Alpine rescuers are calling the survival of an Austrian man in his twenties who was trapped for more than five hours under three feet of snow a “Christmas miracle.” The man disappeared while skiing on Mt. Pleschnitzzinken in the northwestern area of Upper Styria in Austria late Christmas Day. Friends were able to reach his cellphone but reported hearing only “crackling sounds” on his end. Rescuers then traced his electronic transceiver, which skiers are required to wear in avalanche-prone areas. “You can’t move under a blanket of snow like this,” Stefan Schröck, of the Styria mountain rescue service, told Austrian public broadcaster ORF. “The man was extremely lucky he had a big enough air pocket under the blanket of snow, so he had oxygen too and was able to breathe.” Six people also miraculously survived an avalanche in Swiss resort of Andermatt on the same day.