Alaska hiker pinned face down by 700-pound boulder credits great wife and lots of luck for surviving terrifying ordeal

An Alaska man survived three excruciating hours pinned by a 700-pound boulder with only minor injuries through dumb luck, a “great wife,” surprising cell service and a tourist helicopter, according to rescue workers and reports. Kell Morris, 61, the hiker who survived the ordeal, said he is one of the luckiest men alive. “And luckier that I have such a great wife,” he told the Associated Press Thursday.Morris and his wife Jo Roop had decided last Saturday to hike a remote glacier south of Anchorage to avoid the crowd of tourists that visit the Kenai Peninsula during the holidays.They opted for an isolated trail behind a state prison instead, according to reports. Morris said he tried avoiding the monstrous boulders – some weighing up to 1,000 pounds – along the creek bank.But then, without warning, a 700-pound boulder came tumbling down and pinned him face down into a freezing creek, according to reports and a press release from the rescue workers.Morris fell down the 20-foot embankment face down in the water, then was walloped by what rescue workers described as “an avalanche of boulders.”“Everything, the whole side slid out from under me,” Morris told the AP.Through dumb luck, he landed surrounded by rocks that supported the weight of the 700-pound boulder – the only thing that stopped him from getting crushed, Seward Fire Chief Clinton Crites said. The trapped hiker felt intense pain in his left leg and kept anticipating the terrible moment his femur would snap, he said.“When it first happened, I was doubtful that there was going to be a good outcome,” Morristold the outlet.His wife, a former state trooper and current police officer, tried desperately to pry him out from beneath the boulder to no avail before she left to find a cell signal and call for help.That’s when Morris had another stroke of luck.After only walking 300 yards, his wife was able to find cell service and call 911, relying on her professional experience to send G...