The skier fell into a volcanic crack on Mount Hood in the US state of Oregon and survived, reports the publication People.
On Friday afternoon, December 4, Caroline Sundbaum was skiing with her husband and fell into a volcanic crevasse hidden under the snow, four meters deep. Mount Hood is considered an active volcano.
The Clackamas County Sheriff’s office reported that the American fell into the so-called fumarola when she was near the summit of the 3.4 thousand meters volcano. Fumarola is a crack or hole located in craters, on the slopes and at the foot of volcanoes, and is a source of hot gases.
Another climber told the local authorities that he saw Sandbaum sit down to rest before falling. When he turned around shortly thereafter, he saw that there was a hole in the snow where the woman was sitting.
“If another climber had not witnessed what happened, Sandbaum would have been very difficult to find. The air inside the fumarole can be poisonous and potentially deadly,” the sheriff’s office said.
An eyewitness called rescuers and was able to get to the fumarole on his own. He let Sandabum down the rope she had tied around herself. After that, he raised the American woman to the surface. It is noted that the woman injured her shoulder during the fall.
Later, she said that she decided to sit in that place while waiting for her husband and a friend to descend from the top so that they could continue their descent together. “I was sitting on my backpack, and the snow began to crumble under me. I was scared and worried that I would fall through and suffocate under the snow,” she said.