostbitten limbs recover, Les is left to deal with a wider fallout of the avalanche, the wounds that will never totally heal. Jack Richards death is devastating to all who knew and loved him. For Les, the survivor's guilt is overwhelming at times. Were it not for Anita, he admits, he might well have descended into a very dark place.

[Les Morlang]

Even after everything was all done, I didn't know if I should be alive or not or want to be. But when you have somebody like her, it's easy. We're high school sweethearts. We've been married 52 years. I don't know why. Somehow we were definitely made for each other.

[Narrator (John Hopkins)]

As the years pass, Les tries to honor Jack's memory by emulating him, by following the example set by his old friend.

[Les Morlang]

I have to learn to listen more and not talk. That was one of the best things that come out of it, was being like Jack because he's gone.

[Narrator (John Hopkins)]

41 years later, Jack and Anita still live in the hills of southwest Colorado. On clear days, they can see all the way across to the shallow curved ridge in the La Plata Mountains where the sound of machinery once rumbled from the depths of the Bessie G. The mother lode was never found. The mine was shuttered for good not long after the avalanche of 85. But Les says he no longer needs to extract good gold from the ground because he is already rich in so many other ways. When he was under the snow, it was thoughts of his family that got Les through. Looking back now, he reiterates the importance of persevering through adversity even when the odds seem hopeless.

[Les Morlang]

Said it a thousand times, don't ever give up. There's always hope. If you could move that little thing, fingers, move it. That's what helped me. It may seem like the end of the world, but don't give up. Just try.

[Narrator (John Hopkins)]

Next time on Real Survival Stories. We meet Rebecca Hay in May 2016. The 22 year old gets a unique opportunity. The chance to enjoy a private hot air balloon flight over the English countryside. But the trip proves to be memorable for all the wrong reasons. When somehow the balloon becomes dangerously entangled in a set of power lines. And this is just the start of Rebecca's ordeal. What follows is a harrowing battle to defy death in the most challenging of circumstances. It will feature lethal high voltage, a ferocious outbreak of fire and a stomach churning descent back to earth. That's next time on Real Survival Stories. Listen right now without waiting and without ads. By joining noisers.