up next on a second look, lost in the snow. buried in the snow, outrunning the snow. fighting a war in the snow. all straight ahead on a second look. good evening and welcome to a second look i'm julie haener. for snow lovers winter is a wonderful part of the year but it's also treacherous. a time when storming can hit suddenly trapping people in the

snow. an unexpectedblizzard stranded three groups of hikers. four of the lost hikers were from socal in santa cruz county. when they emerged for a joyous reaction with the family, sarah sidner was there. >> we dropped off. we drove up. >> oh my god. oh my god. >> reporter: with one declared ascendant from the sheriff, -- erupted with emotion. her four family members had been found, alive. >> thank you god, thank you. this is the best day of my life. >> reporter: she could not stop screaming and crying and calling out to family members too far away to know what was happening. >> mary, mary. they're okay.

mary they're okay. they're fine mary. all of them they're all fine mary. mary they're okay. >> reporter: schneider and half dozen members of her family had been waiting in the sierra praying and crying, losing hope then gaining it back again since monday. two father and son teams came out to hike sunday and suddenly a blinding blizzard arrived burying the mountains in about 4 feet of snow. the largetos were the last four people missing in the sierra and rescue teams were on stand by. for three days the weather made it impossible for them to get to the right place until today. >> we were praying for sun. and all of a sudden we woke up and we came out and it was like someone had answered our prayers. >> reporter: rescue crews seized the only opportunity they've had in the past three days to attempt a helicopter

rescue. the rescue came at the right time just as the chinook helicopter stepped down to drop off the precious cargo, the blinding fog started to settle in overnight. >> good to see you, where's mary? >> she's home, she's home. she's at home. i knew you were doing the right thing. i said frankie, i hope you were doing the right thing. i was going to go in and get you. >> congratulations. she's the happiest woman. >> he's warmer than we are. >> we had like five beans a day to eat. and slept the whole time. we're so happy. >> we have to get you some coffee. >> the whole time i just wanted to eat some food. thank you guys for your concerns.

>> are you glad to see everybody here waiting for you. >> these people, again. >> keep walking, keep walking. keep going. >> i know. >> being in the tent for five or six days and it's like where is -- when are they coming. we thought we filed a permit we did all that. then a chopper shows up all of a sudden. >> reporter: stunned, hungry and out of breath. the survivors say they look forward to two things. their first hot meal in four days and the loving touch of the family they left behind. >> reporter: chris von marshal hike it is sierra about twice a month. he says the hikers told people exactly where they were going to ensure their survival. >> they knew being an experienced backpacker, there would be people outlooking for them. stay in the area that you told people you were going to be.

it will increase your chances of being rescued. >> reporter: but waiting for rescue will not be easy. stranded without proper gear will still leave them vulnerable. >> we have hyperthermic situation, that means the body can only go two or three days in this type of scenario. >> we took these pictures near bridge port after a heavy snowfall three years ago. as we learned then even experienced marine survival experts had trouble making fire without matchless. without a tent a natural shelter can still keep them alive. >> having even a canopy over them and huddled in that canopy can provide them with enough sustainable heat to last through the storm and again get people in there to get to them in time and help them out.

>> reporter: portable gps units, walkie talkies can help them stay in communication. if not the best they can do is stay put and wait for help. she found herself upside down buried in snow. the dramatic story she tells of how she survived. and a bit later, the men who learned to fight on skis. the famous tenth mountain division of world war ii. soon, californians from to salinas to san diego will have equal access to quality health insurance. those who need financial assistance will get it. and nobody will be denied because of a pre-existing condition. welcome to a new state of health. welcome to covered california.

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welcome back to a second look. tonight stories of survival in the snow. in 2012 a skier ended up buried head down in the snow in the tahoe area. she was trapped for 30 minutes but survived and told her story to ktvu's claudine wong who showed us dramatic video of the woman's rescue. >> reporter: it was a desperate rescue effort. >> every time she moved and

every time i actually tried to scoop more snow out she sank deeper. >> does anybody have another rope? >> reporter: this is never before video of crews trying to save the life of christian jacobson. an experienced skier trapped upside down in the snow bank and running out of air. >> i remember being thankful that it wasn't one of the kid. thinking that i didn't think this is how it was going to end. >> reporter: it started on a picture perfect day just two weeks ago. the sun was out and fresh powder blanketed the sierra at tahoe resort. >> we decided to go maybe 10 or 15 feet off of the trail. >> reporter: but when eric spots a slight divot in the snow, he hesitates. >> as i was saying don't go there, she disappeared. >> all i remember falling. not like i caught an edge or i

was out of control it was just sinking i guess. >> reporter: a camera shows the incredible situation. look closely and you can see just the bottoms of kristin's skis in that snow bank. remember she was upside down. eric is wearing the green sweatshirt and had sunk to his chest trying to dig her out. >> it was very desperate. i knew what i was doing wasn't helping her but i didn't know what else to do at that point. i could not leave her. >> reporter: this picture was taken 11 minutes after she went under: what seemed like an eternity. >> reporter: kristin did not

know she had fallen into a dry creek. >> reporter: could you hear anything? >> no, nothing. >> reporter: finally equipment and training allowed them to do what eric didn't. get her air and get her out. >> >> i was on my back then i remember the faces of the ski patrollers. and the coach, it seemed like an army of people. >> reporter: amazingly, kristin survived with just a bruised lung and temporary nerve damage but recovery will take time. >> you just can't shut the replay off in your head. >> it's hard to sleep. kind of right back there. >> reporter: they have since had tearful reunions with the men responsible for saving her life. she made it for several reasons. this video shows just how close they were to the chair lift which allowed people to hear their calls for help. even though she was buried for almost 30 minutes the ski

patrol got her breathing again. >> the lesson here is we did everything correctly. we stayed together. >> reporter: even as they fight the nightmares, even as they hold their children and each other tighter they still love that mountain. but now, the mountain looks different. because they know the beauty they can see always comes with the dangers they can't. in 1997 an amateur photographer captured dramatic pictures as three of his snow boarding friends raced an avalanche down to the bottom. >> reporter: rod has spent the last three days replaying this tape. he seeing his friend buzzing up and down. one of the machines is reaching

the top when suddenly the snow gives way. one of the snow mobiles is stuck. >> my heart was pumping twice as eric's is. >> reporter: he urges his three friends on as they race to get out of the snow's pack. >> they were skidadling i wish i could have seen their faces. >> he's still on it. >> reporter: jim is the man he calls jack saw. un quickly turns his machine around and starts down the mountain. >> the snow started getting around me before i totally got out of his way. he traveled a half mile before he was clear of the avalanche which ended as quickly as it started. >> it was like we're okay. >> reporter: all three made it out safe but he will never forget that 20-foot wall of snow and what it looked like as it beared down on him.

>> just like a big cloud like a river started on you one that wasn't there before. >> is there a lesson to be learned. >> check the back country. check out the soft snow. >> when we come back, on a second look, they were one of the elite american units of world war ii. able to climb mountains, ski for miles and live in the freezing cold for days. the legendary tenth mountain division. a bit later how to survive an avalanche.

tonight on a second look, danger in the snow. every winter people flock to the ski slopes all around the world. but for one group of american soldiers in world war ii, skiing was not a sport. it was a means of waging war. in 2001, ktvu's bob mackenzie brought us the story of the legendary tenth mountain division. in their time they were legendary soldiers. as tough as marines, as agile as navy seals and with their

own bag of tricks. the men of the tenth mountain division could ski, use mountains, use stealth and hit hard and fast. >> i think it was the best fighting force. it was the only fighting force that i experienced and i can't imagine any fighting force being any better. >> reporter: 60 years later some of the tenth mountaineers are still around and get together. sometimes they tell war stories sometimes as a way of exorcising the ghost. >> machine gun just decapitated his head. and when we passed him, his brains were just laying out on the ground it was a horrible sight. >> reporter: in 1939 adolph hitler began conquering the nations of western europe one at a time. an army camp the size of a small city sprang up at camp

hale, 9,000 feet up in the colorado rockies. in november 1941 the newly formed tenth mountain division began to train. most were college men already skiers or mountain climbers. athletes by inclination. and many had the naive idea that the training was going to be fun. >> you had to learn to cope with the altitude first off. when you first got there you tried to run a block and you were just gasping for air. >> reporter: a typical exercise at camp hail, climbing a 13- foot mountain carrying a 1,000- pound pack. living outdoors in temperatures of 40 below zero. >> training was extremely rigorous. so rigorous that really when we got into combat. all kinds of weather conditions and things it was like soup. >> by the time training was done, every man knew how to cover a mountain, how to travel for miles on skis and how to

live outdoors in huts. the men found themselves heading to italy where a heavy source of troops was dug into caves and commanded the highest peaks fully protected and able to blast away at anything below. particularly formittable was reba ridge a series of peaks from where the germans could see an army coming for miles. but the nazi troops were not expecting cat burglars. as darkness fell one evening they began to climb. they had to go up in single file. sitting ducks if they had been discovered. they climbed through the night and reached the ridge at dawn. by good luck it was a foggy morning and german centuries could not see them. they took the germans by surprise and captured the ridge. over men in the camp had to fight their way up the hill a

foot a a time. >> we fought that platoon and won and captured them all. and i think that was typical of our unit. we severely wounded the officer and the moral of the german platoon that was following them fell apart. and those who were not killed, were injured, we had as prisonerred. >> reporter: the camp pushed down into the valley and headed toward the alps. the season's german unit made them pay for every foot. >> there was a group of germans coming up. you could fire a single shot or squeeze off 20 round very quickly. and i spotted these soldiers coming up and i know i killed three and it may have been as

many as five or six. and you often wonder but it was either them or me and there wasn't really any choice. >> reporter: the mountain division went in advance of much larger american forces and steer headed the campaign that took italy and forced a german retreat. of the 14,000 men in the tenth mountain, more than 4,000 were wounded and almost 1,000 were killed. >> i think both the tenth mountain division and the marine corp. and many other units were just outstanding. and i am proud to be one of them. >> up next on a second look, if the snow above you gave way, would you know what to do? expert advise on how to survive an avalanche. yeah, back in our day, we didn't have u-verse high speed internet to play and learn online. all we had was that franklin fuzzypants. ah, the educational toy bear. remember when the battery went out? [ slow, deep voice ] give me your abc's. all i learned was a new definition of fear.

i need some pudding. yeah, there's one left. [ male announcer ] connect all your wi-fi-enabled devices with u-verse high speed internet. rethink possible.

on a second look tonight we're looking at the dangers you can face in the mountains when they're filled with snow.

julius sandstrom looked at dangers and how you can survive them. >> reporter: it's an awesome force of nature and it can kill. this skiers was lucky to survive this avalanche but already this season avalanches have killed 16 north american skiers, snow boarders, hikers and snow mobilers. >> it's related to a day like today when it's storming pretty hard. we've got 60, 70-mile an hour wind over the ridge stop. >> reporter: in california, the most common type of avalanche is called a slab avalanche. it usually occurs when a slab of new snow that's fallen on top of older snow suddenly breakings lose sends it down at 90 miles per hour. ironically skiers who get

caught in an avalanche most often trigger it themselves. >> they just want to go to that particular slope. they may ski it 20, 30 times down the avalanche path. they get into this particular day and the snow won't let them do that safely. so they drop into the avalanche path and they trigger an avalanche. it's not just skiers, these dramatic pictures show an avalanche bearing down on three snow mobilers. snow mobilers account for 1/3 of all avalanche deaths. >> machines weigh quite a bit. up to 1,000, 1,200-pound. the weight of them and the riders trigger the avalanche themselves. >> reporter: several california ski areas take action to control avalanches before they

occur. at alpine meadows teams use a cannon with four inch shells to blast away heavy snow before it can tumble down on skiers. the war heads are similar to the ones the u.s. military used to bombard baghdad. >> this is a fuse assembly. and it is a super quick or point detonation fuse that basically just takes the impact on the nose here and it will set off the war head. >> reporter: avalanche control teams also mount search and control missions to identify potential avalanches in ski areas and trigger them with dynamite. but avalanches are not confined to ski areas. few drivers heading into the snowy sierra on highway 50 realize the surrounding peaks are prime avalanche danger zones. 1,000feet above the highway, caltrans chief blaster bryan carlton drives a blaster toward

egg cosummit. carlton uses a blaster to trigger avalanches. it uses propane and oxygen blasted out of cannons. the crew fires it remotely using a computer. the next time you hear highway 50 is closed for avalanche control you will know he is on the slope blasting cannons. >> we can't have snow just falling on people uncontrolled. >> reporter: but every year avalanches do just that. bury winter adventuring. 1/3 of victims died before the snow stops sliding. in this avalanche all were rescued. but within minutes many suffocate. the best way to survive is to do swimming motion to propel

yourself to the top. >> you make your final efforts to get one hand in front of your face creating an air pocket then shove one hand toward what you think is the surface. >> reporter: many outdoor retailers sell beacons such as this one. it enables rescuers to find victims victims underneath the snow. >> and that's it for this week's sec look. i'm julie haener, thank you for watching.

oh, i wish i could do more. it's just a bunch of old, out-of-date clothes. oh, i'm sure it's great. three weeks ago, our neighbors, the rands, lost their house and everything they own in a fire. fortunately, nobody was hurt. and fortunately, they're friends with wonder woman over here. i'm hardly wonder woman. she mobilized the community to donate clothes, furniture, appliances, all to help them start over in their new rental. which you found them. i'm no wonder woman. rand-aid was her idea. it wasn't my idea to call it "rand-aid." okay, fine. i'm wonder woman. - terrible tragedy. - they're our closest friends. - we know them. - uh, manny and their son reuben are tight. in fact, i put in one of their closets. not that it matters, but it was the only structure to survive the fire. por favor , don't even say that word!