From the air, Crested Butte looks like a  snow globe.

It’s a beautiful winter wonderland that will take your breath away. It took Alex Theaker’s breath away, to the point he almost died.

“I don’t have a fear of death. I just laid it down and surrendered,” he said.

On March 8, Theaker was at work shoveling snow away from a vent on a home, when snow slid off the roof and right on top of him.

“It just buried me. Immediately I started wiggling and trying to get out and especially with how wet the snow was it just hardened like cement around me,” he said.

Fortunately, Alex’s hands ended up above his head and he was able to clear a small air pocket.

“That saved my life. I wouldn’t have had air in there without doing everything I did,” he said.

Alex tried screaming for help several times, but it was useless. As the seconds ticked by, Alex remembers thinking about his friend Brad who died in an avalanche a few years ago. He also thought of his wife, Tori.

“The worst thought I had under there was oh my God, my wife and my parents are going to dig me out and I’m going to be dead,” he said.

Alex also says several music artists helped him keep from panicking, including Tupac. He was listening to Tupac when he became trapped.

Then, Alex’s world went dark.

“I just laid my head down and I just passed out. I think if angels do exist they came and put my head down. I was under there for at least two and a half hours,” he explained.

The next thing Alex remembers is waking up on a hospital bed.

“I was  86 degrees. I think that was my core body temperature when they found me,” he said.

Alex doesn’t know how he survived, but believes it was nothing short of a miracle.

“It kind of feels like a big trip, a big dream, it was so real. I came to peace with the fact I might die, and it was actually a very peaceful experience.”