Teacher survives 2 frigid nights lost in mountains
Published: December 5, 2005
The feeling in David Corsbie’s toes has returned, but his fingertips are mostly numb.
Physical remnants of surviving a bitter night alone in the Sierra Nevada have begun to fade; yet the memory is vivid.
More than a week ago, Corsbie, 23, became separated from friends when a snowstorm hit as they were hiking in the Desolation Wilderness region west of Lake Tahoe, Calif.
What followed were two days of “madness,” Corsbie said.
It was supposed to be a winter getaway for Corsbie, a teacher and basketball coach in Many Farms, a small town 15 miles north of Chinle on the Navajo Nation.
He and two friends would spend Nov. 24 hiking and camping in the mountains of Lake Tahoe. Corsbie described the scene as picturesque: clear skies, cool air, sweeping views. The men spent most of the night hovering over a campfire and staring into a sky full of stars.
Snow begins to fall
On Nov. 25, they awoke to frigid rain.
They scurried to pack their gear and head down the mountain as the pounding rain turned to sleet and hail.
Not long into the hike, Corsbie stopped to readjust his pack and relieve himself while his companions forged ahead. He thought he would find a shortcut to meet with them but instead found a dead end.
Then snow. It covered his tracks and blanketed the scenery, spinning his world into a confusing swirl of white.
“Pretty soon everything looks the same,” Corsbie said. “The weather is getting worse and worse. That’s when you realize you’re lost and the panic sets in.”
His clothes, which were soaked, , started to freeze. The darkness crept in, and he decided to find shelter.
He dropped to the ground, pulling a hollowed-out log on top of him.
“I lay in there about 10 minutes, just shivering and cold, and I knew there was no way in hell I could stay there all night,” he said.
So he began walking.
If you enjoyed this good news Subscribe to Good News Blog
Share this
To share this simply copy and paste one of the below URL's: