Pomerelle ski patrollers saved their colleague's life — without setting foot in the snow

Ski patrollers are trained to handle the most dire of situations in a challenging, snowy environment. So when one patroller at Pomerelle Mountain collapsed in cardiac arrest last week, his colleagues rushed to his aid.

Patroller Marvin Heilesen was in the first-aid room at the ski resort on Dec. 10, when he went into cardiac arrest, according to a release from Pomerelle officials.

"It was a grave situation," said patrol director Dane Higdem, according to the release.

But thanks to the snowy weather that often means good news for the south-central Idaho ski area, air ambulances were unable to reach Heilesen. Instead, his fellow volunteer ski patrol members took turns performing CPR on the Rupert man, waiting 40 minutes for a ground ambulance to make its way to them.

A spokeswoman for Pomerelle said the patrol's EMT training, emergency equipment and more was what saved the 51-year-old, who was transferred to a Magic Valley hospital and has since returned home to recuperate.

This story was originally published December 17, 2016 at 11:40 AM with the headline "Pomerelle ski patrollers saved their colleague's life — without setting foot in the snow."