Real Survival Stories - Snowmobile Excursion: Olympic Athlete vs Nature

Episode Date: February 13, 2025

Rulon Gardner is no stranger to adversity. At the 2000 Olympic Games he won gold in Greco-Roman wrestling, against all the odds. But in 2002, he finds himself in a different kind of fight - a monumental clash of man versus nature in the mountains of Wyoming. A series of wrong turns sees an afternoon of snowmobiling veer off the rails. With the daylight disappearing, Rulon will need every last drop of willpower if he’s to make it out of the wilderness… A Noiser production, written by Nicole Edmunds. For ad-free listening, bonus material and early access to new episodes, join Noiser+. Click the Noiser+ banner to get started. Or, if you’re on Spotify or Android, go to noiser.com/subscriptions If you have an amazing survival story of your own that you’d like to put forward for the show, let us know. Drop us an email at [e-mail] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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It's February the 14th, 2002, around 4 p.m. High up in the mountains of West Wyoming, 31-year-old Rulon Gardner speeds along on his snowmobile. He's surrounded by an expanse of whiteness, a maze of snowy plains and slopes, interspersed with occasional pockets of trees. A frosty wind whips behind, turning his every breath to fog amidst the darkening sky.

Sinister shadows crawl across the ground. Despite the deteriorating conditions, Roland plows forward, keeping his eyes peeled. His big, muscular frame hunches over the handlebars as he sprays fountains of snow particles with each turn. He's on the lookout for his friend, from whom he's been separated for almost an hour. With every passing minute, their chances of finding each other diminish. What started as a day of fun and exploration is now something else entirely.

Rulon keeps searching. He pushes up a snowy hillside, passing some more sparse trees and rough, craggy rocks. Then suddenly he reaches a point where he can go no further. I rode my snowboard up to the edge because now it's starting to get dark. It's starting to hard to see any distance and I come up to the edge and I just see it was kind of like a drop off. It was like straight off the side of the mountain. Time isn't on his side. He has to make a decision. He can either turn back the way he came and wait for his friend on the deserted mountain, where he can drive off the ledge into the unknown. Quickly, Rulon makes his choice.

He's going full steam ahead. I come up and I get to the edge, I'm like, well, here we go. With a rev and a crunch, he takes the snowmobile forwards. But the drop is much steeper than he envisaged. The second the front tips over the edge, the snowmobile accelerates down the vertical slope, charging through the thick powder with ferocious speed. Ruland sticks his right leg out to the side and tries to scuff up the snow in a desperate attempt to slow down. His knuckles whiten as his left hand squeezes the brake. The vehicle bumps over rocks, crunches across stones, skids on sheet ice. It seems

inevitable that a collision with something sharp or solid awaits. But then, at last, the land flattens out and the snowmobile shudders to a halt. On shaking legs, Rulon stands on top of the vehicle, its singular beam illuminating the barren, icy landscape that surrounds him. Shivering in his thin fleece, he is a lone figure at the bottom of a mountain, frozen, isolated, and now completely lost. Through my experience in dropping off the side of the hill, I realized I had no idea where I was at, no clue what was ahead of me, but my whole goal was to survive.

Ever wondered what you would do when disaster strikes? If your life depended on your next decision, could you make the right choice? Welcome to Real Survival Stories. These are the astonishing tales of ordinary people thrown into extraordinary situations. People suddenly forced to fight for their lives. In this episode, we meet Olympic gold medalist Rulon Gardner. In 2002, the world champion wrestler finds himself in a different kind of fight, a monumental clash of man versus nature in the mountains of Wyoming. On Valentine's Day, Rulon and two friends head out for an afternoon of snowmobiling

in the cold wilderness of the Cowboy State. But within a few hours, they get separated from one another, and Rulan finds himself alone and under siege from the savage elements. With daylight disappearing and no idea where he is, he'll need every last drop of his will if he's to make it out of this snow-covered nightmare. I'm like, I won the Olympics. I'm like, I'm the best in the world. I can save myself. I'm okay. And I now have to think about self-preservation. What are you going to do? What's your thought process? How are you going to make it through this night?

I'm John Hopkins from the Noiza Network. This is Real Survival Stories. It's midday on February 14, 2002 in Wyoming. And in the small towns nestled beneath the Rocky Mountains, love is in the air. Among the swooning couples celebrating Valentine's Day, 31-year-old Rulon Gardner drives his truck through the streets, smiling at the love heart decorations and Cupid cutouts adorning the shop windows. All around he can see mountains. Nearby the Salt River Range and the Wyoming Range meet, creating a complex snow speckled formation of summits and valleys bordered by dense,

dark green forests. That's where he's headed. The excitement grows as he drives towards the wild. Ready to begin an adventure he's dreamt of since he was a kid. Growing up on the farm, we didn't have a lot of fun. And so when we were out in the fields, we always looked at the mountains and we always thought, man, I wonder what it's like up there.

Raised on a dairy farm in the community of Afton, the youngest of nine siblings, there was little time to explore. I grew up in a climate where it's cold in the winter, it's beautiful in the summer, but for us being farmers, it was a lot of work. You know, we had fields, we had shores, we had hay, we had just so much agriculture that had to be done. The cows had to be milked twice a day. There was no day off from being a dairy farmer.

The winter time, I love to be out there feeding the cows when the temperature is freezing. It's just absolutely brutal. We had snow three or four feet deep out in the fields, and it was just so brutally cold. And I just thought to myself as a kid growing up, how many people could survive this? Survival was a recurring theme in Rulon's upbringing. While the farm taught him nature's circle of life, his own existence was punctuated with near death experiences. In fact, by the time Rulon had reached his early teens,

it already racked up a significant number. During a class show and tell, he was impaled with an arrow. Later, he was thrown off the back of a truck. Then there was the time he suffered a near fatal infection, not to mention when he was branded by fire or run over by a farm vehicle. But while danger seemed to stalk Ruland's every move and work on the farm was tough,

his childhood was also filled with love. My mom, you know, she truly was always there for me, always supported me. And my siblings always say, you were mom's favorite. I always there for me, always supported me. And my siblings always say, you were mom's favorite. I'm like, no, I wasn't. And she, I was, you know, she always tried to protect me. I always tried to make sure I had everything I needed to.

My mom made me the person I am today. Aside from his mother, the other great influence in Rulon's life came further away from home. From a young age, he discovered a talent for one of the toughest, most physically demanding hobbies out there, wrestling. I got into wrestling because if I didn't wrestle or do sports, I was out working on the farm and I didn't like to work on the farm 24 hours a day. So for me, I got into sports because I'm like, well, I can get off the farm, I can go and I can have friends. What began as an after school activity soon evolved into a lifelong passion.

Roland grew into an enormous physical specimen. He wrestled his way through high school, collegiate, and national competitions. After graduating in 1996, a coach advised him to learn Greco-Roman wrestling, an official Olympic sport. And in the year 2000, after four years of training, Rulon found himself at the Sydney Olympic Games,

standing face to face with the undefeated Russian champion, ready to battle for gold. I went into 2000 and had an opportunity to wrestle Alexander Karelian, 13-time world and Olympic champion. And I beat him, won nothing to win the Olympics in 2000. That was one of the biggest upsets to the Olympic Games. in the Olympics in 2000. That was one of the biggest upsets of the Olympic Games. Gold medal hanging from his neck. Life changed for Rulon in an instant.

He became a national celebrity back home, chatting to Oprah Winfrey, Rosie O'Donnell, and David Letterman. He was even invited to the inauguration of President George W. Bush. A year later, in 2001, he achieved the ultimate sporting double when he fought his way to become world wrestling champion. And that's when life was good.

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He decides to take a quick hiatus from his newfound celebrity life and treat himself to a visit back home. He hopes to spend a few days in the wilderness of Wyoming, the backdrop of his childhood. Roulon's truck rumbles onwards into the mountains. Joining him for today's excursion are his buddies Danny and Trent. The restless friends are outdoorsy like him, so they've jumped at the chance to explore some beautiful forests and slopes on the back of Roulon's three recently purchased snowmobiles. The men are by no means experts on the vehicles, but they're competent enough for what should be a straightforward trip. They can't be gone long anyway. They're heading out to dinner with their

respective partners later. It is Valentine's Day after all. The truck starts to climb upwards, deeper into the mountains. Our plan was to go up and, you know, it was going to be mid-morning. We'd go up to what we called Cottonwood or Dry Creek. It's, you know, a level of the mountains that were about, so, a mile to two miles from my house. You can get into the mountains and then once you get on into one mountain you can then ride to the next. Rulon, Danny and Trent all arrive and park up. The wilderness encircles them, an expanse of white and green, of angular summits and precipitous drops,

a patchwork of snow and spruce, boulders and firs. It's as if the mountains and the trees have come together to form the most elaborate of natural mazes. The men start prepping. Planning to be outside for just three or four hours, Rulant leaves his thick snowcoat in the truck. He's going to be working hard out there, fighting against powdery snow on a 600-pound machine, and he doesn't want to get too hot. Before setting off, Danny, the most experienced of the three, packs a survival kit in his backpack, just in case.

Then, helmets on, the trio swing their legs over their snowmobiles, twist the keys in the ignition, and set off. The first hour passes like a movie montage, as the men cruise along the range, exploring the peaks, tearing down hills, and racing each other through the snow. exploring the peaks, tearing down hills, and racing each other through the snow. So I was just up there with two friends, just having a great time and enjoying some magnificent snow. The snow was, you know, six feet deep. You step off your snow bill, you'd sink up to your chest in snow, and it was a real light, fluffy snow. And so you're riding in the snow and, you know, your head's above, you got your helmets on,

and the snow is almost as high As your helmets as it's going over you and it's just truly magnificent. It's almost like being in heaven, I think It's fun for sure but Rulon's always on the lookout for the next challenge He tells his friends that he's gonna ride to to the top of nearby Mount Wagner, where he hopes he'll be treated to a stunning view. His friends nod their consent and agree to wait at the bottom as he speeds off into the distance. But the slopes of the mountain are far steeper than Rulon had anticipated. As he climbs, the snow deepens further,

engulfing the snowmobile and his legs. He revs the engine and squeezes the throttle as he wills it to move upwards. But then, when he's about 20 feet from the top, the vehicle sputters to a halt. Shaking his head in frustration, Rulon turns around and begins to head back down. He'll check in with his friends, then have another go. However, when Roulon reaches the bottom of the mountain at around 3pm, Danny announces

that he's had enough. His daughter is playing in a basketball game and he should go to watch. Rulon and Trent think little of Danny's abrupt departure. The sun's still shining and there's more exploring to do. And so Danny heads off, taking with him his snowmobile experience and their only survival pack. The two remaining men agree to spend one more hour on the mountains and Rulon decided to have another go at climbing Wagner.

As before, Trent promises to wait at the bottom, but also as before, Rulon fails to reach the top. You get to a certain point, it gets too steep, your snowmobile doesn't have enough speed, you get stuck in deep snow. And I got stuck at the top of the mountain. And that's when, you know, I realized, okay, I need to come back around. And that's when I went back to the bottom of the hill. And that's where things started getting a little bit crazy. As Rulon travels back down the frosty slope, it's clear that something's wrong with his

snowmobile. The repeated strain of climbing Wagner has worn through the belt on the motor and it winds and creaks with exhaustion. Exasperated, Rulon hops off and spends around ten minutes fiddling with the machinery. Eventually he's able to get the motor fixed and he's ready to go again. fixed and he's ready to go again. By now the sun is lowering in the sky and a gloom takes over. And as Rulon finally reaches the bottom of the slope, he's greeted by something unsettling. There's no sign of Trent.

Rulon combs around, the imposing hillside surrounding him, the snow stretching for miles in all directions. There's nobody within sight. His friend has disappeared. And he is suddenly alone. Despite losing his body in the mountains, Rulon initially shrugs off the situation. Trent probably got bored waiting for him in the cold and has gone off to do some more exploration of his own. There's a good chance he'll bump into him if he continues driving along the slopes. Rulon sets off and again takes in the wonder of his surroundings. The snow is just so cool. Think about a slight decline, you know, for a half a mile, and you have nothing but just crystal clear, you know, virgin snow, nothing in it. And once you ride in it, you know, you're kind of almost,

you know, like just emotion, you're just kind of floating in air as you're on the snow and the snow is going over your helmet. It's cold, it's magnificent, you know you're alive. And so every emotion is like, man, this is so cool. But you don't realize the danger you're really in. But you don't realize the danger you're really in. The minutes pass, and still Rulon can't find Trent. He starts to drive his snowmobile with more urgency.

Rulon checks the time on his phone. It's 3.30 p.m. If they're going to make their dinner reservations, they'll need to head back soon. If they're going to make their dinner reservations, they'll need to head back soon. The trouble is Roulon's now traveled so far in one direction looking for Trent, but he's ended up on an isolated slope. There are no tracks here, no discernible landmarks, and the daylight is fast disappearing. After reaching the bottom of the slope, Roulon wrestles with the snowmobile to turn it around, planning on slogging back up the hill he just descended.

But there is a problem. The powder is too deep, and his snowmobile too heavy. He can't climb the slope. When you have, you know, roughly six feet of snow and it's a lot of fluff, you know, you turn to go up, the snowmobile just digs in the snow. And my weight plus the snowmobile being a stock snowmobile, you can't create a lot of track speed. And the back end of the snowmobile just sits and spins and, you know, there's no snow

to get. And so at that point, I'm like, I got stuck and I'm like, okay, well this sucks. Literally minutes ago, all was well. A simple trip is rapidly becoming far more complicated. With turning back no longer an option, Roulon decides to traverse around the side of the mountain, trying to build momentum and find a spot where he'll have a better chance of

climbing the snowy incline. He squeezes the gas, chugging forwards. But the terrain is unpredictable and labyrinthine. And soon he drives into a narrow gully which encloses him on both sides. Again, this isn't where he expected to find himself. There's two mountains in that comes together and as it drops off the side it turns into a gully. And it started getting really narrow, then it finally got to a place where I'm like, well this sucks because I have nowhere else to go.

But then Rulon spots something more comforting. Running parallel to his path is a creek, which he recognizes as the start of the Salt River. Having grown up close to this area, he presumes the stream will lead him back home, or at least to lands he knows well. the stream will lead him back home, or at least to lands he knows well. He follows the river as it snakes through the barren mountains, growing wider with every meter. Eventually, it leads him out of the gully. But now, on this more open terrain, the river's waters begin to flood the land, making it dangerously icy in places and causing the snowmobile to skid under Rulon's grip. Without full control of his vehicle, he zigzags over a mixture of slush, rock and ice.

The path is pockmarked with gaping holes of freezing cold water. And just then, as he tries to cross this glacial gauntlet, Rulon feels the rear of his snowmobile tip backwards with a chilling splash. His vehicle is sunk, semi-submerged in a waterhole. The front points in the air, while the back rocks dangerously in the chilly liquid. Rulon feels the water climb up his legs. He revs, trying to force the snowmobile out. No good.

There's nothing else for it. He'll have to lower himself into the icy waters and heave his snowmobile up. And so it was still light enough to where you could see, but it was getting darker. And so I jumped into the water and I sunk up to my shoulders and I had to pick up my snowmobile down in the water and reach in and grab it. At that point, I knew now I was wet. I had a limited time before I'd get in trouble.

Using his immense strength, Roulon pushes the back of the snowmobile up out of the frigid water, lifting the 600-pound machine with an Olympian's might. Simultaneously, he reaches forwards and grasps for the ignition. And then I'd reach up, I'd turn the key on, and then I'd have to start the snowmobile while I'm holding the snowmobile up, and then push it out of the river, and then ride it out of this little pond. With a shivering strain, Roulon extricates the snowmobile

and himself from the pool. But it's come at a price. Instantly, the icy wetness starts to creep through his clothes. Wearing just thin fleece layers, the risk of hypothermia is huge. There's hardly any sunlight to warm him up, and his body temperature is dropping by the minute. He needs to get moving. Back onto his vehicle he powers on, squinting through the gloom, trying to shake the cold

from his bones. He follows a white hillside and powers up it, trying to reach a new vantage point. Perhaps a spot where he'll be able to work out his location or find Trent. But soon he comes to a point where he can go no further. I rode my snowboard to the edge because now it's starting to get dark and starting to hard to see any distance and I come up to the edge and I just see it was kind of like a drop off. It was like straight off the side of the mountain.

With the cold and the dark gripping him ever tighter, Rulon makes a bold choice. He can barely see what's beneath him, but he is plowing on nonetheless. His snowmobile teeters for a second before plummeting downwards at an alarming pace. As he descends, the night makes Rulon totally unaware of the dangers lurking in his path. What I didn't know is the guys that came out later, they're like,

how did you miss the trees and the rocks that were in front of you as you were going off the hill? I'm like, it was getting dark enough. I didn't see them. As I came off the hill, I came off the bottom, I got to the bottom, and I'm like, okay, cool. The snowmobile speeds to the bottom of the slope, somehow avoiding the trees, rocks, and branches, before it judders to a standstill. Steadying his breathing, Rulon gives himself time to pause and take in his surroundings. and take in his surroundings. To his right, the river gently meanders by while the mountains loom behind. Way out in the distance are snow-covered trees and ice caps as far as the eye can see.

Though Rulon's only a few miles from the area he grew up in. There's no denying he is completely lost. And then, through the silvery beam of his snowmobile's headlight, Rulon spots thick grooves in the snow. They're indented with the unmistakable tread of tires. Another snowmobiler has been down here. If they manage to find a way out, surely Rulon can too. Placing his faith in the tracks, Rulon once again presses the throttle and heads off. I just started going and now it's getting to the point where it's almost completely dark.

Rulon weaves his way forwards, following the tracks. And then, quite suddenly, they disappear. Another punch in the stomach. And I'm like, you know what? I could go, it's probably a half a mile back to where the tracks were. And I'm already this far far so I might as well keep going and following the river thinking that maybe I'll meet up with the tracks again or

maybe I'll just follow the river back to you know back to home. I'm Natalia Melman-Petruzzella, and from the BBC, this is Extreme, Peak Danger. The most beautiful mountain in the world. If you die on the mountain, you stay on the mountain. This is the story of what happened when 11 climbers died on one of the world's deadliest mountains, K2, and of the risks we'll take to feel truly alive. If I tell all the details, you won't believe it anymore. Extreme peak danger. Listen wherever you get your podcasts.

Committed to this path, Roulon carries on. Eventually he emerges from the trees into a wide, snow-engulfed meadow. It's now around 5pm. In front of him, the river starts to bend back and forth, going on as far as he can see, cutting off any clear path forwards. Going around isn't an option. He'll have to try to traverse the rivers, various curves and crossings. Fortunately, in most places, the water is shallow enough for Rulon to cross,

which he does four, five, six times. But each one is a struggle. He becomes wetter, colder, more exhausted. At times, he's penned in by slopes and has no choice but to ride on through the river itself. There was mountains on both sides, so I didn't really have anywhere else to go. And so at that point, I ride my snowmobile down into the river, and now you're riding on rocks, you're riding on, you know, whatever's down there. And then you get to the other side, and then it's ice again. So then I'd have to go up and grab my snowmobile and lift my snowmobile on top of the ice.

And I did this probably for about a hundred yards. His body is dripping with water from his waist down, but the constant movement on and off his feet is helping to keep him warm. He river hops like this for around 45 minutes. Until as Rulon goes to cross yet another section of water, his vehicle crunches into a jumble of boulders and comes to an abrupt stop. Disaster has struck. Finally got to a point where my snowboard got stuck between two rocks. And now I'm sitting there, it's stuck.

I'm like, what am I gonna do? I'm like, you know, you got to get it unstuck. And so I go and I grab the back of my snow bow and I start pulling it. And once I start pulling it backwards, my hands slip and I fall into the river. And now I go to my back and then I turn over and I stand up and I'm like, okay, you know, now you're completely wet, everything is soaked. You're in a lot of trouble. The situation is bleaker than ever. Night covers every inch of the mountain range,

and there's no telling which way is north, south, east, or west. The river, which he's been following so religiously, has led him even further from safety. With his entire body soaked, Roulon cannot stand still. But with his vehicle immobilized, there's only one thing for it. My snowbill is still in the river at that point. I'm like, what do I do? I'm like, you gotta leave your snowbill. Just leave it. The freezing wind batters Rulon as he shuffles along the icy path wading through snow that reaches his hips.

With his snowmobile abandoned in the darkness behind him, every yard is a battle. Step by step, he trudges on until he comes to another steep slope. The prospect of clambering up the incline is unappealing, but it also sparks an idea. Maybe I can climb the hill and get a cell signal. And so I'm climbing through the snow and I'm climbing through the snow. I probably did it two or three minutes, and I moved about a foot. And the snow was so deep, and you're trying to move on top of it. And I'm like, there's no way.

Defeated, Rulon turns back around. It seems every path he takes just results in more setbacks, more energy being drained from his body. He continues along the river again, as the blackness swallows him, making it near impossible to see. Sometimes he walks on the frozen surface of the river, only for it to suddenly crack and send him into the glacial water again. Finally, some shapes appear through the dark. A small thicket of trees on the horizon. Rulon stumbles towards them. The trees are skinny and twig-like.

Hardly the shelter he needs. I got three trees. You know, typically everybody say, well, you need to make a snow cave. You need to make a lean-to. You need to make X, Y, Z. But the problem was there was no low-lying branches. There was no leaves I could get and take. So all the leaves were, you know, a lot higher than I could reach. And around me, there was no bushes.

There was really nothing. I could go out scavenging for stuff, but I've just wasted all this energy. I'm now tired. I'm now wet. My clothes are freezing. There was three trees and I was kind of in between them and I was just sitting there just thinking to myself,

okay, just stay here. Everything's good. You're gonna be fine. Just relax and just take it and everything's gonna be okay. And that was my thought process, but who knew how bad it was gonna get. It's around 6.30 PM.

Less than four hours ago, Rulon was enjoying a day out with his friends. But he tries not to focus on the negatives. Dinner reservations tonight are at 730. By now his friends will be wondering where he is. And soon they'll know something is wrong. He just needs to stay calm and coherent until they reach him. They talk about the mindset when you're out there and what you go through,

and you kind of learn to, I think, not being an expert in it, but you learn to accept that you're freezing to death. You learn to accept that I'm going to die, and that's what the process that people go through. And being a wrestler and being, I was hopefully mentally strong, you put yourself in that situation where I go, I know this is going to happen. I know I'm going to die. I'm know this.

It's like, no, you're not. Uh-uh. You're not going to think that way because this is what you're going to do. This is what you're going to think. I now have to think about self-preservation. What are you going to do? What's your thought process? How are you going to make it through this night?"

Rulon starts focusing on simple steps he can take to preserve himself. One is just trying to stay warm. He paces up and down, swinging his arms. He tries to wiggle his toes, but this has little effect. They're rigid, covered in ice. He tries to wiggle his toes, but this has little effect. They're rigid, covered in ice. Determined to keep Frostbite at bay, Rulon props himself against one of the trees and unties his left boot.

His sock is soggy with freezing water. He peels it off and tries to rub some feeling into his foot. The skin is red and prickly as he places it back into the boot. Next, Rulon leans forward to carry out the same procedure on his right foot. But as he wrestles with the frozen laces, his fingers become slower and slower as the cold spreads through them. I'm breathing on my hands. I'm trying to keep my fingers from becoming really painful. And I understand the process of your fingers get really cold, and then they turn to frostbite.

Deciding his fingers are more valuable than his toes, Rulon abandons the effort to warm his right foot and instead stuffs his hands inside his fleece. They brush against his cell phone, which he flips open to see the time, 7.30 p.m. A very long night awaits. I'm not going to get frustrated. I'm not going to get down and, you know, going to keep positive. You know, I won the Olympics. I'm the best in the world. I can save myself.

I'm OK. Roulon sets himself a challenge. The sun will start to rise at around 5 or 6 AM, bringing warmth, light, and hopefully a rescue mission. If he doesn't check his phone until sunrise, the time should pass faster, and his cell phone battery will last longer. As the time ticks over to 7.31, Rulon sticks his phone back into his pocket and waits. The minutes blur into hours, each one more painful than the last, as the freezing air

gnaws into his body. He keeps walking up and down, keeps moving his limbs, and keeps an ear out for any sign of life. After an eternity of waiting, Rulon has had enough. It must be nearly morning by now. It must be. He reaches into his jacket and pulls out his phone. It must be nearly morning by now. It must be. He reaches into his jacket and pulls out his phone.

I expected it to be four to six o'clock in the morning, and I turned my phone on and it was midnight. So I'd make it from 7.30 until midnight, and I turned my phone on and I'm like, you gotta be freaking kidding me. I'm like, you're in trouble kidding me. I'm like, you're in trouble. Because everything I had to that point was to get to the sunrise. It just crushed me.

It just broke me. And I'm like, oh, what am I going to do? This time, Rulon doesn't have an answer. It's taken all of his physical and emotional strength to reach this point and he is utterly exhausted. He collapses in a heap on the ground. But then, at around 2.30 a.m., the eerie quiet is broken by the distant rumble of engines. The eerie quiet is broken by the distant rumble of engines.

Rulon strains his ears. It's the sound of snowmobiles. And I could hear them and I want, want, want and I hear them stop. And so then I'm like, oh, hey, they're coming. They're going to come get me. And so then I'm like, I'm going to start whistling. Filling his lungs, he whistles as loud as he can through the darkness. The search party is tantalizingly close. Rulon can even make out the sounds of their boots crunching in the snow. But while he can hear them, the direction of the wind is making it impossible for them to hear him.

After 15 minutes, the snowmobiles start up again, and the rumble of their engines fades into the distance. Crushed, Rulon leans his head against a tree and lets exhaustion overcome him. He drifts in and out of consciousness in a hypothermic daze. And then all of a sudden I fall asleep. And I have a vision where I see Jesus, I see God, and I see my brother. And I had a brother that passed away when I was eight years old. And they all came to me and it was a white area.

And I guess it was kind of like they were behind a table. I didn't really see that, but I saw their faces and their figures. And I'm like, oh, hi, Jesus. Hi, God. I'm like, oh, it's Ronald. It's my brother. And I was sitting there and they're like, it's time to come home. And I'm like, uh-huh. I'm like, I got stuff to do. I just won the Olympics, won the Worlds,

and I'm just finally realizing my potential in the sport of wrestling. I've got so many crazy things going on. It's the best time of my life and why would I want not to be on this earth? And so I'm like, I want to come back and I want to continue to follow my dreams. And when I woke up, I'm like, yes, I'm like, I know there's got

a life after death and life is good. God is here. And I got to see Ronald. I'm like, oh yeah, you're still freezing to death. Finally, however, there is a silver lining. Sunrises around the corner. The sky starts to lighten. Slowly at first, pale blue streaks creep across the horizon. Then the first golden rays break through the trees. It brings warmth and hope. Suddenly overcome by an awesome thirst, Rulon hauls himself to his feet and stumbles through

the snow to a nearby stream. He shovels water into his mouth, lapping it up as though he hasn't drunk in days. He lays down on the snow and stares at the lightning blue sky above. And that's when he sees it. I'm watching the stars disappear and I'm probably there for about 10 minutes and all of a sudden I hear a... It was an airplane. I was delusional because of the hypothermia and the mental stuff and I see him and I wave at him and he tips his wings like this and I know that he knows that I'm there. Rulon lays on the ground, slipping in and out of hallucinations as a rescue mission

unfolds around him. The plane continues circling, keeping an eye on Rulon and reporting his condition. At one point, the pilot even throws down a coat to keep him warm. But the clock is ticking. After almost 18 hours, Rulon's body is losing its fight against the cold. Every second counts. Finally, at around 6am, with Rulon barely able to tell dreams from reality, a helicopter descends from the sky and lands in a clearing 30 yards away. A section of river separates Rulon from the rotorcraft.

Despite being utterly depleted, doesn't hesitate. Then finally I'm like, start swimming. So I just start, you know, fast as I can, getting to them and I don't know how long, for me it was like a second, you know, I just was ready to get there. Delirious. Shaking with cold. Rule on clambers on board the helicopter. Salvation. As they take to the sky, a nurse measures Roulon's temperature. It's dropped to 26 degrees Celsius, 11 degrees below the norm. There's no way he should be alive right now, let alone coherent.

The helicopter speeds to the nearest hospital where Rulon is rushed in. Due to his severe frostbite, the doctor's priority is to get him out of his icy clothes as quickly as possible. But his boots are frozen to his feet. The doctors have to use a saw to cut them off. One of the guys that pulled the boots off of my feet, his comment was it was like a

frozen hamburger on a metal table because my feet were frozen solid. Gravely, the doctors warn him that he'll likely lose all his toes. He'll be lucky to walk again. But as Rulon is dragged from hospital to hospital, taking in and out of surgeries, he focuses on the positives of his situation. I started laughing and I'm like, what are you laughing about? I'm like, because I made it. You know, I made it.

I'm here. And through the night, the process was, I don't care how bad it gets, as long as I have my brain and my body, I can lose body parts, I can lose my feet, I can lose my hands, and I can still function. Slowly, Roulon's injuries start to heal. He undergoes skin grafts on both feet, though the right foot, which remained in the sock all night, is substantially worse and requires a toe to be amputated.

While in hospital, Roulon is also able to piece together the story of exactly what happened. It turns out that his friend, Trent, left the mountain shortly after Danny. So while Roulon was frantically searching for him, Trent was actually on his way back home. When Roulon didn't show up for dinner, Trent and Danny contacted Mountain Rescue, who dispatched a search party that night. But after that, one disaster led to another. The search party's radios died. The edge Roulon dropped off was too steep for them to descend. And when the plane located him the next morning, a helicopter was prevented from reaching him

for hours because of a no-fly zone implemented due to the Winter Olympics taking place in nearby Salt Lake City. It was a series of unfortunate events, and everything pointed against his survival. But Rulan is a fighter. Proving all the doctors wrong, he's back on his feet within months and not just walking. By September 2002, seven months after the incident, Roulan is wrestling full-time again and secures his place on the national team. Two years later, he travels to Athens for the Olympic Games, where he wins a bronze medal.

It's an incredible journey, one which medics, coaches, and training partners believe was impossible. But for Roulon, it's bittersweet. Well, it kind of sucked and kind of was stupid and just irresponsible. As the media runs up and they're like you're a failure you're a loser you didn't win two gold medals and you're gonna wrestle for a bronze aren't you devastated on my yeah I'm devastated but not a failure I didn't wrestle to win medals I wrestled to prove something to myself every day everything in my life I've had to prove something to me and I wanted to prove something to myself that's why I've been through so much adversity. That's why I've been through

so many challenges. That's why I have the mentality I do. What made me survive? You don't know until you're in that situation. And for me, more than anything, my mom. To know that she would have lost me from a bad decision that I made, it would have doubly broke my heart to know that I caused my mom pain, you know. And that was always the one thing I never wanted to do. I never wanted my mom to ever say, Rulon, you made a bad decision. Knowing that they would find me and knowing that I would be frozen and my mom would have to see that was the one reason I survived. She was just the person that made me realize what was important

and what is significant in the value of life itself. Next time on Real Survival Stories. We meet Dick Barton, a man whose job is to recover artifacts from the world's most iconic shipwreck. In August 1994, Dick leads a dive down to an uncharted section of the sunken Titanic. The mission is going off without a hitch, until their sub is knocked off course by a freak ocean current. Trapped within the wreckage, with dwindling oxygen supplies and zero contact with the surface, Dick and his colleagues must find a solution to their problem fast, or they too will suffer a tragic

fate 82 years after Titanic met hers. That's next time on Real Survival Stories.