Fremont skier tells harrowing story of surviving avalanche

One man was killed in yesterday's disaster, raising concerns about safety on the slopes. Now look at the right side of your screen. That, to me, is clearly avalanche activity that was today. That is a fresh slide right there to the right, and likely some of the avalanche control that was taking place today. The area where the avalanche happened near the famed KT-22 lift remains shut down. It had just opened when the season, or for the season, when that wall of snow gave away. It sounds like somebody just got buried. And we are hearing incredible stories from survivors and witnesses. CBS News reporter Carter Evans spoke to one woman from Fremont who was buried under all that snow. Now, crews have been working all morning trying to make it as safe as possible on the slopes, and as you can see behind me, they were able to open some runs just one day after tragedy struck. As rescuers frantically searched for signs of life yesterday, one of four people who was swept away and buried is Janet He. I just screamed almost all the way, I think. At some point, I kind of feel like, oh, this is it. Her head was buried. Yeah, my head was buried, my whole body was buried, hand was buried, only my feet can wiggle. Janet's husband, Joseph, had skied ahead outrunning the avalanche. Look behind you for your wife, and she's gone. And then when I look back, that's like three, four feet of snow covered the whole truck. I was frantic. The avalanche covered an area about the size of a football field. And I yelling her name. She's not there, then I was get very, very scary. He used his ski poles to poke through the snow, joining others searching for his wife. I was panicked, and I kind of breathed hard, and then I realized, once it stopped, I realized I should calm down myself. I told myself, I need to calm down. Otherwise, I would be breathing more air. Janet says her face mask provided a pocket of air so she could breathe, and minutes felt like hours. And then I heard somebody say, no worry, I got you. What was that like? Yeah, that was like, I think that was the best voice I heard in my life, feels like that way. And this was just a stranger? Yes, it's a stranger. The guy's name is Lauren. And so I say, oh, since you saved my life, so we need to take a selfie together. Two others were also pulled from the snow alive, but 66-year-old Kenneth Kidd did not make it. This morning, explosions echoed through Olympic Valley, part of the avalanche control effort to remove deep and potentially dangerous snow. It's reassuring to Janet He, who we met at a ski shop this morning, replacing the skis lost to the avalanche, determined to head back to the slopes today. I definitely don't think this event can prevent me from skiing, maybe prevent me from going up to KT-22 again. Are you nervous at all today? No, I'm excited. You want to go away from this trip with a positive experience? Yeah. Massive storms dumping heavy snow on drought-stricken land are part of the problem, and the director of the National Avalanche Center tells us the entire Western U.S. is at an increased risk of avalanches over the next two weeks. Ryan and Liz.