Alaska ? A skier was rescued from a massive avalanche that buried him for as many as 40 minutes Saturday near the site where another slide killed two snowmobilers earlier this month.

Ian Wilson, of Portland, Ore., was blue and unresponsive when he was pulled out from 4 feet of snow, but was able to talk before he was transported to an Anchorage hospital, Alaska State Troopers said. The 24-year-old, who was vacationing in Alaska, was later discharged from the hospital, said Lt. Barry Wilson, the statewide search and rescue coordinator.

The avalanche was reported just five minutes after searchers recovered the body of Christoph Vonalvensleben, 25, one of the snowmobilers killed in the Feb. 15 avalanche in backcountry about 65 miles outside Anchorage.