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'Very, Very Lucky': Man Describes Close Call With Boulder In Glenwood Canyon

GLENWOOD SPRINGS, Colo. (CBS4) - Hours prior to the rock slide that closed Glenwood Canyon in both directions, there were signs of instability. Just after 6 p.m., as Bob Dorf headed into the canyon from Vail, he nearly collided head on with a giant boulder.

boulder in car1
(credit: Bob Dorf)

"Just right in front of me, as I came around the corner, was a rock that looked the size of a refrigerator and a smaller rock in the left hand lane, and I swerved at the last second and managed to avoid hitting it head on," he said.

The collision flipped Dorf's car on its side, and it went skidding down the road.

boulder in car2
(credit: Bob Dorf)

"It took my front right wheel off, and that threw me on the side of the car. The whole car on its side as I slid down the road."

Dorf says his seat belt saved his life. He also says he recently purchased the car, a 2018 Chevy Equinox. He credits the new car for the airbag deployment.

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Bob Dorf and his wife, Gemma (credit: CBS)

"I am absolutely amazed that everything worked so well obviously because they had to cut me out of the seat belt, but airbags deployed. I don't where all the airbags came from, but they came from everywhere. I was padded," he said.

A broken fingernail was the only thing close to an injury he had.

"(Paramedics) made sure that I was alive and well and took a look at my nail, determined that it was probably going to be okay."

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(credit: Bob Dorf)

Sitting next to his wife, who picked him up after the accident, he talked about how lucky he was to walk away.

"I'm buying lottery tickets, by the handful!" he joked. "One split second one way or the other and I would've probably hit that head on, and I may not have had the outcome that I had. I feel very, very lucky."

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