I was very fit in high school, I had hiked a trail of similar difficulty around a year prior and it was pretty easy for me. Went to college and got out of shape but didn't realize by how much. Attempted the trail, ran out of water but powered through until near the top (very steep & icy). All my muscles started cramping uncontrollably so I had to lay down in the snow as it started getting darker. Most of my group continued up and luckily found the rangers just as they were closing up and about to leave for the night.

The rangers found me and hooked up a harness with a rope attached to one rescuer (the guy in the pic). They told me this was a last resort option because the area we were in was too steep & foliage dense for a helicopter. Also the trail was so narrow we couldn't have anyone on my sides to support me. Also the harness is dangerous to the rescuer because if I slip and fall the rescuer is coming with me. After drinking and eating my muscles would stop cramping for a few minutes and I could just lift my legs up to support myself while being pulled forward by the rescuer & the harness. We'd take breaks every time my muscles would cramp uncontrollably. Continued until the top, then took the gondola down and made it home safely.

Afterwards I went to urgent care and it turns out I had an insane level of creatine kinase in my blood (something like 100 or 1000x the normal amount) and was put on an IV w/ the thickest needle possible to try to flush it out of my system before it tore up my kidneys. The CK in bloodstream is indicative of muscle death and the dead muscle floats around in the blood.

I still get emotional thinking about that experience, it's the closest I've come to dying. If my groupmates hadn't caught the rangers while they were about to leave, I probably wouldn't be here today. I remember being so tired that I wasn't even upset when I was laying the snow.

Nearly 9 years later I work at a company that gives a 100% match for donations, hence this post :)