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By Chris O’Toole

As I ventured up the winding turnpike of a treacherous mountain road, the radio blasted my favorite tunes and I took satisfaction in knowing that in a few short hours, I would be blasting my way through perhaps the best snow on the face of the earth. However, I was caught off guard by a sudden rumbling as I made a particularly steep turn. It was the foreboding tremor of an avalanche and it would seem that there was no way for me to escape its destructive wake, if not by sheer luck. I prayed that this would not be the case. However, it was the case as I saw a cascading river of hillside snow whitewash the side of my SUV.

The next few moments of the incident are hazy as I was in complete shock. My car rolled several times down a graciously forgiving hill until coming to a rest. I was not injured severely, but my head and shoulder had endured quite a bit of force. I looked out of my sunroof, my windows, my rear view window, and windshield. I saw nothing but white snow and rocky sediment. Thoughts rushed through my head: “Will they find me?”, “How long will it take them?”, and “What if I die here?” Well, I momentarily forgot the salvation I already had in my car: GPS tracking unit.

Within the hour, I heard the sound of CDOT snowplows. My GPS location had notified my insurance company and after two more hours, the snowplows reached me. Apparently, since I had purchased the GPS, I never even had to contact anyone. The middleman was taken out of play and my location had been relayed to those who could help me. Although my day at the slopes never happened, my life was still intact. I did not freeze to death with no one to discover my remains at a much later time. I had purchased a GPS tracking unit to keep track of my daughters, but that credit card swipe had inadvertently cheated death in my favor. I’m so relieved that I can be saved while under 60 feet of snow.