A backcountry skier had a terrible accident leaving him stranded in the Sierra with several broken bones and bruises.
21-year-old skier Aidan Welch is currently recovering in the hospital after falling down a mountain a couple weeks ago.
What was supposed to be a simple and easy ski day in the backcountry of the Kirkwood area quickly turned into a solo traveler's worst nightmare on his way back down the steep slopes from Round Top summit.
Welch says, "I took my skis off, and I was trying to do the method where you kind of put your skis in and walk down a little bit. Lost my grip."
He says he slipped and fell 800 feet down the mountain, breaking several bones. During the fall he shattered his left heel, dislocated his left shoulder, broke and dislocated his left upper arm bone, broke his right hand, cut his left eye lid and only got a mild concussion thanks to his helmet.
After a few hours of no updates, his family and friends started to get worried and filed a missing person's report, using apps like Life 360 and Snapchat to help find his location.
Blaise Ley, Aidan's friend, says, "It looked like he was still on Round Top Mountain and so at that point I tried to locate the trail head and what lakes he was near, and told the deputy as such."
Elyse Welch, Aidan's sister, says, "I was more looking everywhere in Reno where I thought he could go."
With no cell service and all alone, Welch says he had no choice but to trek four-and-a-half miles back to his car.
"I skied down on one ski until it got too flat, and then I had to walk the remaining four miles."
He tells us he was stranded in the forest for eight hours after his fall before he finally found his car at 1:30 a.m. - where an Alpine Sheriff's deputy was waiting.
Welch says, "He (the deputy) said I looked like a sasquatch dragging one ski out, limping, and he got me - he saved me."
Welch was quickly rushed to the hospital, his friends and family relieved he was found.
Simon Oravetz, Aidan's friend, says, "Glad to know my friend was alive, even though seeing him beaten and banged up after that incident was pretty hard."
Welch says even though he did tell his family where he planned to ski beforehand, the safest thing to do is never go solo.
He tells us, "Don't go in the backcountry alone because anything can really happen. And also, in that situation anybody can do anything. Don't give up."
Welch says regardless of everything he's been through; he still plans to ski again next season once he's fully recovered.
