Luck, hand of god, either way it is not a good way to deal with Avalanches

53 year old professor survives 45 minutes of burial.
Pistehors.com has an article titled "Hand of God" saves college prof which tells the story of a 45 minute burial in an avalanche. His skiing partner could not get a beacon signal, so he called for assistance. A helicopter flew over (probably using the Recco system). The spotted something which turned out to be a glove. When a rescuer grabbed the glove, it contained the hand of the victim.
He was dug out of the snow after 45 minutes, hypothermic but alive. He celebrated his 53 birthday in the hospital.