Colorado man who nearly died in snow cave credits daughter in New York for saving him
Bren Wilson said he was trying to plow the road leading to his home during a snowstorm when he got stuck in the terrible weather. He said his EMT daughter who was across the country kept him from dying.
Near-death experience: Colorado man survives snow cave, 'I was getting ready to go'
A Colorado man trapped in the snow was saying his goodbyes to his daughter on the phone when Alpine Rescue found him. "She saved my life... I was starting to fade and she knew that," survivor Bren Wilson said. He told his harrowing story to FOX 31 Gabby Easterwood.
BLACK HAWK, Colo. – A Colorado dad was saying his goodbyes to his daughter across the country on the phone late Thursday after he became trapped in a snow cave.
"She coached me through the whole thing, saved my life, kept me occupied," Bren Wilson told FOX 31 Denver. "I was starting to fade, and I think she knew that, (and) started kind of saying our goodbyes."
It started Thursday after Colorado's biggest storm of the winter snowed in Wilson's remote home in the mountains west of Denver. So he took to his tractor to plow the road to the highway in the morning. The area saw 4-5 feet of snow and gale-force winds piled the snow in drifts. The tractor got stuck miles from his home, so he set out on foot to get to the highway he assumed was plowed.
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Up to 5 feet of snow blanketed the region.
(FOX 31 KDVR / FOX Weather)
"I was up to my shoulders at times in snow, and I was clearing the snow with my arms back and forth and kind of hip checking, like in hockey, and I’d take a 10-inch step," Wilson said. "I was hallucinating, my brain wasn’t clear at all. I said, ‘You have got to get your butt up and get back on that road,’ and I just swam through that snow."
The hours of effort and cold exhausted him, so he dug a snow cave for shelter.
Family worried when he didn't return home
His daughter Kyla Wilson, an EMT and student in New York, hadn't heard from her dad into the evening and got worried. She called his cell phone, which was a call that saved his life. She called local officials for help and got to work herself.
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The area where the tractor became stuck.
(FOX 31 KDVR / FOX Weather)
"I was able to stay on the phone with him for an hour and a half waiting for people to come," Kyla Wilson said. "And he just kept asking, ‘Are they coming? Are they coming?’ And I said, ‘Yes, they’re coming, I promise. They’re sending skiers. They’re sending snowmobiles. They’re sending everyone.’"
She talked and told him how to conserve heat and oxygen. She took his mind off of dying, panic and fear. She kept him awake, but said he started fading.
"He said, ‘Do they know how bad off I am?’" recalled Kyla Wilson. "And he said, ‘I don’t know how much longer I can do this.’"
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Image 1 of 2Bren Wilson is a self-described "mountain man." (Bren Wilson)
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Image 2 of 2Kyla Wilson talking to FOX 31 after her father was saved. (FOX 31)
‘Getting ready to go’
Bren Wilson said that he started to say his goodbyes.
"All of a sudden, I saw — I was just getting ready to go," he said. "I was closing my eyes, and I saw the lights from the headlamps from Alpine Rescue."
The all-volunteer search and rescue team trudged through the chest-high snow to locate Wilson on Friday morning.
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File: The fresh, deep snow was a challenge for the snowmobile.
(Alpine Rescue Team / FOX Weather)
Local media reports that he is home recovering from hypothermia.