Hiker Finds a Stranded Man Wearing Shorts at The Top of It is almost 06:00 a.m. In the morning, and search and rescue volunteer Pam is waking up to get ready for the day. The sky is extremely cloudy, the wind is blowing strongly, and the radio is warning about an oncoming storm, but Pam ignores it. After having breakfast, Pam puts all her climbing equipment together together, making sure she is not missing a single item in case of emergency, then leaves the house as she glances at a picture of her late daughter's. Her next stop is the local diner.

Hiker Finds a Stranded Man Wearing Shorts at The Top of

Hiker Finds a Stranded Man Wearing Shorts at The Top of

The owner, Dave, doesn't like the idea of Pam hiking up Mount Washington alone, especially since phones don't have signal up there. But after 30 years of doing those trails daily, he is already retired and can't be her chaperone. He also reminds Pam of the ominous weather forecast, yet this is still not enough to make her change her mind. Today is a very special day, so she can't cancel this trip. Besides, the mountains make for better therapy.

 They listen but never talk back. Afterward, Pam drives to the base of the mountain and it's almost 07:00 a.m. By the time she gets there. As she parks, she meets two campers that are leaving after spending two freezing nights in the area. They haven't seen anyone else up there, which is weird because there is one more car park nearby. 

Once she puts all her equipment on and leaves a map of her route on the windshield wipers in case of an emergency, pam begins making her way up the trail. First she has to cross a forest and a river, and she keeps her mind active by quoting Edward Abbey's Desert Solitaire. When she finally reaches the path that goes up, she takes off her sweater to be more comfortable not mining the cold at all. All the stones on the ground make hiking more difficult than it looks, and Pam ends up tripping when one of her hiking staff's breaks. Thankfully, she does not get hurt, so she takes a break to have a drink, fixes the staff with some tape and notices the dark clouds taking over the sky before she keeps going.

Naomi Watts & Billy Howle in Survival 

After crossing another river, pam reaches the snowy areas of the mountain by almost 10:00 a.m. And puts back her jacket before she freezes. The storm is coming closer and the wind is already blowing snow in her face, but Pam keeps her enthusiasm up by taking the occasional breaks. Hot cocoa helps her keep warm and putting special chains around her shoes will make it easier to climb. By 1030, the cold is so bad that Pam is put on her whole gear, and whenever she takes a break, she must sit behind rocks not to be blown away.

 When she starts climbing the final stretch, she comes across a purposefully built pile of rocks and notices a shadow at the top of the mountain. To get their attention, pam blows her whistle, but she doesn't get a reply. It is almost 11:00 a.m. By now, meaning she isn't doing a good time, and another clue is about to delay her even more. There are sneaker footprints on the snow.

Blowing her whistle and yelling a few words to be heard, pam follows the footprints to find the person behind them. She is so distracted by this, though, that she doesn't notice a hole in the ground and falls in it. Pam tries to climb out a couple of times, but she keeps slipping back in and her hands are getting hurt. Blowing her whistle is nothing, and she begins considering giving up. But as she closes her eyes, her mind is flooded with memories of her daughters. 

Seeing this as a sign, pam decides to try again, and this time she manages to get out. Water is in order to celebrate the effort, but sadly, her bottle is empty. After covering the hole with a bunch of branches, she climbs up the last part of the trail and makes it to the mountaintop by 01:00 p.m.. There she finds a man sitting in the snow, freezing to death because he isn't wearing the proper gear. Pam tries to talk to him, explaining she works with the rescue team, but there's no reaction from the man, thus she decides to call him john.

Stranded Hiker Rescued After Chilly Night in Cave 

Getting him warm is the most important thing, so Pam takes off his clothes to rub his limbs and dresses him up with some of her own extra garments. She also covers him with a body bag until he regains consciousness, promising to get him out of here by 138. The pair has started to make their way down the mountain. John can barely walk, and Pam must pick him up every time he trips. Once he's regained more clarity of mind, john begins saying he can't go back and tries to return to the mountaintop, so Pam must make an extra effort to pull him along.

By almost 03:00 p.m., they are about to reach the edge of a cliff, so John uses the little energy he has to run and do what he has in mind. Fortunately, the snow cushions his fall, but he does hurt his leg when it hits a rock. Pam still refuses to leave him behind and helps him get out of the snow, causing John to scream as soon as she touches his leg. Half an hour later, the duo has managed to find rocks big enough to sit under and take a break. Pam has to stop John from eating snow because it will dehydrate him more and tries to distract him by asking him if there is anyone waiting for him. 

John confesses he has a cat named Cat, and Pam chats a bit about pet preferences before insisting to get going again. 330 is late for this trail standards, and they need to get below the tree line before dark. They don't want to be up here when night falls and the temperature drops 20 degrees by 530, they finally start seeing some trees. This area is pretty steep and John is quite tired, causing him to trip and roll down the hill, bumping into Pam and dragging her with him. With his mood getting worse, John once again says he can't keep going and tells Pam to leave him alone, but she refuses. 

Now that they're among the trees, the wind isn't hitting them on the face, so Pam takes the chance to take a closer look at John, explaining she is a nurse, she offers him some pills, hot cocoa and some chocolate before checking out his wounded ankle. It's swollen up a lot, thus Pam bandages it up and then covers it with her last pair of extra socks. Seeing Pam's jacket clearly now, John finally understands she is part of the rescue team, but he is disappointed to hear that the lack of signal here means there won't be a helicopter or backup coming. Thinking they aren't going to make it, John starts crying, but Pam promises him once again that she will take him home. Walking through the forest doesn't turn out to be as easy as it should because of John's ankle, and Pam has to keep him from falling asleep.

Rescuers use helicopter to save hiker stranded on ledge 

By the time they reach the river, John can barely walk, so he has to cross the water by crawling on a fallen tree. Unfortunately, both John and the tree are wet and slippery, causing John to fall into the river and be dragged away by the water current. Pam follows the path next to the river, making it to the mouth by 610, meaning it's already pretty dark. Thinking she has failed, Pam begins crying, but then a noise alerts her of something in the water. It's John who was barely unconscious and holding onto a rock. 

Pam doesn't hesitate to get into the pond to drag John out and hug him tightly, as both admit that have been pretty scary. By 713 the duo can see the road in the distance and Pam encourages John to sing in order to forget the pain as she helps him to walk. She actually likes the song he chooses because it reminds her of her daughters. By 1044 after John is put on the bag to stay warm, the pair is crossing the forest when Pam sees a car driving down the road. She runs after it to try to stop it and ask for help, but sadly, she isn't fast enough. 

John freaks out, thinking he's been abandoned, so when Pam finds him again, she needs to convince him once more that they have to keep moving. It is almost 1130 when they finally reach the cars. Pam leaves John resting against the trunk while she starts the engine and turns on the heater. But instead of waiting, John runs to his own car and drives away. There's nothing she can do to stop him, so Pam returns home and quickly takes care of her body. 

After a stop at the toilet. She takes off her wet clothes and raids her fridge, which ends up with her taking a nap right there on the kitchen floor. When she wakes up sometime later, she takes a warm bath and finally allows herself to cry her heart out. That night, Pam dreams of the day she lost her daughter. She was woken up by a weird smell, and as soon as she realized it was a gas leak, she opened the window to take a clean breath.

Hiker Finds a Stranded Man 

Afterward, she rushed to check on her children, but unfortunately it was too late. They were both dead. Since then, Pam always leaves at least one window open, even in winter. Five days later, Pam gets a message from Dave telling her to check the news. It turns out she's famous.

Now John has told the police's story, and journalists didn't take long to find out who the lone woman that saved the depressed man was, although John himself asked to remain anonymous. Pam hears her name on the radio and sees her pictures in various articles, but has no interest in contacting anyone for fame. She continues her routine of hiking up the mountain trail as she waits for a call from the local police with an answer to her request, but sadly, their message isn't helpful. When John filled his report, he didn't offer his real name or a phone number. One afternoon, a reporter called Patrick shows up at Pam's house.

 She tries to tell him she isn't the woman from the news, but Patrick has seen her picture, so he doesn't believe her. Seeing as she has no other choice, pam invites him in and answers his questions. She hasn't heard a single word from John, and she doesn't think it matters why he had been on top of the mountain in November with few layers of clothes. Patrick wants to find John, thinking he may have something to tell Pam, but she thinks if John would have wanted to tell her something, he would already have. A few days later, Pam goes to Dave's Diner and finds John waiting for her.

New Mexico hiker rescues man 

He gives her back her clothes, asks her to keep calling John, and comments his ankle is healing well. Afterward, he finally explains what was he doing on top of that mountain. A year ago, John lost his girlfriend, and he started to have trouble picturing her face, even if he can describe it. He also began wondering what dying means and where the dead go. When Pam found him, John had gone back to the mountain to look for his girl and realized that he didn't need to actually look. 

He only had to wait and she would come for him. Instead of hearing her, though, John heard Pam, and he's very grateful for that. In return, Pam tells him the story of how she lost her daughters and confesses back then she had wanted to end things just like him. John wonders if it ever gets easier and Pam tells him that even in a storm, there is so much beauty. Later that day, Pam goes through some memories of her girls and hikes up the mountain again to see the beauty of the sunset. 

The real Pam went on to raise four children. At 67, she left New Hampshire to become a dedicated patrol volunteer in various national parks and the western US. John is a constant reminder to Pam that it only takes one person to change someone's life.