Synopses & Reviews
After ten years of silence, the man who accomplished one of the most remarkable feats of survival finally reveals the riveting saga of the life-changing event that propelled him into the spotlight.
When Peter DeLeo set out one Sunday morning on a sightseeing and photography trip over the central Sierra Nevada mountains in California, he had no idea that he would soon be fighting for his life with the odds stacked very much against him. DeLeo's single-engine plane encountered turbulence, and he and his two passengers crashed in the mountains. All three survived the accident but sustained multiple injuries. DeLeo had broken ribs, a shattered ankle, and a badly damaged shoulder. After assessing their situation, they decided that the passengers should remain with the plane while DeLeo would hike out to bring back help. It was already winter; he left the limited emergency supplies with the plane's passengers; and he was hampered by his injuries, but DeLeo was determined to get help. He found or improvised shelter at night, carefully warmed himself during the daytime, drank from small pools of melted snow and ice, and slowly but steadily made his way toward civilization. Suffering from exhaustion and on the verge of collapse, he found a hot spring that provided him with temporary warmth and insects to eat. Injuries, dehydration, malnutrition, and a two-day blizzard slowed him, and a rockslide nearly killed him just as he glimpsed the valley and highway that he so desperately sought, but DeLeo's courage saw him through.
Meanwhile, Civil Air Patrol planes searched fruitlessly for the lost plane and for survivors; twice, DeLeo frantically tried to signal the search planes, but to no avail. When DeLeo finally reached a highway, he found it almost impossible to convince the authorities that he was the lost pilot who had been all but given up for dead. His astonishing survival, one of the most remarkable feats of endurance on record, made national and even international news.
Now, for the first time, Peter DeLeo tells his remarkable story in gripping detail. His amazing saga is destined to become a classic.
Synopsis
With 16 broken bones, no emergency supplies, water, or food, Peter DeLeo miraculously weathered the subfreezing conditions of the Sierras on his death-defying quest to bring help to his injured friends. He tells his story in gripping detail in this astonishing tale of survival.
Synopsis
In late November, 1994, Peter DeLeo set out on a sightseeing and photography trip with two friends in his single-engine plane. Two weeks later, the sheriff's department in Olancha, California, received phone call from a man who said his plane had crashed in the Sierra Nevadas and that he had just hiked out of the wilderness. That man was Peter DeLeo and Survive! is his story. With sixteen broken bones, no emergency supplies, water, or food, DeLeo miraculously weathered the sub-freezing conditions of the Sierras by eating small insects, drinking ice melt, and sleeping in rotted-out trees. He survived a rockslide that nearly killed him, constant hypothermia, and the crushing psychological despair of his ordeal. But he never gave up his goal of reaching civilizations and bringing help to his injured friends. After his death-defying adventure, the media swarmed DeLeo. His story was covered by television networks, radio, and major newspapers in the U.S. and around the world. He spent years recovering from his injuries and coming to terms with the loss of his friends before resuming his adventurous life. Here, for the first time, he tells his story in gripping detail, and his book is nothing less than astonishing.
About the Author
Peter DeLeo spent years recovering from his injuries before resuming his adventurous life. He has raced motorcycles professionally, founded and run a software company, and now manages real estate. Since his plane crash, survival, and recovery, he has motorcycled from California to the South American Andes, a one-way eighteen-month trip of more than 30,000 miles. He now lives in Connecticut and hopes soon to fly around the world.