Karen (aka birdbrain) hands me a shopping bagful of magazines every few months. National Geographic’s Adventure and Traveler magazines, Outside, Smithsonian and even the Rolling Stone. Many of these I’ve subscribed to in the past, but have let lapse.

January’s issue of Nat Geo Adventure has a short profile of Charles Horton who left his home in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, to go cross country skiing. He’d planned to be gone a few hours, but after breaking his leg, he was rescued nine days later. Charles had lost thirty pounds, his core temp hovered at 86 degrees Fahrenheit, and his rescuer said he’d never seen anyone to survive that many days. “He definitely knew what he was doing, “ said Sgt. Anthony Mazzola.

Charles, with his near death experience behind him, now advises others to: tell a friend where you’re going (and not someone who’s about to leave town for a week), accept your situation, be realistic, and work with what you’ve got. “I turned my dayback into a splint and crawled, dragging my leg behind me. It took me two hours to go a tenth of a mile. Finally, I found a dry spot under a tree with enough branches for fuel and a bed.”

I guess he’d also suggest keeping a sense of humor. “When the first medic arrived on day nine, she asked: “Are you Charles Horton?” Cotton-mouthed, I answered softly, “If I weren’t, would you leave me to go find him?”