OLYMPIC VALLEY, Calif. — Two siblings are thankful to be alive after being caught during Wednesday’s avalanche at Palisades Tahoe.
Hannah Sugarman, her partner Cal Wishart, and brother Oliver Thompson were looking forward to taking in the opening day of KT-22.
“We were very keen to get out on the hill,” Sugarman told ABC News in an interview.
But the opening day experience quickly turned into a nightmare after the trio found themselves in the deadly avalanche.
“Initially, I thought someone was crashing into the back of me, because I just felt like my whole lower body just get lifted and moved,” said Sugarman.
She quickly found herself buried up to her neck in snow and screamed for help.
“I felt every type of fear possible,” said Sugarman. “In a day, I feared for my life, I feared for yours (pointing at Wishart) and my brother's lives, and I feared for the life of everyone else on the hill as well.”
Wishart and a good Samaritan helped dig Sugarman out, injury free.
But her brother Thompson was still missing. Wishart and Sugarman searched for 15 minutes and were on the verge of losing hope and feared the worst but found him further down the hill.
Wishart said Thompson suffered a dislocated knee and a broken leg.
“I was preparing for the worst, which was really, really, really scary,” said Wishart.
A life-or-death experience, the two siblings and Sugarman’s partner is thankful to survive.
“I think we are the most lucky, unlucky people you could possibly imagine,” said Sugarman.
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