Alaska man survives being pinned face-down in a glacier creek by a massive boulder for 3 hours

Mark Thiessen · The Associated Press

· Posted: May 30, 2025 8:58 PM EDT | Last Updated: 4 minutes ago

An Alaska antheral who was pinned face-down successful an icy creek by a 318-kilogram boulder for 3 hours survived the ordeal with nary large injuries, acknowledgment successful portion to his wife's speedy reasoning and tons of luck.

Kell Morris' woman held his caput supra h2o to forestall him from drowning portion waiting for rescuers to get aft Morris was pinned by the boulder, which crashed onto him during a hike adjacent a distant glacier southbound of Anchorage.

His 2nd changeable of luck came erstwhile a sled canine tourism institution that operates connected the glacier overheard the 911 dispatch and offered up its chopper to ferry rescuers to the scene, which was inaccessible to all-terrain vehicles.

Once rescuers arrived, it took 7 men and inflatable aerial bags to assistance the boulder disconnected arsenic helium drifted successful and retired of consciousness.

Morris, 61, said helium realizes helium is astir apt the luckiest antheral alive. "And luckier that I person specified a large wife," helium said Thursday.

His wife, Jo Roop, is simply a retired Alaska State Trooper. They moved to Seward, astir 193 kilometers south of Anchorage, from Idaho past autumn erstwhile she took a occupation with the section constabulary department.

Last Saturday, they wanted to debar the large crowds that converge connected the Kenai Peninsula assemblage during holidays and decided to hike adjacent Godwin Glacier connected an isolated and undeveloped way down a authorities prison, Seward Fire Chief Clinton Crites said.

Their way was really a rocky creek furniture lined with ample boulders deposited by the glacier.

Morris said helium noticed unsafe boulders, immoderate weighing up to 454 kilograms, on the banks of the creek and avoided them the champion helium could, until helium ran into an country helium couldn't pass.

"I was coming backmost and everything, the full side, slid retired from nether me," helium said.

He said things became a blur arsenic helium tumbled down the embankment astir six metres, landing face-down successful the water.

Then helium felt the boulder deed his back.

Crites described it arsenic "basically an avalanche of boulders."

The mode Morris landed, determination were rocks nether him, successful betwixt his legs and astir him that caught the value of the boulder, preventing him from being crushed, Crites said. But the monolithic stone inactive had him pinned, and Morris felt aggravated symptom successful his near limb and waited for his femur to snap.

"When it archetypal happened, I was doubtful that determination was going to beryllium a bully outcome," Morris said.

His woman tried to escaped him for astir 30 minutes, putting rocks nether the boulder and trying to rotation it disconnected him, earlier she near to find a compartment signal.

Amazingly, she lone had to locomotion astir 274 metres to link with 911, and relied connected her instrumentality enforcement acquisition to nonstop nonstop GPS co-ordinates to dispatch.

A unpaid astatine the neighbouring Bear Creek Fire Department heard the telephone portion moving astatine the sled canine tourism cognition and diverted the chopper utilized to ferry tourists to the scene.

Ultimately, firefighters who couldn't navigate their all-terrain vehicles implicit the boulder tract jumped retired of the helicopter.

By this time, Morris was hypothermic from the acold h2o moving disconnected the glacier, Crites said, and his woman was holding his caput retired of the water.

"I deliberation if we hadn't had that backstage chopper assistance us, it would person taken america astatine slightest different 45 minutes to get to him, and I'm not definite helium had that overmuch time," Crites said.

The firefighters utilized 2 aerial bags usually reserved to extract radical from wrecked vehicles to somewhat assistance the boulder.

"But past it conscionable became an all-hands brute unit of 'one, two, three, push,'" Crites said. "And 7 guys were capable to assistance it capable to propulsion the unfortunate out."

An Alaska National Guard chopper lifted them retired of the creek furniture with a rescue basket.

Morris spent 2 nights astatine the section infirmary for reflection but walked distant unscathed.

"I afloat anticipated a assemblage recovery, not him walking distant without a scratch connected him," Crites said.

Morris, who is present reflecting connected his ordeal astatine home, acknowledged it mightiness person been a wake-up telephone to halt doing things similar this astatine his age.

"I was precise lucky. God was looking retired for me," helium said.

When helium and his woman spell hiking this weekend, they are going to instrumentality to established trails.

"We're going to halt the trailblazing," helium said.