This Man Survived In The Extreme Cold With A Broken Pelvis | I Shouldn't Be Alive S3 EP10 | Wonder

ken Jones is on a solo mission to climb Romania's highest peak alone and miles from civilization his quest becomes a fight for survival when he's hit by an avalanche I ran as fast as frantic as I could I was running for my life he's thrown down the mountain his pelvis is shattered it was agony like a red-hot pokers been pushed into the side of my leg unable to walk he has no way to call for help his only hope an agonizing 8 mile crawl across rivers and through a frozen wilderness his greatest fears are being eaten alive or freezing to death one slip I'd be dead [Music] [Music] [Music] journeying into the heart of the Transylvanian Alps a remote region of central Romania is Ken Jones a former British paratrooper in search of a holiday with a difference I think I'm quite a nomadic person I tend to spend quite a lot of time on my own I've always got an urge to travel go off and do things it just seems to be in my blood I just I get restless and I need to go Ken's military background has given him a taste for extreme adventure and he's chosen to challenge himself in one of Europe's wildest landscapes Romania ticked a lot of boxes for me I just wanted to remove myself from a tourist trail I wanted a challenge somewhere I could made life a little bit tougher for myself he's on a solo mission to climb Mount Moldova now but it's not for the faint-hearted at 80 300 feet it's Romania's highest peak and in the depths of winter even reaching the mountain is a risky business it was a crazy dangerous journey the taxi drivers just driving like a lunatic up the roads but it's what what the hell am i doing this is probably as dangerous as a Mountie in the summer this wild landscape would be teeming with hikers but in mid-january the snow and sub-freezing temperatures mean few people are brave enough to venture alone into these unforgiving mountains I became aware of just more esse adding the whole mountain range to myself it was uh it was a nice feeling but it was it was kind of scary as well you become aware of our own your own smallness [Music] normally it's a two-day climbs at the top of the mountain but super 5th ex-army man ken has challenged himself to conquer it in a single day me my brothers were always really competitive and we'd always race each other to the bus stop each morning on the way to school everything was a race I do like the feeling of my body working and functioning well and a simp and a good river I'm a fanatical lover of freedom and sometimes you're just got to put yourself out on your own just enjoy a different kind of peace ken's made like work at the lower slopes but hazardous terrain ahead threatens his ambitious bid for the summit a clear channel to the trees offers the most direct route to the top this man-made fire break prevents the spread of fires in the summer months but in winter it's a hot spot for deadly avalanches I did her NRT warfare course in the army and I knew about possibility of avalanches I was well versed in drills and how to deal them with them with his goal in sight ken ignores the risks and opts to fast-track it to the top the snow on bees upper each of the slope was more of a fine powder the points I'd sync up to my waist my going slowed down significantly and it become really hard work there was a ramp it was a really steep wall so I need to rely heavily on the crampons on my ice axe and that was pretty tricky at one point I got halfway up my slip the fall serves as a warning the mountain is treacherous but Ken is determined to keep going can retraces his steps and soon passes the point of his slip with effort come to reward his choice of extreme location is starting to pay off I really felt like I was in my own world up there I was totally exposed and totally alone this is as remote as I'd ever been very few people of privilege of having a whole mountain ranged from stuff but the punishing conditions that put him behind his ambitious schedule few hours of daylight remain and the clock is ticking on his bid for the top I knew of the amount of snow in the mountain it would be pretty tough but I felt really fit and strong I trained hard and so I felt good about getting to the top [Music] sheer athleticism an extraordinary determination bring him within reach of his goal but as the Sun sets he must decide whether to make a last ditch push for the top or retreat to shelter and make a second attempt in the morning I kept hoping for the snow level would change I'll be a bit more friendly to me I kept walking a bit more not quite wanting to give up but don't start coming into my mind as to ever I'd make for top that day [Music] Summit's are always important but it comes a point when you've got to say enough is enough don't do anything silly reluctantly can opt to return to the relative safety of the trees plan was to get securely into a forest so I could dig a snow hole or set up my poncho I didn't want to be exposed on the open slope and you know the trees offered some natural shelter at night the mountain will be even more treacherous ken needs to descend quickly and find level ground to camber again the fire break offers the most direct route but following it is a dangerous strategy all of a sudden I was just a noise from the top of a mountain at first I thought it was something like an animal he was so strange and unearthly I'd never heard anything like it before and then I realize that this is an avalanche I was transfixed I've never seen an avalanche before in a way it's perverse I just wanted a look at it I should have turned that run but it's just something so big and magnificent but ken has no time to lose each passing second brings him closer to death I turn my back on it run as fast into the forest as I could possibly make it and all the time I could feel like it was chasing you my heart was beating it was just going crazy it was gonna hit me bury me I thought I was gonna die can dives to safety in the nick of time the Avalanche was funneled down the firebreak they would have definitely killed me proud to die I was pretty shaken for a while and I'm gonna realized I was safe and I calmed down and then I just started to laugh he's had a narrow escape but he's still in danger the snow on these upper slopes is unstable after the Avalanche I began to feel really vulnerable on the slope I need to find somewhere safe to sleep someone to the drop down get deep into the forest sleep night and still possibly be able to make an ascent the next day it's now a race to descend to safer ground before nightfall but through the trees the going quickly gets tough the terrain became more treacherous branches were poking in my eye it was becoming a bit of a nightmare the rough terrain and the slope of the mountain forces him back onto open ground I knew vote quickest passage was down the fire break between the trees I didn't want to go anywhere near it again but I had no choice I had to go down in but taking the shortcut is a serious gamble in his race against the light can decides it's a risk worth taking [Music] but his luck has run out the mountain is about to show him how lethal it can be [Music] this time it's on him in an instant it's run or die I run as fast as frantic as I could I was running for my life and the next thing I knew it pulled me off my feet I was utterly terrified of swallows you and engulf soot you can fear all your bones and bull guns inside everything's raptly all of a sudden I was falling and then I was thinking this is really bad [Music] I landed on my ass and I heard a massive crack and that was my pelvis shattering and heard of my famous snapping off [Music] ha I must have lost consciousness I lay there not not known what was happening or where I was I couldn't really feel anything it was dark [Music] the fall has inflicted a bloody gash to his head but Ken is about to discover that his body has suffered a far more deadly blow the pain finally hit me it was an absolute agony he was like a red-hot pokers just being pushed into the side of my lake the impact has broken his femur and smashed his hip John threw his pelvis shattering at the pieces bone fragments of severed blood vessels around the pelvis causing internal bleeding and making his core body temperature plummet in this extreme environment his injuries could prove fatal [Music] ken knows it's bad but is unaware of the full extent of the damage i sat up and started assessing my situation because I put my hand to the side of my leg my left hand felt wet and sticky and I got a big open wound on a couple of inches on the side of my left hip it was bleeding quite heavily he needs to act quickly to prevent further loss of blood which could harm his chances of survival a mash to force myself to roll on the side I pulled on our first field dressing from my pocket and that seemed to stem the flow of blood and after I dressed it up or my trousers back up and and decided not to look at it again [Music] my natural instinct was to get up and walk my leg was in pain but that I wasn't sure if it was broken [Music] I felt a jolt of agonizing pain shoot up my leg when it become apparent that I was no way in hell I could walk my leg was gone it was a pretty desperate situation [Music] he's in urgent need of medical attention but he's eight miles from the nearest village and has no mobile or satellite phone with military discipline he's packed for the harsh conditions but the Avalanche is torn off his backpack and buried it further up the mountain I was deprived of all my provisions my sleeping bag my stove my meals everyone I need to survive nobody knows where ken is or the danger he's in if he's to cheat death the stamina self-reliance that brought him here must now get him out but he faces a tough dilemma go up in the vain hope of finding his life-saving kid or conserve precious time and energy and descend in search of help it was a real tough decision to know what to do the implications of making the wrong decision were deadly he then spots his torch which has fallen from his backpack and miraculously turned itself on this torch was now my my best means of survival if I could get the torch I'd possibly have a chance even if it's a small one of finding my other items of kit I'd have a bit more food I'd have a sleeping bag it was small distance but it was so painful and so difficult to cover great can finds his hat and a waterproof sack before eventually salvaging his torch but hopes of recovering his backpack and sleeping bag a futile his route is blocked by a vertical edge under normal conditions I could have negotiated it effortlessly like this it was impossible [Music] it was a pathetic iPhone I just fell over backwards my leg folded up underneath me but I just wrenched at the joint oh he has two options to keep searching for his kit or conserve time and energy and head back down the slope to find help I decided that was gonna go back down the mountain [Applause] at least difficult way of moving was in a sitting position every time I moved like I just feel bone grating and sliding inside of me I'd be retching in agony ken has trained hurt but nothing has prepared it for this pain for over an hour he descends with gritted teeth until he finds flatter ground to rest but it's only the beginning of his own deal the foot on his broken leg is painfully swollen he needs to ease the pressure immediately or gangrene will take his foot yeah I realize implications of not getting my left boot off really quickly I could feel the phone's grating and move around in my leg I had to inflict this pain upon myself there's no other option I didn't get the boot off I was gonna lose my foot it was almost blissful just to have my feet free and all the blood that was stuck in my foot work its way back on my leg the relief is short-lived at night temperatures plunge rapidly to as low as minus 15 degrees his only protection as a mountain jacket and a waterproof sack which he uses to shield his feet from the biting wind his body desperately needs food to provide him with energy to fight off the cold his last provisions are stowed in his pocket and it's vital he rations them carefully I had a small plastic bag or some crushed sausage rolls I've got kind of careless for our new renovating store I did in the packet [Music] can faces a long night ahead the idea of being alone in the middle of nowhere preys on his mind scenaries are running through my head where if I don't get through Vinay if he falls asleep his body will stop shivering you've developed hypothermia and he'll die I was shipping so heavily I knew that I'd fall into the last stages hypothermia I'd never wake up I just fought god I'm gonna get through this night and just don't fall asleep or you'll never wait you're gonna die sleep was a potential death sentence and it's constantly beckoning you and it's so easy to do and meanness as well always you've got to do is shut your eyes and you're not in pain anymore facing a long and tortuous night alone in the wilderness can spirits hit rock bottom it's just for hope can time do this to me it felt like a lifetime of past there's maybe seven or eight more hours to go through yeah and it's gonna get colder by 3:00 or 4:00 in the morning the temperatures gonna plummet even further [Music] as time went on I got more lonely I thought about all sorts of strange things comforting things like being warm in bed on a thought about my brother and playing football and and if you to distract my mind from the pain and the suffering I was in the night was just a battle to stay away when daylight did arrive it was overwhelming there was such relief and the darkness can bring all this paranoia before daylight I realized I could do something in the early hours of a cold mid-january morning the chances of anyone being in this inhospitable wilderness of remote kenan only has himself to rely on but the enormity of the task ahead preys on his mind and he can't help hoping for rescue I kind of had it in my mind maybe emergency services would be called a imagined a helicopter or a couple of mountain rescue guys just walking through the forest blowing a whistle imagined all these lost scenarios morph all about them I just dismissed when I was spinning so much hopes on so many slight what-ifs with his pelvis shattered ken knows he's in big trouble nobody knows of his ordeal or is expecting him back any time soon with no mobile or satellite phone his only hope is that his training in hostile environments can get him to the nearest village eight miles from the mountain miami instructors always said don't stand still move in innovate or die you've got constantly assessing these situations as soon as you stop that fourth process it's all over you can't think your way out of trouble body's just at oral or carry out the plan you formulate in your mind you've got to do something [Music] with no food and his water bottle already drained ken set out on his marathon journey down the mountain ah he endures hours a bone-crunching effort but covers little ground and the exertion gives him a raging first he surrounded by water but it's frozen eating the snow just lowers his body's core temperature and causes further dehydration I did it snow it would just melt into a smallest amount of water so it wouldn't really quench my thirst a river in the valley below will give him the water he desperately needs but Ken also knows that it leads back to the track where the taxi dropped him off 24 hours ago I figured it'd be the most likely place I could be rescued so I just needed to get there and make as much ground as possible after an agonizing descent Ken makes it off the steep slopes of the mountain it's an incredible feat but moving in the valley below poses an even tougher challenge when I hit the valley floor of those no more sitting down and slided no more assistance from gravity it was all physical exertion from then on facing an enormous task to reach civilization ken set small goals to measure his progress I started trying to play his little games of being o'clock at summer soft times to get to targets his progress is painfully slow each new target reached is a massive achievement but also a harrowing reminder of the mammoth task ahead time is running out on his chances of survival and he still seven miles from the nearest village my desire to keep moving was just to reach water are so dehydrated I exerted myself so heavily after a brutal crawl along the valley floor can finally reaches the river the banks were higher than the water level so it was kind of hard for me to reach down and get access to the water so I had the idea of time ends at my shoelaces around the neck of a bottle little relief on my mouth was blissful just like petrol going into a car just felt my body revived it being full of energy again reenergized ken wills himself on in search of the road he hopes will lead him to help [Music] but he soon finds that access along the bank is blocked the river which provided him life-sustaining water has now become his greatest obstacle he's left with no choice but to cross [Music] I don't want to accept I was gonna have to cross the street I just sat down the band looking at it this is a mountain stream in the middle of January it's as it's as cold as it could get without completely freezing over one slip get my jacket wet I'll give myself 20 minutes to live and I'd be dead I was just just delay in thinking about it I was getting scared and terrified and thinking what if that's for just get in the stream and cross it it's as simple as that the human body loses heat 25 times faster in cold water one slip in the stream and can cook quickly freeze to death shivering uncontrollably my body was shaking violently and thus gasping for breath I could feel it rising up my legs that's what how am I gonna do this just for tougher out take your jacket off I threw it across the stream I just won't fail you gold and now you've got to go and get it will you'll be dead [Music] it takes him an hour to cross the stream sat there for a few seconds just shot trying to get the breath by the stream just for that's a a can't get any worse now I must have done it shirred grit and determination tried him onwards but after crawling all day he's barely covered a mile now facing another long night alone in this savage landscape he suddenly consumed by his greatest fear being eaten alive by wild animals Transylvania is full of bears and wolves and yesterday was drawing to a close I begin to panic I was so out in the open still far away from the trees I was scared when I tried to crawl as fast as I possibly could he makes it to cover but the scent of his blood-soaked body and his weakened state makes him easy prey I was really hungry cold dehydrated I think it affected me I wasn't sure if I was hallucinating or hearing things I really believed I was hearing packs of wolves surrounding me I was convinced I could see eyes just looking at me I just sit there panting but breathing heavily really scared just waiting for them to attack me as for this is gonna be horrible just being eaten so horrible but to be an alive is just something else [Music] when they came on that birthday for relief was like nothing else I've told through it was such a big achievement [Music] crippled by a broken leg and shattered pelvis ken desperately needs to reach the village six miles a winner or face certain death in his hostile wilderness after to punishing nights without food or sleep it's a fight for survival and nature is a formidable opponent they start to snow I know for sky seemed to close down above me and just got this isolated feeling [Music] the storms coming unknown than a few minutes the snow is powering down it seemed that the environment was just conspiring against me constantly they felt pretty harsh and cruel you just become aware of our savage mountains and the foothills can be it's been 48 hours since the avalanche nearly took Ken's life fighting his way to the snowstorm takes every last ounce of energy and the cold hunger and dehydration for driving him to despair it's hard to keep moving because you think dying doesn't seem like such a bad proposition at least all this pain is gonna be over you fall asleep and you can die for back my brother's assistant my mum as well I'm close to my mum really close to the moment I just got this idea and thought of a summer coming around to my house and telling my mom and my brothers and sisters was dead at the stage I wasn't really sure why I was moving anymore our four to Messiah this is what Diane feels like them so so you're dying now I was really lonely I didn't wanna die alone so uh I just kept so I just I just kept moving and uh pickles give us a minute boys he's running on every last reserve just to stay alive and now faces his third night alone in the wilderness he hasn't slept in two days but in these sub freezing conditions sleep means certain death I want to keep moving our bodies it just decided it was gonna I was gonna stop [Music] I woke up the next morning and I was four oh you're not dying you still here still you're still here and it's like my body wanted to stay alive I've come to a standstill for night before in heavy snowfall that landed on me totally cocooned my body and I think it must have kept me alive and kept me warm I decided to start crawling again [Music] his shattered hip means every move is pure torture only his incredible fitness and superhuman reserves of willpower drive him on in spite of the pain he's confident the worst is over they'd be stupid to even conceive again more difficult I've just got to get to the track it's not gonna be far away one big final effort today you know ha ha PR be safe at last can is within reach of the road where the taxi dropped him off three days before but suddenly getting there looks impossible a river blocks his path and ken knows just how deadly this might be when I saw that there was no passage through I was really angry [Music] I just realized I was getting back in the stream again except this time yeah it was gonna be remember when I was little I used to go on the big diving board at the swimming pool I'd be so scared to jump there was sunny edge of a stream and I was putting myself through that same suffering so forth just get in the stream the ice cold water could kill him in minutes he needs to cross it quickly but the far bank is too steep for Ken to haul himself out supporting himself by leaning on the bank he's got to track along the river until he finds a suitable place to cross I was moving inches and inches it was painfully slow there was freezing cold for over an hour Ken's struggles along the river until the opposite bank is low enough for him to crawl out but the current is strong and the water is deep you'll either make it or die practice ordeal it was just such a vital mission not to get my jacket wet again I knew a fat fat got wet I was dead his jacket and thermal top must come off if they get soaked he'll freeze on the other side but by taking them off he's increasing the risk of hypothermia which could kill him they were stuffed with nerve a choice there was a matter of being patient and being careful and I just had to get across with his severe injuries Ken takes tiny hops on his good leg letting the current carry his broken lemon one false move that he could quickly freeze to death all of a sudden became aware of my boot becoming loose before I could react to my boot come off my foot his booty swept away by the river and the foot on his good leg is now exposed he makes it to the bank but with a three-mile crawl through the snow ahead frostbite is guaranteed when I first thought was I'm gonna lose my foot I'm gonna get frostbite I just thought oh my god what am I gonna do now [Music] when you get to a point where you don't actually care anymore you don't really miss your family or you don't really bothered about them you don't even care for yourself that much there's something inside you a survival instinct and it'll keep you moving the body will do what has to do to survive is just incredibly reliance an efficient machine it was kind of amazing to realize that no the body ken's never-say-die attitude finally pays off he escapes the savage wilderness and reaches the road where the taxi left in four days earlier it came as a massive relief time to finally reach the track I still know I got a long way to go it's still three miles to the nearest village and Ken's body is running on empty he's fought through snow hunger and grueling pain he's numbed by the cold but he knows time is now running out he needs to get help quick or die so I figured uh why don't I try and stand and walk [Music] Darrin was okay for a few seconds and then it was a big crunch and I felt but it's grating up my life even though it caused me a lot of pain I just thought if I could find some sort of a stick to just take a part of the way to then you know I could use it as a crutch [Music] it was such a relief to be walk in it it seemed like there was no more enemies or obstacles I felt was more or less oh man try but his ordeal is far from over and all of a sudden it felt like I just been stabbed in the stomach with a knife there'd been no pain like this it was the worst pain I've ever felt or the worst pain imaginable the stress of Ken's ordeal is causing his body to produce stomach acid at such Leatham levels its perforating the lining of his gut the acid flowing into his abdominal cavity is literally eating him from the inside it's a ticking time bomb that could kill him within hours at this point it was all about tonight I had to make it back there was no way I could make another night while I was on the strike I wouldn't stop walking every excruciating move is a step in the right direction but the road ahead turns into his worst nightmare the moon splits and only one way leads to the village it's 50/50 he'll make it to help the track looked less well trodden but something told me there was a ham something when I reach the clearing I saw the outline of the building for this is it you've brought me an enormous relief I felt like I've made it Allah I was literal intercepts of her safety and warmth [Music] but his Gamble has failed the building is just an empty barn it was a crushing blow I'd made this turn up for track and it was a wrong decision not just for our best decisions not going to cost me my life once more ken draws on his inner strength to drive him from death door I didn't feel I was ready to die I felt bitter resentment towards the mountain I wasn't can I let it beat me now after all I've been through but his body is approaching total collapse and he's wasted precious time taking the wrong route he must now retrace every harrowing step back to the fork in the road it's getting dark and temperatures are starting to plummet I reached a fork in the road again and then I took my only other option and I felt relieved he cannot for Wow there's only this way now [Music] and eventually I turned the corner I saw a light spill through the trees and I bought smile to my face [Music] as I spoke I've done it and just realized what an honest faithful servant your body is and I just felt really proud of myself and I knew I got a strong heart and character and I could get through things [Music] I'd fought for my life on that there was no sadness or bitterness towards a mountain or anything happened I'd made it back home it was just so comforting to be with someone I realized that all come to an end there was no safe pioneering surgery repaired his hip and leg but can lost four toes to frostbite two and a half years after the accident he was finally able to walk again so few people get the opportunity to learn about himself so intimately and I feel privileged to offer how to face such struggles to get where I am now and now and serve as a good thing ken is now fighting fit and is hoping to one day compete in the challenging Tour de France

Channel: Wonder

Views: 880,106

Rating: 4.795176 out of 5

Keywords: wonder, i shouldn't be alive, i shouldn't be alive full episodes, wonder i shouldn't be alive, i shouldn't be alive s3 ep10, isba, i shouldn't be alive shattered pelvis, i shouldn't be alive avalanche of terror, avalanche survival, man treks through snowy wilderness, arctic survival, extreme cold, how to survive in the cold, avalanche survivor stories, against all odds, survival skills, survival tips, wonder survival videos

Id: W63S5oLlKPg

Length: 48min 10sec (2890 seconds)

Published: Sat Jul 07 2018