"Getting struck and killed by lightning was a real possibility since we were the highest thing around for miles and lightning was striking all around us. To reach safer ground, they decided to abandon their plan of taking a trail back. Instead, using their ice axes, they climbed down the face of the mountain through steep and icy snow chutes."
"My clothes were bloody. I had multiple fractures in my spine and pelvis, a head injury and gangrene from a deep wound. He gently stroked my head, and he held my face [and] reassured me by saying something like, 'You're going to be OK now. I'll be right back to get you.'"
In May 1982, Jean Muenchrath and her boyfriend encountered a violent blizzard while mountaineering in California's Sierra Nevada. Facing lightning strikes at high altitude, they descended via steep snow chutes instead of the planned trail. Muenchrath slipped and fell over 100 feet down the rocky face, sustaining multiple spine and pelvis fractures, head injury, and gangrene. Without communication devices, they hiked five days through deep snow back to the trailhead. Upon arrival, Muenchrath collapsed in the parking lot. A stranger who pulled into the parking lot immediately recognized her critical condition and provided compassionate reassurance, offering her hope and emotional support during her darkest moment.
Read at www.npr.org
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