Survival Stories

In 2013, Mary Grimm got lost amid whiteout conditions on Mt. Hood. She spent six days alone before anyone found her.

In this film based on a true incident on Mount Washington, particulars are off but the message is hope.

Amber Kohnhorst was hundreds of miles from her nearest friend when she fell down a cliff and broke her back.

A heart-stopping bolt hits one hiker and levels a group of his friends who then fight to resuscitate him.

From a leaky tent to a bout of hypothermia, these misadventures left us wiser in the end.

Did ranger Randy Morgenson succumb to disaster or despair?

When his brother turned back a few miles into their overnight hike, Jacob Velarde decided to continue solo. It was a mistake.

When his brother turned back a few miles into their overnight hike, Jacob Velarde decided to continue solo. Then, he fell.

In June of 2020, Jeremy Humphrey used his intimate knowledge of his local mountain range to rescue a missing hiker.

You think climbing Rainier is tough? Try it carrying wounds from a war, then see who you pity.

In a wilderness emergency, the tiniest details can be a matter of life and death. After a pair of accidents leave one one young adventurer injured and another deceased, Hayden Seder ponders the difference a stroke of luck can make.

Courtney Henderson, 19, and Gavin Caruso, 23, fell 50 feet during a storm in June of 2020. Only one survived.

Taylor Gibler, 26, barreled towards frozen peril after stumbling on Mt. Baker in June of 2020.

Pam Bales’ solo hike in October 2010 turned into a daring rescue of a fellow hiker. But she was left with more questions than answers.

Minko Nikolov, 32, suffered a near-fatal lightning strike while scouting a bouldering objective in Rocky Mountain National Park in August 2019.

When Shaina Maytum was 21, a slip in the desert left her broken, alone, and unable to move.

Mountaineers Yevgeniy Krasnitskiy (39), Vasily Aushev (35), Constantin Toporov (37), and Rus Khasbulatov (33) survived a days-long storm on Mt. Rainier in June 2019.

In October 2018, Rob Lundgren, 66, woke from a dream to find himself in a nightmare—lost in Idaho’s Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness

For J.P. Rose, 34, and Christina Fialho, 35, an idyllic dayhike in the Caribbean in 2017 turned into a nightmare.

For George Brown, 68, a morning trail run in August 2018 became more than 40 hours stranded in Montana’s Bob Marshall Wilderness with a broken leg.

In August 2018, Spencer Christiansen, 31, and his wife Jess, 24, spent nearly two days lost in Wyoming’s Darby Ice Caves.

Dylan “Flip” Zitawi, 25, and Colton “Rook” Lulfs, 21, spent 60 hours in a snow pit near Indian Pass, Washington, when a blizzard struck in 2017.

When Eric LeMarque was rescued off California’s Mammoth Mountain in 2004, he had no way of knowing the hardship was just beginning.

How do you move on after a cougar tries to kill you? Following an attack in 2004, Anne Hjelle got back on the trail.

After a fall on Mt. Rainier in 2012, Stacy Wren Liedle found herself dealing with a different kind of injury.

Jon Carlton, then 38, survived a massive heart attack while backcountry snowboarding on 12,400-foot Esha Peak near Mammoth Lakes, California, in April 2016.

The best way to ensure survival in the wild? Learn how to live like a hunter-gatherer.

From strandings at sea to grizzly attacks, we collect our readers' favorite tales from the brink.

Shuei Kato, 37, survived wind, cold, and hallucinations for four days in the Colorado backcountry in October, 2017.

David Tamowski, 58, was alone in the New Zealand bush for 10 days in April 2015.

A rib-breaking fall was my wake-up call.

Brigham Holladay, 26, fell while trying to escape a slot canyon near Utah’s Goblin Valley State Park in March 2018.

Roger Dannen, 75, slipped 60 feet down a rock face in remote Indian Canyons, near Palm Springs, California, in January 2018. He survived in the desert for three days.

Soon we both stopped shivering, and neither of us could feel our feet. Matt turned to me. “Tommy, we could die out here.”

In late May 2017, Marcus Mazzaferri, 25, lost his pack and glasses fording a river in Yosemite National Park, leaving him lost and gearless for 24 hours in late-season snow and freezing temperatures.

Niki Rellon, 40, fell 45 feet during a canyoneering expedition in November, 2013.

April Meads, 19, slipped down a cliff in Oregon’s Columbia River Gorge and was rescued with an improvised rope in May 2015.

When we awoke in the blizzard of ash, we were ready to run for our lives. Was the ash toxic? Would slag soon fall from the sky like meteorites?

Greg Barnes, 28, was swept out to sea on March 30, 2015, while on a hike near Pagat Cave, Guam.

We're in summer's last stretch—but the warm weather isn't over yet. Get some inspiration from these five volumes.

A couple flips their canoe in class V rapids on Northern Ontario's Kopka River

Lost in an Alaskan blizzard, one man struggles to stave off hypothermia.

A new mother's true tale of getting lost in the wilderness.

Adam Herman, 24, and Conor Lodge, 22, were caught in an avalanche in Tuckerman Ravine on New Hampshire’s Mt. Washington on December 28, 2013.

Gregg Hein, 33, of Fresno, California, survived six days on remote Mt. Goddard in Kings Canyon National Park in July 2014.

David Snider, 57, fell, lost his glasses, and spent five days wandering lost in Washington’s Olympic Range in May 2012.

Ed Rosenthal, 68, spent six days lost in Joshua Tree National Park in September, 2010.

A kayaker struggles to stay afloat when a tangle of trees pins her boat.

A disoriented hiker snaps her leg in a gruesome fall and spends the next three days trying to crawl her way to safety.

A solo hiker tries to claw her way out of a frozen cave after a winter pathway collapses.

A violent storm ravages a stressed forest, threatening to crush two dayhikers.

A hair-raising tale of wilderness terror that will haunt your backcountry dreams

A hair-raising tale of wilderness terror that will haunt your backcountry dreams

A hair-raising tale of wilderness terror that will haunt your backcountry dreams

A hair-raising tale of wilderness terror that will haunt your backcountry dreams

A hair-raising tale of wilderness terror that will haunt your backcountry dreams

After three decades of silence, a reporter reveals the story he was afraid to write.

On a snowy night in New Hampshire, Congressional candidate Gary Dodds crashed his car, wandered into the woods, and collapsed. Twenty-seven hours later, rescuers carried him out. And then the real drama began.

How do hikers meet their maker in the backcountry? The answers may surprise you.

On August 25, 2005, Johan Otter and his 18-year-old daughter, Jenna, hiked right into the worst nightmare of any Glacier National Park backpacker: a 300-pound mother grizzly protecting two cubs. Here, in his own words, the 45-year-old physical therapist from Escondido, CA, shares the incredible story of their life-and-death struggle.

From snowblindness to wrong turns, everyday wilderness adventures can turn ugly if you're not prepared for everything.

When our firstborn son left us, the word "burial" was never uttered.