. >>> john hutt, a logger in colorado, is alive after some amazing action. hutt was selecting logs in the mountain, a trailer slipped and pinned his toes on his right foot. matt croso from colorado has the rest on this unbelievable story. >> reporter: it was an early state start to a typical day of logging trees for this year's winter logs pile. >> i went up to get a load of logs friday morning. >> reporter: but in a split second, everything changed. >> i caught my foot between the axle i was standing on and i tried all i could think of to get out of there. >> reporter: with his toes crushed beneath tons of steel, bleeding and alone -- >> i looked it over and i thought, well, i'd better cut this off before i go into shock or drop this pocket knife. >> reporter: john hutt made the decision to turn the only thing he had into the thing that would save his life. >> got the boot cut away. then i could see that those toes had been crushed basically off. >> reporter: he feared shock was setting in and worked vigorously, cutting all five toes. >> i just decided i'd

. >> reporter: in a remote part of western colorado wilderness john hutt had driven his logging truck to pick up a load of trees and was caught in a freak accident. >> trailer started to slide down the reach. and it pinned my foot right in there. >> reporter: he was trapped, completely alone and in unimaginable pain. >> whenever i tried to move it, then the pain would get worse. >> reporter: there was no cell service, no help. no choice. after just 30 minutes he made a decision. using his three-inch pocket knife he began amputating his own toes. >> i'd cut some and then it -- it would be pretty painful. so, i'd stop, take a breath or two and then keep cutting till i finally got it cut off. >> reporter: after cutting off all five toes he stopped the bleeding with his shirt. he collected his toes and got in the car, driving till he got within cell phone range. an ambulance met him on the road but the toes were too badly mangled to be reattached. hutt is not the first person faced with his own mortality to resort to self-amputation. last summer, jonathan metz was in his connecticut basem