(Explorersweb) – After 45 minutes of CPR, and being placed on life support, a 45-year-old snowshoer came back to life after an accident on Mount Rainier. Michael Knapinski was “as dead as somebody gets before they are truly dead,” said Dr. Sam Arbabi, one of the medics at the Seattle hospital where the hypothermic victim was brought.
Knapinski had been snowshoeing beside a skiing friend in Mount Rainier National Park, in Washington State, on November 7. The pair decided to split up but planned to reunite later in an area known as Paradise, about 1,650m up the south slope of the volcanic peak.
While they were separated, the weather suddenly turned bad. “I was pretty close to the end [of the trail],” Knapinski said later. “Then it turned to whiteout and I couldn’t see anything. I’m not sure what happened. I think I fell.” He lost consciousness. CONTINUE