Man jumps on tree to survive avalanche

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah - A Utah man’s snap decision to jump from a vehicle to a tree saved his life.

Nate Smoot was snowmobiling in unfamiliar territory when his vehicle triggered an avalanche.

In that instant he leaped off of the machine and grabbed onto a tree, while the snowmobile made a steep fall in the avalanche.

"It was a 700 feet drop off down the hill where the snow went, and I'm sure I would have not been standing here today if that tree wasn't there for me to grab onto."

The snow-mobile was found several hundred feet down the mountain crushed against some trees.

Smoot said he knows he’s fortunate.