No Mans Canyon: Brothers in Trouble

26:57David cranes his neck, but he can't see past the sloping edge of the wall. Any closer to the drop, he'd risk falling. He calls out again and again, pleading for Lewis to respond. It's no use. His brother is out of reach and out of earshot. Maybe he's also out of time.

27:21But David is in danger too, however much it pains him. For now, he has to focus on his own situation. So I would imagine it's about 3 o 'clock in the afternoon, Sunday, March 6th. And it's survival time.

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29:14He takes off his pack and empties it onto the ledge. The plan had been to camp out here in the desert until Friday, five days from now. But they'd intended to return to their campsite this evening, which means David only has enough food and water on him for a single day.

29:36I deconstructed my lunch and decided that I was going to ration my sandwich, ration my orange, ration my power bar, and ration my trail mix. I had a 16-ounce plastic bottle of water, and I had a liter of iced tea that I had put a large slice of lemon in that morning, because I like lemon in my iced tea. David peers at the warm liquid sloshing around his half-liter water bottle. He can already feel the saliva thickening on his tongue. A drink right now would be very welcome, but he needs to pace himself. The sun shimmers overhead, its radiance spilling down into the narrow slot. David looks around for shade.

30:23At the back of the ledge, the overhanging mantle offers some shelter, a spot where he can stay cool and, if necessary, dry. Even in the desert, sudden rainstorms aren't unheard of. I was protected from the elements. If there was going to be rain, it wasn't going to be raining right on top of me, because that part of the area was kind of cavey, so I was protected back there. Next, David takes inventory of the rest of his supplies. He spreads everything out on the ground at his feet. A couple of metal clips, a roll of climbing tape, his penknife, some spare clothes. Then he pulls apart the backpack itself, ripping out the styrofoam padding and laying it alongside the rest of the gear.

31:13He frowns at his modest stockpile. He's a long way from an ideal survival kit, but then, with some creativity, perhaps he can make these few items work to his advantage. He places his empty backpack at the rear of the ledge, underneath the overhang, and lies down on it. As an improvised sleeping mat is not bad. He gazes up at the azure stripe of sky, sandwiched between the canyon walls, and closes his eyes. For me, the focus was in the form of a mantra. Get to Friday, get to Friday, get to Friday. Now, I thought that would be the earliest day of my rescue, because when our loved ones didn't hear the phone call Thursday night, they would act.

32:04Night descends quickly and brings with it a sharp drop in temperature.

32:12David pulls a pair of woolen leggings on underneath his climbing trousers. He rolls up some spare socks and tucks them under his baseball cap as makeshift earmuffs. It is going to be a tough night. In this part of Utah, the daytime warmth can be misleading. Despite being a desert, this region sits at a very high elevation. When the sun goes down, the cold picks up.

32:43the temperature forecast that week in utah was perfect it was going to be in the mid 60s and sunny during the day great for day hiking but at night it would be freezing or in the 20s and we're talking about fahrenheit of course so i tried to get as creative as possible with keeping myself warm at night. David takes the styrofoam padding from his backpack and shoves it under his shirt for one final additional layer. Then, with his arms wrapped around his chest, he sits back and tries to get some sleep. Get to Friday. It's a simple enough plan, but putting those words into practice is anything but simple.

33:31This isn't just a test of patience. It's a test of mental toughness. Not everyone could keep themselves sane and centered in such circumstances. But David has been through hell before.

33:46A few years ago, he suffered a devastating loss. I lost a dear son at 30. He passed away from brain cancer. That moment in my life to lose a child at that young age, he was 30. If I did not have that kind of positivity and how to handle adversity, it kind of leveled up in me that resilience. You know, the 23rd Psalm, let me be a preacher here for a moment. Though we walk through the valley, King David says through the valley, He doesn't say we're stopping, through the valley. And so that metaphor has really resonated with me. I'm gonna get through this. I'm gonna get through this.

34:49After a sleepless night, David's first full day in the canyon passes slowly An uncomfortable, mind-numbing procession of empty hours. His ever-increasing hunger is the only way to differentiate one moment from the next. When darkness falls again, he manages to gather together some scraps of paper from his backpack and burn them. Keep his fingers warm. He is sitting there, hands outstretched above his makeshift campfire, when he feels it. a single drop of rain.

35:29One night that I was terrified, beyond all terror, was a night that rain came. And that's not a good thing to have in slot canyons, because the physicality of heat and cold over time make sandstone fragile. And if there's enough hard rain coming down, it can loosen up rock. that's already fragile from the thawing and the baking. And Monday night, started to rain. It was rainwater flowing through these cracks in the sedimentary bedrock that first began carving these canyons millions of years ago. It will go on shaping them for millions more, eroding their sandstone walls in powerful, surging flash floods.

36:19As the rain intensifies, David crawls to the back of the ledge. He sits beneath the semi-protective overhang, knees drawn into his chest, trying to stay dry. But the downpour is torrential, heavy sheets thundering into the canyon, soaking him despite his meager shelter. And getting wet, that's the least of his worries. But what I hear during the night and in the darkness, and there's only the stars to light up this area, as I hear some rocks coming down. I don't know if it's just fragments that are coming down or if there's going to be a big rock slide coming down.

37:07Rocks flash past in the rain-filled darkness, echoing off the walls, splintering into shrapnel. Flinching, David covers his head with his arms and braces for what is starting to feel like the inevitable. But mercifully, the deadly avalanche doesn't come. The rain gradually eases off. The danger passes. For now. At some point, he must have drifted off, because when David opens his eyes, it's day again. Bright and crisp. He stretches out, warming his limbs in the pool of sunlight creeping across the shadowed ledge. After last night's scare, the fact that he's still breathing counts for something, a small victory to help him get through another morning.

37:58He looks up at the sky, clear again, as if last night's rain never happened. Come Friday, if all goes well, the brothers will be reported missing, and a helicopter will be sent out to scour these canyons. David turns his attention to making himself easier to spot. He looks around at the items littered about this ledge. His gaze settles on a sheet of stiff plastic pulled from the inside of his backpack, then on the webbing pockets lining the pack's exterior. Maybe it's enough to construct a help sign. I used webbing to put the letters H-E-L. Then I stopped and said, what are you doing cutting webbing?

38:43It's taking too much time. Get your climber's tape out. and I made L and P with white climbing tape. So I had a multicolored help word. David admires his handiwork. He lays the sign out flat on the sloping ledge, held in place with a couple of rocks. It's a solid piece of improvisation. But will it be enough? He looks up again at the sliver of sky peeking down through the canyon. This ravine is one of hundreds in the area, a single offshoot of a tree branch with countless others exactly like it. The odds are incredibly slim, but he has to trust that an eagle-eyed helicopter pilot will somehow spot him.

39:32And so he sits on his empty backpack and resumes his agonizing wait. I became engaged in my surroundings. Those days were beautiful. and while tedious and boring, I looked out that slot exit every day and watched the ravens and watched the skyline and watched the contrails come across from the jet airplanes and at night, I was able to track Orion across that slot and that's how I kept time. From his lonely perch, David watches the world go by. Despite everything, there is a quiet comfort in the rhythm of it all The steady turning of the earth The certainty of day turning into night and night into day Only for it all to start again The birds, the stars, the aeroplanes, the fading contrails Amid the clockwork-like monotony, David seeks diversion where he can find it I began to sing Oh, beautiful for space It just came to me And later in therapy I learned from my therapist That singing is comforting And that just came to me naturally Now, I didn't belt out tune after tune But it was something to occupy my time

41:02Throughout all this Keeping calm is a relentless battle suppressing negative thoughts and emotional outbursts, made all the more difficult because Lewis's fate is still unknown. I knew how I was experiencing it in the moments after he fell. I was weeping uncontrollably. And that's no way to get to Friday if you're in that state. And so that idea of pushing the beach ball underneath the water for that week, and it's really between the ears. It's getting your mind focused on survival and engaging in things that sort of support that. Tuesday seeps into Wednesday, which bleeds into Thursday. David's rations are now running very thin.

41:56He only has a few scraps of food left. and he's down to the last drops of water. Thankfully, he's still got that liter bottle of iced tea, a final reserve he held back for when things turned desperate. On Thursday, hoping this will be his last day on the ledge, he goes to take a swig of what promises to be a mightily refreshing drink. But when he picks up the bottle of iced tea, you can tell something's wrong. That wonderful iced tea that I had, and had fixed that wonderful piece of lemon, That lemon turned brown and black by midweek, and I was so damn angry that it happened. When I opened it up on Thursday and I could smell the rancidness, I got so enraged that I just tossed that bottle back and forth in my hands, and the tea went everywhere.

42:48David throws the empty bottle aside, seething with frustration.

42:58It's tiny moments like this that can be the difference between life and death. Incensed, he slumps down on the ground and picks up his main water bottle. Just a few milliliters remain. His mouth burns with dehydration, but he doesn't take a sip. Instead, he makes a pledge. I'm not going to drink the rest of that water until I'm rescued, and that's what my goal is. And even if I do become in a kind of a hallucination sort of situation and I'm feeling like I'm going to pass out, my plan was to just let it happen. That's about as far as I got to thinking about my mortality. It shouldn't come to that, surely.

43:44Today is Thursday, the final full day of their trip. Right about now, David's partner, Rhonda, should be expecting a call, telling her he's on his way home. When she doesn't hear from him, she'll promptly notify the authorities, and the search and rescue party will be sent out. As night falls, David's optimism builds. Tomorrow, this will be all over. And so that Thursday night, that was my night of, like, anticipation. Because everything has been geared up for getting rescued on Friday. Well, that wasn't the plan. Because Friday came, and it came, and it came, and it went. and no rescue. And I was very disappointed.

44:30I mean, I was dejected.

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45:43It's Friday night in the Utah desert. David lies on his back in the dark, still processing the disappointment of not being rescued. Get to Friday. That had been his plan. Now what? Before, there was an end point, a destination to focus on. Now, time stretches out endlessly before him. A great yawning void. And with his supplies all but gone, it seems the only thing that awaits is a death sentence. The canyon walls appear somehow taller than before. His ledge even more sunken and obscured in shadow. Nobody will find him here. But then... Then he hears it.

46:35Vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom. Heard the helicopter. And later I was told it was about 11 o 'clock when the Utah State Patrol helicopter came down. that canyon and was searching at night. David jumps to his feet, his heart pounding. The chopper swoops low over the canyon, the dazzling beam of its searchlight flashing across the opening. I stood up on that interior ledge and I said, I'm here, and shouted. They couldn't hear me, but that was the impulse. And in that moment, I felt this relief. They're searching for us and felt confident that they would come around the next day.

47:20The helicopter moves off, but the fact that they're looking in the right spot is what matters. Tomorrow, when it's light, they'll come back. Just a few more hours.

47:35And sure enough, when the next morning arrives... I hear them again, I see them again, I get up off that interior ledge, have my help sign in my hand, stand up where they can see me, and they acknowledge with their horn that they've seen me.

47:57It's the sound he's been praying for. A few moments later, a search and rescue officer rappels down to the ledge. He asks what happened, and David explains as best he can about Louis, the accident, and his six days alone in the slot canyon. The officer straps him into a device, a kind of harness attached to a winch, that will enable him to climb past the overhanging mantle and out of the canyon. With members of the search and rescue team operating the winch, David is able to clamber up from the ledge.

48:35And I just walked up that rock face, and they turned this and turned it and turned it and kind of pulled me up. And when I got up to that place where the mantle was that I couldn't climb over, I was able to reach up to them, the rescue guys, and they picked me up over the mantle. They just hauled me over the edge there, and I was out of where I was for six days. David climbs inside the helicopter. The rescue team reassure him they'll come back for Louis, but their priority right now is getting him to safety. At this point, he still doesn't have definitive confirmation that his brother is dead, even if the chance of a different outcome is practically non-existent.

49:21The aircraft roars as it turns a full 180 and chugs back to the trailhead, where David's truck is parked and where he needs to retrieve his cell phone and wallet.

49:35It's here that his worst fears are confirmed. When I got back to the truck, a sheriff was there, and the sheriff informed me officially about my brother's passing. He gave me the notification and shared his condolences. And then I got back in the helicopter and went to Moab.

50:07David is admitted to hospital in Moab, where a doctor checks his vitals and gets him fed and rehydrated. Lying in his hospital bed, the survival mindset that kept him focused in the canyon finally switches off, leaving space for the grief that he's been keeping at bay. He also begins to work out what must have happened to Lewis, how this skilled and experienced climber could have made such a fatal error. The piece of white tape marking the center of the rope must have shifted during the previous repels. When Lewis began his descent, the rope was not evenly distributed on either side of the repel device.

50:51One end was shorter than the other, stranding him partway down the wall. As for what exactly happened next, there is no way of knowing for sure. But David says he has a theory for the likeliest explanation. Lewis was descending on the shorter strand of rope. When he reached the end of the rope, he decided to take a leap of faith. When he said no biggie, what was in his mind was that he was planning to go down to where that short piece ended because he couldn't go any further. And what we expect he did was to get down as close as he could and jump the rest of the way. When Lewis jumped, the rope must have slipped through the anchor device and fallen with him.

51:41This is what left David stranded. Whether the jump was ultimately too big for Lewis or something else unforeseen happened, the leap clearly did not go to plan. Based on the autopsy report, Lewis broke his pelvis when and he made impact with the ground. Though it wasn't in itself a fatal injury, it left him critically incapacitated. He was immobilized. He couldn't move. And being a type two diabetic, he couldn't take his medicine. And so eventually he went into a diabetic coma and he passed away.

52:20After leaving hospital, David goes home to Tennessee. He returns to his teaching job, tries to recover some semblance of a normal life. But his grief casts a shadow, often manifesting in strange, unanticipated ways. I was dealing with some things that were quite unexpected with grief. Because at one point I was angry at Lewis because why in the hell did you do what you did and put me in this position? And I got through that. I had to deal with what I would call intrusive thoughts. When I would lay down at night and sleep, my mind, I was back in that canyon. I was back on that ledge for months.

53:04That was the image in my head. It takes many difficult and painful months. But gradually, with the help of his family, his therapist, and his priest, David starts to heal. In the years since, he's found new ways to process his trauma, new avenues to channel his pain into something constructive. He's written a memoir and gives motivational speeches, sharing his message of survival and brotherly love. David says he finds comfort in talking about the accident, about his survival on the ledge, and ultimately about Lewis. He was a tour de force. He was valedictorian of his high school class. He went to Carnegie Institute of Technology.

53:53And he spoke his mind, too, which, again, sort of emboldened me to have opinions and speak them, you know, confidently. I would say each time I make a presentation and this manuscript that would get published, just to honor my brother. And that's where we're back to. We're back to the beginning. Rebecca Lewis. And that's what's meaningful at the end of the day.

54:28In the next episode, we journey to one of the hottest places on Earth, where temperatures can soar to over 50 degrees Celsius. In 2016, Chas Powell embarks on an epic quest to walk the full length of the Zambezi River from source to mouth, a staggering 2 ,000 mile long trek through harsh terrain and even harsher weather. After two months, Chaz is making good headway until his progress grinds to a sudden halt. Before long, he will find himself exposed on the wide open savannah with no shade, no water, and unimaginable heat. Somehow, with grim irony, a journey along one of Africa's largest sources of fresh water will transform into a desperate battle against dehydration.

55:19That's next time on Real Survival Stories.

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