Kel N FDE

Experience Description

It was the morning of 02/15/2020. I was seeing another beautiful, bluebird sky day to be hitting Keystone Mountain Resort in Colorado for some snowboarding. I had boarded this mountain hundreds of times since I was very little. This morning in particular, the snow conditions were just perfect with 7 feet of snow the night before. There was not a cloud in the sky. I knew the powder would be heavy and thick, so made sure my board was properly tuned to take on what the mountain was about to give me that day. I took the first lift up, practically no one was on the mountain. Once at the top, I took another lift that would take me to the upper ridge of the resort. The upper ridge involves a quarter mile hike to reach the bowl shoot runs that almost face the back side of the resort.

Most of the time, ski patrol will have this ridge roped off in the early morning as they conduct avalanche testing and snow conditions to determine if it’s safe for riders. I decided to check if the rope was off to indicate it was open. Sure enough, to my enjoyment it was! I began my hike along the ridge, I didn’t see boot tracks as would be expected from ski patrol if the rope was not up. I shrugged it off and continued on my hike, in anticipation of the deep powder I would be riding through. I finally made it to where I wanted to ski down. Looking around, I did not see any bomb sediment from the ski patrollers blasting the cornices. This made a little weary but I told myself, 'Well I hiked all the way here and I’m not hiking back.' Looking at the run I was about to go down. I would be jumping in off a roughly 7 foot cornice, then riding down a steep part of the middle area of the bowl. I had music playing and the song I remember playing was 'Let it happen- Tame Impala'.

I jump off the cornice and landed in very, very deep powder in the bowl, where the powder was above my waist. I leaned on my back foot to give me momentum to turn and get back on top of the powder to ride easier. I was about to do just that, but as I got back on top, the shelf broke right in front of me. I started to panic and tried to straight-line my board to ride on top of it. As I did that, I remembered the shelf from the 7 foot cornice above had broken. That shelf hit me like a ton of bricks. I toppled over. then tumbled for what seemed like a neverending time. I felt like a rag in a washing machine. The thrashing and turning finally stopped.

All I could see around me was a light grey. There was no blue sky, no birds chirping, just total silence. I knew I was under the snow but had no idea how deep I was. I spit to determine which way my head was facing - up or down. Spit landed down from my mouth so the back of my head was facing towards the top of the snow pack. I tried not to panic, but there was so much snow and I was running out of air fast with each movement of scraping away snow with my board.

All a sudden I was looking down at myself, seeing myself struggling like a rat in a cage. But in this state, I was entirely calm. I was the calmest I had ever been with a warm, bright light covering me and surrounding me like a blanket. With a voice that was felt and heard all around me, sounding almost like a whisper in my ear, but saying 'what is the time.' It did not sound like a question or a statement but rather an observation or passing thought. I simply responded 'how long' in the same tone and connotation. I could feel the warmth of this light surrounding me, growing more pleasing and welcoming, as I kept watching myself digging out of the avalanche to save my life. I likened the being/feeling/voice to be that of the mountain or mother nature or mother to all. The last thing I can remember the voice said to me was, 'Time is irrelevant, you must return.'

With that, I felt a slight push and I was right back in my body and my board makes one final push. I see the blue sky and hear the birds chirping again. The cold air hitting my lungs after being deprived of oxygen was the best feeling I had ever experienced. After I manage to climb out and get to a safer location. I sat on a rock near a tree and started crying uncontrollably. I was flooded with so many emotions, thoughts, feelings, and memories. It almost didn’t even feel real. I still was in a state of shock and confusion as to what I just experienced.

One part of me was trying to rationalize the out of body experience while the other part was in shambles realizing I was minutes away from being dead. I knew the pain that would have caused my family and friends. Memories of my childhood were racing through my head like slides on a projector. I managed to get off the mountain and get to the aid station. I had fractured a rib during the accident. I called my dad and told him everything as I was choking on my tears. After that day, it took me months and some alternative therapies to rationalize and understand the accident and my life’s purpose. To this day I still think about it and it has shaped me profoundly by leading the life I want to live each and every day.

Background Information:

Gender: Male

Date NDE Occurred: 02/15/2020

NDE Elements:

At the time of your experience, was there an associated life-threatening event? No. Accident. Life threatening event, but not clinical death

How do you consider the content of your experience? Both pleasant AND distressing

Did you feel separated from your body? Yes I don’t know if this would be considered 'earthly' but I could see the snow from the avalanche still cascading down almost in slow motion. I was out of body and watching myself digging out. I clearly left my body and existed outside it

How did your highest level of consciousness and alertness during the experience compare to your normal everyday consciousness and alertness? More consciousness and alertness than normal. My hearing was very crisp and clear. My sight was almost like that of a predator, hunting prey. My muscles were almost fast twitching and felt like steel

At what time during the experience were you at your highest level of consciousness and alertness? Right as I was on top the avalanche shelf after dropping into the bowl. And right after I was back in my body as I broke through the snow

Were your thoughts speeded up? Incredibly fast

Did time seem to speed up or slow down? Everything seemed to be happening at once; or time stopped or lost all meaning. Time felt irrelevant during the experience almost as if time had never even existed. I later perceived it as slowing down but as the same time it just felt as if I was just there in that moment and time mother slowed it sped up.

Were your senses More vivid than usual? Incredibly more vivid

Please compare your vision during the experience to your everyday vision that you had immediately prior to the time of the experience. It was sharp, like looking through the clearest most unobstructed lens; like looking through the clearest frozen lake with no imperfections.

Please compare your hearing during the experience to your everyday hearing that you had immediately prior to the time of the experience. Like that of a hawk, I could hear the bark on the trees twist and break against the wind the snow buckling all around me like a wave. The bindings on my board tighten and strain against the pitching of the leather on my boots. And of course, the birds chirping so clear like they were right in front of me.

Did you seem to be aware of things going on elsewhere? No

Did you pass into or through a tunnel? No

Did you see any beings in your experience? No

Did you encounter or become aware of any deceased (or alive) beings? No

Did you see, or feel surrounded by, a brilliant light? A light clearly of mystical or other-worldly origin

Did you see an unearthly light? Yes I was surrounded by it; it was blissfully warm and calming with what appeared to be a warm, yellowish-gold glow pulsating from out behind me and surrounding me.

Did you seem to enter some other, unearthly world? Some unfamiliar and strange place. It was like I was suspended in the air but I had no body - just my sight and hearing. It was this light and it had no defined place or position. I was surrounded by this brilliant light and I could see the white, snowcapped mountains outside and all around me outside of this light. I could see the avalanche I was caught in slowly cascading down the mountain in slow motion and then there was my body struggling to escape.

What emotions did you feel during the experience? I felt at ease and carefree while I was out of body and surrounded by this light. I felt a blissful sense of apathy in a way. I felt disconnected from my struggles and stresses. After I returned back to my body and was able to rest safely was when I was flooded with what felt like every possible emotion. I was happy I was alive and grateful but was also confused and frustrated trying to comprehend what I had just experienced. I was resentful of myself for be so selfish and foolish for what I had just done. I was extremely nostalgic as memories began flooding my mind trying to comprehend everything that happened.

Did you have a feeling of peace or pleasantness? Incredible peace or pleasantness

Did you have a feeling of joy? Happiness

Did you feel a sense of harmony or unity with the universe? I felt united or one with the world

Did you suddenly seem to understand everything? Everything about myself or others. I understood I had to go back as much I didn’t want to. I felt a deep sense of all of nature behind grounded and forever intertwined and connected. Nature that is connected on earth. My spirit felt connected to a larger system but I more felt the connection to all livings on earth.

Did scenes from your past come back to you? My past flashed before me, out of my control. I was flooded with past memories when I returned to my body after the accident and watched my replay in my head like slides on a projector. I didn't experience or see any past memories during my out of body experience. All memories where from my childhood ages 2 to 17. I believe there were no other recent memories I saw after the accident or experience.

Did scenes from the future come to you? No

Did you come to a border or point of no return? I came to a definite conscious decision to return to life. After I felt the slight push and after the being told me, 'Time is irrelevant, you must return' I knew it was not my time to go and I had a renewed purpose to my life.

God, Spiritual and Religion:

What was your religion prior to your experience? Unaffiliated- Atheist

Have your religious practices changed since your experience? Yes I’m more connected spiritually as a result of the experience.

What is your religion now? Unaffiliated- Atheist

Did your experience include features consistent with your earthly beliefs? Content that was both consistent and not consistent with the beliefs you had at the time of your experience. I’m an atheist, before the experience and after. I did not know what came after death before the experience but during the experience I was certain 100% this must be what happens or what exists after we shed our mortal coil. It was just such a profound and altering feeling and experience that I had no previous notion of being possible before the experience occurred.

Did you have a change in your values and beliefs because of your experience? Yes I’m more in tune with my spirituality and self-care of my body mind and spirit.

Did you seem to encounter a mystical being or presence, or hear an unidentifiable voice? I encountered a definite being, or a voice clearly of mystical or unearthly origin. It spoke to me it the clearest whispers but I could not tell where or who the voice was coming from it was that a of a Female’s voice like that of a mother but was not my mother's voice. The being I rationalized to be that of the mountain/ Mother Nature. Her statements were neither questions nor statements just observations and passing thoughts. The voice gave me the most immense feeling of peace, like one that could you in the deepest of slumbers, no matter the circumstances.

Did you see deceased or religious spirits? No

Did you encounter or become aware of any beings who previously lived on earth who are described by name in religions (for example: Jesus, Muhammad, Buddha, etc.)? No

During your experience, did you gain information about premortal existence? No

During your experience, did you gain information about universal connection or oneness? Yes I did experience the brilliant light and the voice that separated me from existing as an individual and more of a collective whole.

During your experience, did you gain information about the existence of God? No

Concerning our Earthly lives other than Religion:

During your experience, did you gain special knowledge or information about your purpose? No

During your experience, did you gain information about the meaning of life? No

During your experience, did you gain information about an afterlife? Uncertain I knew that there is a plane of being afterlife and that is what I felt was this magical light surrounding me; like a cosmic web of connected consciousness.

Did you gain information about how to live our lives? No

During your experience, did you gain information about life's difficulties, challenges and hardships? No

During your experience, did you gain information about love? No

What life changes occurred in your life after your experience? Large changes in my life. I take the little things in my life more seriously now and I spend much more time with my family than I did before the experience. I’m more aware of other people’s lives and receptive to their life’s struggles.

After the NDE:

Was the experience difficult to express in words? Yes It’s so hard to describe the feeling of this warm light that surrounded me when I was out of body and the felling this being/voice invoked in me when it spoke. It’s was extremely calming but there was just these other feelings that I had never felt and have never felt since that I can’t describe. Almost like a warm static electricity

How accurately do you remember the experience in comparison to other life events that occurred around the time of the experience? I remember the experience more accurately than other life events that occurred around the time of the experience. It has had such an embellishing and profound impact on my life. The feeling emotions and visual experience was and still is unlike anything I have ever encountered and it experienced before. I remember it down to almost every detail.

Do you have any psychic, non-ordinary or other special gifts after your experience that you did not have before the experience? Yes I noticed I’m more sensitive to energies in specific places and during specific times. Such as when walking through grave yards or near historical places. I feel this sense of righted awareness and emotion when near these places.

Are there one or several parts of your experience that are especially meaningful or significant to you? The whole experience was incredibly meaningful to me me. For starters I’m extremely grateful and happy to be alive after this. The voice from the being will always stick with me and what it had said.

Have you ever shared this experience with others? Yes I told my dad after I had left the hospital. He’s and atheist as well but he told me of a story in his past where a similar experience happens to him after an accident, but I’ll let him tell his own story. He was very understanding and supportive after the experience. My mother was not so much she said it was due just to oxygen Deprivation and delirium.

Did you have any knowledge of near death experience (NDE) prior to your experience? No

What did you believe about the reality of your experience shortly (days to weeks) after it happened? Experience was definitely real. It was just so profound that there was no possible way from me to believe it was not real. The emotional effects it had on me weeks, months, years later have proven to me that the experience was real and entirely genuine.

What do you believe about the reality of your experience now? Experience was definitely real. It was just so profound that there was no possible way from me to believe it was not real. The emotional effects it had on me weeks, months, years later have proven to me that the experience was real and entirely genuine.

At any time in your life, has anything ever reproduced any part of the experience? No

Is there anything else that you would like to add about your experience? I believe that sums it up.

Are there any other questions that we could ask to help you communicate your experience? This has been wonderful! It was difficult to get it all out and emotional but it feels relieving to share my experience with this wonderful and amazing community. Also loved what Dr. Long had to say on Theo Von’s podcast. It was truly inspiring and informative.

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