Todd Peebler, the son of our father’s late business partner, is a Type 1 diabetic. Driving to a new job in Idaho, he realized his blood sugar was down to 69, so he drank a Coke and kept driving. After two hours in a semi-blackout, he came to on an isolated mountain road, his car stuck hopelessly in the snow. He started hiking out with his small dog, Lola. He tells his story of survival here:
So the first day I walked about 10 hours and then finally had to get off of the trail. The trail, mind you now, is almost impossible to walk. It was near the end of the ski season and while there was still snow on the ground, it was very soft. So I would take one step and then have that leg sink about four feet, then pull that leg out and do it again. This made it incredibly tiring and incredibly hard to move, especially at about 9,000 feet. But after 10 hours on the trail I saw an opening about 500 yards below the trail where there was some dry land. Lola and I made our way down to that cleared-out area. We were so happy to rest but at the same time so cold, so I opened my backpack, which felt like I was carrying a pack of bricks, and removed the one thing I could use to start a fire, and that was the latest edition of Lapham’s Quarterly. I started tearing it apart to create kindling for the fire. Luckily, I had a lighter on me for some reason and I was able to start a fire, and Lola and I slept practically on top of that fire the first night as it was so cold on the side of the mountain.
Day 2 started very early as it was freezing out again, and I only had a pair of Levi jean-style cords and a couple of T-shirts that I was wearing under a hoodie and a windbreaker. So with Lola in her bag and me carrying her, we start out again. However, today we are much higher up on the mountain and the snow is nowhere near sturdy, so about 15 minutes into Day 2 the strap on Lola’s bag breaks and she went tumbling down the mountain. I mean ass over tea kettle for about 700 yards down the mountain. I then get in a sit-down position and slide right down there to get her. When I got to her I noticed that my slide had ripped the ass out of my pants, and now my pants only covered the back of my legs from my knees down. I also at that point realized that there was no way with the snow as soft as it was that I could make it back up the mountain and back onto the original road. Then the oddest line crawled into my head and it is from Jack Donaghy from 30 Rock who told Liz Lemon on one episode that when all seems lost, the only way to win is to go deeper into the abyss, and so I did. I jerry rigged Lola’s bag, ditched my backpack and then jumped into the river. I did not walk next to the river or beside it but rather in it. For nine and a half hours I walked in the freezing river, occasionally stopping to drink from the river as I had no snacks or drinks.
After that horrible, horrible day, I pulled myself out of the river and took refuge behind a misshapen trunk of a tree. I was so cold, though, as I could not start a fire this night because I slipped in the river and basically soaked everything I had on me, lighter included. The EMT guy later told me that the temperature dropped that night down to single digits and I was out there sleeping or trying to sleep in ripped pants soaked in water and with no end to this journey in sight.
When I lay down for bed that night I took Lola and put her under my T-shirts trying to use our body heat to keep each other warm because, to be honest, I did not think I was going to wake up. I thought for sure that I was going die, freezing and alone. But somehow I made it through the evening.
On Day 3 the earth was frozen and the wind with its chilly bite was killing any motivation I had. I thought for sure this is just how it ends. But then I realized that with all this cold, maybe the snow got more compact and thus I could walk on it. Funny enough, that was true—the cold was going to be my only way out, and so, yes, I went deeper into the abyss. So I started out on Day 3 at about 6:30 a.m. and was able to walk at a good pace because the snow had frozen over. So after crossing over two more beaver ponds, which were very deep, I heard some dogs barking in the distance, and finally by 11:30 a.m. I spotted another human being.
Doctors told Todd he’d have been dead in a few more hours. Instead, he’s expected to make a full recovery.
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