Avalanche Rescue Saves 11-Year-Old Boy

Dec. 28, 2007 — -- Max Zilvitis was entombed by an avalanche Sunday. When rescuers found the 11-year-old and dug him out, Max's body had turned blue, he had stopped breathing and he had no pulse.

Max, however, has come back to life and the spunky kid is already asking his mother where he left his ski pass.

"Good Morning America" got an exclusive interview with Max and his family from their home in Park City, Utah, today.

"I remember I was going down a run called North Face and I got stuck in a little bit of powder at the bottom of the run, and then I heard my dad shout 'avalanche' and then I looked and there was an avalanche and it hit me and then I remember being under the snow for a little bit, but then I lost consciousness and then I woke up in the hospital," said Max.

Max's father, Brian, was buried at first too.

"I remember the snow building up across my legs and building up my lower back and I think I was buried up about to my waist. I don't really remember getting out, I just remember wanting to find Max," said Brain. As soon as he got out, he immediately called 911 to get help for his son.

"God, please help out! I need to look for him before it's too late! Please … Max, say something! My son is under there!" Brian can be heard shouting while on the phone with the emergency operator.

"I looked around and had the worst feeling in the world. It was all the moments I've shared with Max and all the conversations we were having and to think that they were going to end right there was just — it was just crushing," said Brian.

Somewhere under nearly five feet of snow Max was buried alive. Within minutes ski patrol and a line of volunteers began frantically searching for signs of a body. At last, after 33 minutes, a 16-year-old's pole touched something.

"I said I feel something and the ski patrollers came and we were digging him out and we found him and it was really scary," said Emily Loughlin, the teen whose pole found Max.