Hiker Stranded for 6 Days Reveals What Wife Said When They Reunited

The American journalist who was found alive earlier this month after he disappeared on a solo backpacking trip in Norway is opening up about what he did to survive.

Alec Luhn, a climate journalist who has written for The Atlantic, The New York Times and The Guardian, was on a four-day solo backpacking trip in southern Norway’s Folgefonna National Park when disaster struck.

Speaking with CNN’s Anderson Cooper, Luhn says that on July 31, the first day of the hike, he ended up taking a wrong step, which caused him to fall down the side of a mountain.

“I just remember sliding down the mountain at first, and then spinning down the mountain, rolling down the mountain, and then just pinballing down the mountain,” he said.

The fall left him with a broken femur and a fractured pelvis.

“My left foot was just flopping around with no direction,” Luhn said. “I was basically immobilized.”

As if all that wasn’t bad enough, his backpack had also ripped open, which meant, among other things, that his cellphone was gone.

Unable to move and with no way to call for help, Luhn quickly realized that he would need to survive for at least four days  — the length of his hike — before being rescued.

Luhn told The Washington Post that he used a tentpole and rain jacket for shelter while a sleeping bag provided warmth. 

On the first few days, the weather was decent, but he struggled with a lack of water. Not only was he thirsty, but it became difficult to swallow the granola bars and peanuts he had on him.

Luhn later resorted to drinking his urine to stay hydrated. 

“The next time that I had to pee, I peed in my water pouch,” he told CNN’s Cooper. “I drank my urine, basically to have a little bit of hydration, and to also get a little bit of food down.”

On the third day, rain arrived and a dehydrated Luhn told Good Morning America that he licked every drop of water that fell on him. The rain then turned into a storm and the temperatures dropped, leaving Luhn soaked despite his makeshift shelter.

What gave Luhn hope and the will to survive was his family. “That’s when I called on God and called on the universe to bring me back,” he added.

“I spent a lot of time thinking about my wife and my family and how silly it was that here I was possibly going to die because I wanted to do a cool hike around this glacier,” he added while speaking with The Washington Post. “Being trapped on that mountain gave me a chance to see what I would regret if I died.”

Veronika Silchenko, Luhn’s wife and a fellow journalist, previously told CBS News that at first she didn’t worry about not hearing from her husband, thinking he probably just didn’t have service.

But when he wasn’t home in the U.K. on Aug. 4, like they had planned, she and other family members contacted police. 

After launching a search, two days later, the Norwegian Red Cross announced that Luhn was “found alive near Folgefonna” and was being “transported for medical treatment.” The organization said Luhn was conscious, but tired when he was found that morning, according to CNN.

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In addition to the broken femur and pelvis, Luhn also suffered frostbite on both his feet, according to
GMA. He is currently recovering at a hospital in Norway and will later continue his recovery in Britain where he lives with Silchenko.

As for his reunion with his family, Luhn shared one memorable moment with GMA.

“I remember my wife said, ‘I’m going to tear you a new one later but for now, I really love you,’ ” Luhn said.