NOVA

The first night when we got there was just to get up to stay overnight on the mountain at Harvard Hut. You know, there was very much of that warning, too. The Appalachian Mountain Club folks that were very careful, I think, to warn people like, "Hey, do you know what you're doing here? You know, you're gonna go up into a really rough realm." And so there would've been a bit of that, too. (birds chirping) (water splashing) That next morning is where we wanted to choose a route going up through Huntington Ravine, where there are a number of different ice climbs. So we decided, really, I think it was that morning, to do Odell's Gully. (birds cawing) Hugh led it and did a number of pitches on up through. And at one point I had these heavy Gore-Tex mittens, and I had slings that were Velcroed on, and so I could let them hang down so I could work on the tools and take screws in and out. And so the one time I did that, the sling came open, and I looked and the mitten was gone. So that would come in later on, as far as being a major problem with, you know, trying to keep my hands from becoming frostbitten. (wind whistling) So we're at the top of Odell's Gully, which is 800 feet from the ground. We decided we would drive on and actually try to get to the summit, and just try to knock that all off. Maybe about 20, 25 minutes or so, and these little wispy wind gusts, and the snow that was coming down turned into just hurricane-force winds. Above Huntington's, we probably walked five minutes, at the most. That was the critical decision that led to the accident. You know, among the mistakes that they made, was that they didn't have a compass. They didn't have a map and compass. And they were using the wind. (wind whistling) And so when they turned around to walk down, they did not realize that the wind had changed, and so they walked in the wrong direction. Instead of going down, where they had come from, they went down the wrong side and they went into the Great Gulf, which is an immense wilderness. (gentle suspenseful music) Just some awful events happened that night. There was a river over in that Great Gulf area. "Well, let's just follow this, which is going downhill, at least. You know, maybe that'll get to something eventually." And what happened was Hugh fell through the ice and was soaked from the waist down. (gentle suspenseful music continues) Maybe within an hour or so, it happened again. We were always right next to each other, and he would go through. And the next time he went in up to here. You know, it's minus 20 degrees Fahrenheit, and your feet get wet, it's a rapid (chuckles) decay. Given my experience in the mountains, I personally did not believe we would last a night. What I didn't estimate is the power of being with someone else. That's critical, because if you're with another human being, you can hug them. And you dramatically reduce the surface area of the dual body, but you double the heat source. So by hugging someone, you can stay alive for a remarkable amount of time, in those subarctic conditions. (wind whistling) We actually rationalized that the sooner we died, the better. So we actually stopped hugging each other. (gentle suspenseful music continues) -

Alison

It's hard to imagine that they could have survived another night. And then by incredible miracle, Cam Bradshaw, the 28-year-old hut manager was out snowshoeing and she saw these weird tracks, and she thought, "Oh, that must be a moose," because they were so inconsistent. And so she tracked them for a long time. (gentle suspenseful music continues)

It was about 2

30, just heard some noises over in the trees real close to us, and could see this girl, you know, fighting her way through the trees, you know? She came upon us and was standing there. And at first we were silent, 'cause we didn't trust our minds. And then we shouted, and she responded. (laughs) So... -

Alison

It was about 2

And she said, "Are you the guys that are missing?" And they said, "Yeah, that's us." And then everything went into motion really fast. -

Jeff

It was about 2

Actually said to Hugh, I was cheering him on when nobody was around. Just, "Come on, Hugh, hang in there. We need to make it a little bit longer." (dramatic music) -

Hugh

It was about 2

We felt tremendous elation, 'cause you went from being certain of death to, "Gosh, we might live." -

Jeff

It was about 2

Little did we know what our bodies would have to go through in these next days, and all that in the hospital and everything. (dramatic music swells)