Mountain Survival Stories
Mountains are the most exposed and risky type of terrain you can get stuck on, with a single slip or fall ending everything in a few seconds. They are also one of the most likely places for people to get stranded and in the UK, mountain rescues only come second in number to people washed out to sea. Hundreds of people get stuck up mountains each year around the world, but the following mountain survival stories are some of the most extreme.
Aron Ralston – Cut off his own arm
This guy is one of the most well know people to have come out of a survival situation, mostly because he became famous from cutting off his own arm. In 2010 a film called “127 hours” was made of his experience, most of which was spent in the bottom of a small canyon with a rock crushing his arm.
Aron Ralston was a keen hiker and knew Wayne canyon in Utah well, so when he went out one day he was wildly over-confident and didn’t pack any were near enough supplies in the case of an emergency.
After falling down a narrow slot canyon he ended up at the bottom with a large boulder squashing his arm. He only had a 350ml bottle of water and 2 burritos to last him, and like most other survival stories he didn’t tell a single person where he was going.
On the 6th day of being trapped, he used a cheap penknife to cut through his arm and managed to walk to a nearby road where he found help.
Aron Ralston -The Full Survival Story
Uruguayan Rugby team – 72 days in the Andes
One of the more gruesome stories on the list, this very unlucky rugby team from Uruguay crashed in the Andes with 45 people on board. In the initial crash 17 people died, and then over the course of the next 72 days the survivors had to resort to eating each other.
Several attempts were made by the survivors to reach help, but they crashed too high up and the weather was as dangerous as the lack of food. After each attempt to find help failed they could only sit and wait until someone found them, all the while having nothing to eat but each other.
Uruguayan Rugby team – The Full Survival Story
Lincoln Hall – Lost up Everest
This guy was just someone looking to scale the biggest mountain in the world, and during his attempt in 2006 he almost did it. After reaching the last camp before the summit, he began to experience altitude sickness and became disorientated.
On the way down snow blindness only made his situation worse, and when the group stopped to rest Lincoln wandered off with another member. The 2 became separated and Lincoln found himself alone, and even though the guides did try to find him, they couldn’t risk leaving the other members of the group up the mountain for too long and left him there.
Expecting to find him as just another body up the mountain, he amazingly survived the night with no tent or sleeping bag, and even managed to walk a considerable distance down the slope.
Lincoln Hall – The Full Survival Story
The Donner Party – An 1846 story of Cannibalism
During the 1800’s in North America, there was a yearly expedition of settlers to the West coast, as the Panama Canal was not built at this time and the only way to the other side of the country was to walk. In 1846 the trip to the other side consisted of a 500-wagon-strong line of people, as well as countless livestock.
Since there was no way of knowing how to get there other than what someone had told them, information on the best route was mostly rumors. The Donner party was one of the families at the rear of the wagon chain and to save time, they took a shortcut they heard about through the mountains.
After getting stuck the Donner party, along with several other families and individuals had to build 3 small shacks up a mountain next to a lake as their route was too heavily snowed under.
Over the next few months, they starved to death by their lake and eventually had to resort to eating their dead. The story becomes especially dark when rescue came and found the remains of someone’s child chopped up into meat chunks in one of the group’s cooking pots.
The Donner Party – The Full Survival Story
The 1936 Eiger Climbing Disaster
The north face of Mount Eiger was notoriously dangerous, being prone to rock falls and quickly changing weather. In 1936 a group of friends came to the mountain in an attempt to beat the north face and reach the summit, but before they even began their climb one of the group died during some practice climbing.
After this, all the other members went home, mostly due to consistent bad weather and only 4 people were left. The team began their climb when the weather eased up and made good progress on the first day, making camp on a large ledge for the night.
The next day after a rock fall hit one of the climbers on the shoulder and broke his collar bone, the weather turned and icy gales blasted the group. They decided they should turn back but their route had now developed a thick layer of ice and made a return trip impossible.
Things went from bad to worse when an avalanche hit the group and left only one alive, this last survivor’s descent down to the ground didn’t end any more pleasantly than his friends did.
The 1936 Eiger Climbing Disaster – The Full Survival Story
Beck Weathers – An escape from Everest
Another victim of Mount Everest, Beck Weathers attempted his climb in 1996 and got close to the summit before a pre-existing condition caused him to become almost blind. On the descent the guide was forced to leave him and 4 others behind while he escorted the rest down to the ground.
Another guide came along and rescued 3 members of the group, but Beck and another had walked off and couldn’t be found. The other guy who walked off wasn’t seen again and is presumed dead, but Beck was still alive and had to spend the first night alone in his sleeping bag which was too small to cover his face.
He had to spend the entire night with nothing to cover his face from the cold and as a result suffered severe frostbite to his nose and cheeks. He was eventually found by another group who thought he’d die before reaching the bottom, and that night was put in a tent by himself to die. In the morning after finding him still alive he was helped to the bottom of the mountain on completely frozen feet. He ended up losing both his lower legs and both hands, as well as his nose and other small patches of skin on his face.
Beck Weathers –The Full Survival Story
Colby Coombs – 9 days alone up a mountain with broken bones
In 1992 Coombs and his friend tried to scale Mount Foraker, a 5300-metre tall mountain located in south-central Alaska. During the climb a piece of loose rock caused the pair to fall over 600 feet and upon regaining consciousness, Coombs realized his friend was dead.
He could see his friend hanging from the rope they were connected to, but since he was unconscious for so long, he couldn’t see his features as he was too badly frozen. He spent the next few days trying to gather enough energy to make the descent down to the ground with several broken bones and nowhere near enough food to last him.
Colby Coombs –The Full Survival Story
Jan Baalsrud – 4 Months behind enemy lines
One of the things that makes a survival situation much worse is being hunted by soldiers the whole time you’re in it. That’s exactly what Jan Baalsrud had to put up with for 4 months while hiding up a mountain in Norway.
After a sabotage attempt on a German installation went wrong he found himself on the run and was the only member of his team that was able to avoid being captured. He made his way into the mountains and hid from passing patrols, all the while trying not to freeze or starve to death.
If it wasn’t for the friendly Norwegian locals he surely would have died, and was eventually taken by them to an allied post where he was flown out of the country and taken to a hospital.
Jan Baalsrud –The Full Survival Story
Tommy Hendricks and Matthew Smith – Lost up a Mountain
A story that comes with an important lesson, “Don’t Push Your Luck”. These 2 young friends thought they could easily make the last section of the climb without all that gear weighing them down, so they left their most important equipment at a base camp.
Of course, things didn’t go as planned, and after a storm hit and they lost visibility, neither of them had a clue where they were. After it cleared they realized how horribly lost they were and without their tent and sleeping bag were now in a very serious situation.
Tommy Hendricks and Matthew Smith – The Full Survival Story
Eric LeMarque – 8 Days up a frozen mountain
Sometimes reading stories about people such as Eric LeMarque makes me very frustrated indeed, and borderline angry. This guy was snowboarding on California’s Mammoth Mountain when the slope patrols started to move people off the routes. Eric however thought he had plenty of time to walk to the top and make one last run down.
Now pay attention here people, because if the slope patrol warns you to get off the slope as fast as you can, it’s not because they just “feel like it”. Weather on mountains can change faster than any other type of terrain and if they say leave it’s for a good reason. Don’t do what Eric did and think you have time and that the weather will wait for you.
After getting lost in the storm he thought he could beat, he became lost and soaking wet and had to spend the next few nights alone with no food at the cost of both his lower legs.
Eric LeMarque – The Full Survival Story
The Lenin peak disaster of 1974
In 1974 a team of eight women attempted a climb of Lenin Peak to make themselves the first all-women group to make the summit. Even though they were severely under-equipped, they managed to make the summit after ignoring the base camps’ warnings about an incoming storm.
After getting hit by a blizzard while on the peak they had no choice but to remain there and make camp for the night. The storm made short work of their tents and forced them to try and get down in the dark during a blizzard. Not a single one of them managed to reach the bottom, making the Lenin Peak disaster of 1974 one of the worst tragedies to happen on the mountain.
The Lenin peak disaster of 1974 – The Full Story
Mike Vilhauer – 5 Days lost in the Sierra Nevada mountains
A classic tale of people not realizing how far they’ve walked. Mike Vilhauer went into the Sierra Nevada mountains on what was supposed to be a pleasant day fly fishing, but after getting lost looking for some bait it turned into a 5-day nightmare.
He thought he was going to die more than once and if he hadn’t told anyone when he’d be back he surely would have. This is an excellent example of how easy things can go wrong in the wilderness and how important it is to remain aware of your surroundings.
Mike Vilhauer – The Full Survival Story
Shuei Kato – 3 and a half days stuck up a frozen mountain
Shuei Kato is an experienced climber and at the time of his experience, he’d reached the peaks of 14 of California’s tallest mountains. His climbing partner couldn’t make it that day, so Shuei went on his climb alone. After getting lost on the summit Kato went through three days of hell trying to find his way back to his wife, a journey that saw him constantly walking for more than two whole days.