He Held On for Minutes To Save His Friend, Now This Young Skier Is Being Honored

A Virginia youth has been honored with a Carnegie Medal for saving his friend from falling off a ski lift.

In January 2025, Major Metzger, who was 10 at the time, hopped on the ski lift alongside three other kids when his seat neighbor, 6-year-old Bryce Rader, had trouble loading and began to slip, according to the Carnegie Medal website. 

Metzger grabbed Rader and held on, attempting to pull him back onto the seat. 

Eventually Rader slipped completely off, with Metzger holding his arms with gloved hands as his friend dangled around 16 feet above the rugged ground below. The lift came to a stop and ski patrol arrived, putting a mat below Rader before advising Metzger to let go.

In the fall, Rader suffered a small bump on his head but was checked out by medical staff and did not require additional treatment. He’d been hanging for about four minutes. Metzger, for his part, had sore arms and was shaken but didn’t require any treatment. 

Governor Abigail Spanberger presented the Carnegie Medal, which is awarded to those “who risk death or serious physical injury to an extraordinary degree saving or attempting to save the lives of others,” to Metzger on September 16 at a ceremony.

“Major Metzger’s bravery represents the very best of Virginia—and he demonstrated it at the young age of only 10 years old,” said Governor Spanberger in a statement. “Our entire Commonwealth thanks you for fearlessly risking your life to save your friend.”

It’s not the first time a close call at a ski resort has drawn the attention of the Carnegie Hero Fund Commission. 

In 2017, at Arapahoe Basin, Colorado, a skier stuck dangling from a lift fell unconscious after his backpack strap wrapped around his neck. 

Professional slackliner Mickey Wilson saw what was happening and climbed up the lift tower, shimmied along the lift cable, and began trying to kick the backpack buckle to break it. A ski patroller then threw him a knife, which he used to cut the stuck skier free; the skier fell ten feet to the snow, where he received CPR.

Wilson received a Carnegie Medal for the rescue.

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