This incident is proof that no matter how much experience you might have in any disciple the proverbial shit can hit the fan at any instant. Mac Jacobson has 12 long years of snowboarding under his belt but when he went careening off a 30-foot cliff in California’s Squaw Valley he found himself buried underneath the snow, upside down, in dire need of a rescue.
In this clip from Caters News, we see the tense moments leading up to Mac Jacobson being dug out of the snow and rescued. When it was all said and done, Mac was buried in the ice upside down for around 10 minutes, which in an emergency situation is enough time to cause anyone to lose their mind.
If that was me, and I was buried upside down underneath the snow for 10 minutes I’m fairly certain I’d have undergone a psychotic episode and emerged from the ice a changed man forever. It’s not that I’m claustrophobic, or that I panic in emergency situations, but I can’t really imagine the world where I’d have kept my cool while thinking I was going to die, buried upside down in the snow. Apparently. I’m not alone in feeling this way because Mac Jacobson told Caters News that his entire world was falling apart while he was stuck in that ice:
“Those first three minutes were pure terror,” he told Caters, adding that he struggled to breath and sat patiently for help.“I knew that if I began to panic then my chest cavity would expand and breathing would become more and more difficult. In the pin-drop silence under the snow, the only thing I could think of was to calm myself down and hope for a miracle.
“I tried to yell and yell but nobody could hear me. Then after a few minutes, I felt someone grabbing my foot and knew that I would get out.”
Miraculously, Mac Jacobson emerged from the incident without sustaining any serious injuries. And I sincerely hope he bought a round of drinks for everyone that dug his ass out of the snow because he owes them a debt forever.