Hiker pinned under boulder for 10 hours: ‘I’m going to die here’

The sun disappeared behind the mountains and darkness fell as Kevin DePaolo lay in the icy sand, a 10,000-pound boulder falling on his right leg in the California mountains.

As the hours passed, he vacillated between a Zen-like calm and a gripping fear that salvation would never come.

At his lowest, he asked his friend, who was by his side, to call his mother and tell her, “This is it.” I’m going to die here. There’s no way I’m going to make it.”

But his friend refused.

Help eventually arrived, in the form of Inyo County Search and Rescue, who led a daring operation that freed Mr. DePaolo after being trapped under the boulder for about 10 hours.

In his first interview since the accident, which took place on December 5, Mr DePaolo said he felt he had been ‘given a second chance at life’.

That day, Mr. DePaolo and his friend, Josh Nelson, had hiked to a spot near the Santa Rita Flat, in California’s Inyo Mountains, in search of “cool rocks.”

He was digging in the sand of the steep hill, about a foot below the boulder, when it came loose and rolled down, slamming right into him.

The rock, which he said was the size of a wing and several times heavier, flattened him, Mr. DePaolo said.

“It felt like I was hit by a refrigerator,” he said.

Mr. DePaolo, 26, and Mr. Nelson, 38, pushed and managed to shift the boulder enough to get it off his chest and free his left leg. But his right leg was trapped, and when he tried to get it out, the boulder only pressed down on it harder.

“I felt the weight of the boulder hitting my leg harder and harder. I was screaming, in excruciating pain and panicking,” Mr DePaolo said, adding that the rock held him by the ankle and knee.

Just as worrying was his left leg, which bore the brunt of the impact when the boulder collided with him and was “completely torn open.”

“I could see all these strange things in my leg that you’re not supposed to see,” he said.

Mr. Nelson called 911, prompting a multi-agency rescue operation led by Inyo County Search and Rescue.

As they waited for rescuers to locate them in the miles of remote wilderness, Mr. Nelson — who said he had previously had some “pretty devastating accidents” as a mountain climber and had some experience keeping track of his head — cared for Mr. DePaolo and tried to keep him calm.

He tied his sweater around Mr. DePaolo’s bleeding left leg, built a fire and piled warm clothes on him.

About 10 p.m., lights cut through the darkness, signaling the arrival of the rescue team, Mr. DePaolo said.

Two rescuers were dropped by helicopter, while seven others followed in vehicles, navigating a network of four-wheel drive roads, Inyo County Search and Rescue said in a statement.

To slide the boulder off Mr. DePaolo’s leg, rescuers rigged an elaborate system of ropes and pulleys. The precarious operation used a pulley system anchored to a rock lower on the hill to slide the boulder away while a jack lifted it incrementally, Mr Nelson said.

“If any point in the connection between the jack and the boulder had failed or something had happened, the thing would have just fallen back on top of him,” Mr Nelson said. “It was a very delicate balance.”

A Navy medic rappelled from a helicopter at U.S. Naval Air Station Lemoore and lifted Mr. DePaolo, who was flown to a hospital in Fresno where he immediately underwent surgery.

Mr. DePaolo broke his pelvis in two places, severed the femoral artery in his left leg and allowed his “femur to slam into my pelvis on my left side.” He didn’t break any bones in his legs – something he attributes to sitting on sand rather than rocks.

Although he has recovered well enough to be released from hospital soon, he has not yet regained feeling in his right foot and fears serious nerve damage.

But he didn’t lose his leg — something he didn’t even realize he was about to do until a doctor told him a few days after his recovery. When he heard that, “I burst into tears,” he said.

He was grateful for everyone’s involvement in the rescue.

“I’m just extremely grateful to be alive,” he said. “It made me realize that life is so precious.”