De Smet Graduate Involved In Avalanche Rescue

The Denver Post started its dramatic telling of the story with a chilling introduction: "Entombed in snow for more than three hours, unable to wiggle even a finger, Alex White felt his life slipping away. He thought of his family. His friend somewhere nearby and likely in the same trouble. His girlfriend. His studies."

You may recall the story of the avalanche on March 2 in Cameron Pass in northern Colorado that killed White's friend Joe Philpott and Ashe, the dog of two another traveling companion.

You may not know that one of the key players in the rescue was Sam McCloskey, a 2005 graduate of De Smet Jesuit High School. He and fellow state park ranger Andrew Maddox found White buried alive and dug him out.

The details are available on the Post's story, which is worth the read. The Post's story recounts the story of how the pair came to buried efforts to find them and the final rescue of White. 

"We were past three hours now," Maddox told the Post in its story. "In our minds, this was a body recovery."

McCloskey noted: "We were talking about this afterwards. If you are caught in an avalanche, your likelihood of survival without companion rescue is very low. It's not often that an outside rescue group in a rural area gets in and finds a buried survivor."

Maddox told the Denver Post that, "I turned to Sam and said, 'Let's dig as hard as we can because I'm not going to be able to sleep tonight if I'm not sure this guy is dead.'"

"I was like 'Oh, my God, this guy is alive,' " said Maddox. "Man, it was just complete disbelief. I still get goosebumps thinking about it."