body and then my face and then i couldn't see anything. >> reporter: lucky to be alive he was in a group of 12 swept away by a river of snow. the novice snowshoer was buried, unable to move his body under the weight of the snow. he could only wait as his friends dug him out. >> very scary. >> reporter: all 12 survived but a dog alerted the them to another buried snowshoer nearby. they dug her out of five feet of snow -- -- alive. >> after two hours, my members stay in the mountain. they found her. >> reporter: but with conditions so harsh, the group so remote search and rescue couldn't get her out fast enough. she died before reaching the command center. the same concern for the snowshoer still missing from the first avalanche in seconds, the three men in that group were swept far and fast. a gps device recorded their harrowing slide. >> and they literally went 1279 feet in that avalanche at speeds of up to 53 miles an hour.