I happened across this book when I was hunting for stories of real-life survival situations several years ago.  As this story occurred in the same areas I used to hike and camp near in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of S. California, it immediately grabbed my attention.  I bought a hardcover copy of the book and was reading it a few days later.

Initially, the story gripped me.  The author, Peter DeLeo, was flying his bush plane, a Maule M7, over the Sierra Nevadas near Kern Peak when the aircraft struck the trees and crashed.  He and his two friends were stranded in the wilderness at the onset of winter – DeLeo himself and one of his other passengers sustaining serious injuries (the third passenger had minor injuries).  Despite his injuries, DeLeo decided to hike out and try to find help.  For nearly a week he experienced a grueling trek through the winter mountains before climbing down the foothills of Olancha Peak and reporting his situation with a phone call from the Ranch House Cafe in Olancha (where, incidentally, I’ve eaten a few times).

Another reason this story attracted me was due to my own interest in aviation and, in particular, bush flying.  It was this interest that started to make me consider the story in a less than favorable light as the narrative continued.

To be sure, DeLeo’s account is nothing short of astounding.  That he managed to survive across the mountainous wilderness for a week with serious injuries is amazing, and he deserves credit for this feat.  The writing itself can sometimes be self aggrandizing; he tends to dwell occasionally on his exploits (perhaps rightfully so).  However, some of the choices that he made started making me question the logic behind them.  And, since this was an aircraft crash, the National Transportation Safety Board had the report of its investigation available in its database for perusal.  As such, to see what their investigation found, I read the report, prompted by another reader on Amazon’s review section of the book who had done the same.

I won’t go into the details here, other than to say that DeLeo’s story and the NTSB report don’t match (as far as the details about the actual crash of the aircraft go).  Sadly, this made me suspect much of the rest of the story also.  I’m not sure why the author would publish a story of his experience that included information that was contrary to a published report of the crash investigation, but whatever his reasons it certainly makes one reconsider the events of the book as one continues to read.

Nonetheless, the story of DeLeo’s survival in and of itself is still interesting.  As somewhat of a survivalist himself, he goes into some detail occasionally on how and why he does some of the things he does to escape the cold and the elements.  It’s worth a read simply for that aspect alone, and for those interested in true stories of survival I recommend it.