This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2008, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
PARK CITY - Alison Williams didn't see a wall of snow crack, tumble and swallow a boy at The Canyons Resort last December. All she saw was the aftermath: Brian Zilvitis, a desperate father, yelling on his knees.
"I can't find my son! He's buried in the snow," Zilvitis cried.
Remembering an avalanche safety assembly at school, she and two friends began to work as teenagers in a mountain town know-how. Emily Loughlin and Leslie Pierce flipped their poles upside down and began to probe the snow. Williams rushed down the mountain for help.
"I'm not even sure if I turned while going downhill," the 15-year-old remembered. "I was skiing so fast."
The three sophomores' urgency and swift practicality may have helped save Max Zilvitis' life.
They were among the small group of heroes named Thursday by the Greater Salt Lake Area Chapter of the American Red Cross.
Pamela Atkinson, who recognizes many of the city's homeless by name and champions their needs, received a lifelong hero award.
On Dec. 23 at the mountain, the teenagers had been on their final ski run before lunch. Loughlin remembers how hard it was to look at the frantic father as they tried to help.
Ski patrol arrived with long, thin metal poles to pierce the snow. Then everyone went to work - a crowd of rescuers had gathered thanks in part to the girls' cajoling as skiers came near.
Suddenly, Loughlin's pole hit something soft. Everyone started digging, many with their hands.
Finding Max Zilvitis's blue-tinged body made the avalanche painfully real. Had they been on the run a few minutes earlier, the girls thought, they could have been caught in its wake.
"Leslie and I had to stop - we were about to burst into tears," Loughlin recalled. Her younger brother is the same age as Max, 11.
"We weren't sure if [Max] was alive," Pierce added.
What they didn't know was that Max had learned about avalanches himself by watching a Discovery Channel special. He had carved air pockets around him with his hands, which probably helped him survive the 35-minute entombment.
He regained consciousness Christmas Eve at Primary Children's Medical Center in Salt Lake City.
More than two months later, the Park City boy continues to see a physical therapist to increase the strength in his hands. He's out skiing again, learning to snowboard and playing hockey.
"In the scheme of things, he's doing phenomenally well," said his father, Brian Zilvitis.
Without all the rescuers, finding Max might have been a lot harder, he said. While the girls are hesitant to call themselves "heroes," he believes their award is well-deserved.
"It would have been easy not to do anything and they chose otherwise," he said.