Spencer and Jessica Christiansen were trapped in a cave for nearly two days before being rescued. (Spencer Christiansen)
A couple was excited for their picturesque hike in Wyoming last weekend - but misleading directions left them trapped in a cold cave for nearly two days, where they burned everything they had with them to survive.
Spencer Christiansen and his wife Jessica of Idaho Falls, Idaho, decided to go to the Darby Canyon Ice Cave in Wyoming. The adventure was meant to be a celebration for Spencer Christiansen’s birthday. The couple said they researched for weeks to find the right cave before gearing up.
“I was excited! I just wanted a quick adventure. I wanted to have a good adventure for a day,” Spencer Christiansen told “Good Morning America" on Wednesday. “I spent three weeks, nonstop, to try and gather as much info as possible. ... We came up with very little.”
ARIZONA TEEN SURVIVES LIGHTNING STRIKE, SAYS HE FEELS ‘LIKE SUPERMAN’ AFTER BRUSH WITH DEATH
Then the trip took a different turn for the young couple, both experienced climbers. They got to the cave on Saturday morning, planning to explore there for a few hours but they got trapped in a hole in the cave above a waterfall.
The pair climbed a rope from the ceiling, believing it was an exit, but it turned out not to be, Christiansen said. He described some of the information he discovered online about the hike as “deceiving,” leading them on a longer hike to find the correct passageways.
“When we figured out that wasn’t an exit, we thought for sure that we were going to run out of time and be dead,” he told Jackson Hole News & Guide. “I don’t think we would have lasted through the night.”
“We knew we were in some deep trouble, he continued. “We didn’t think search and rescue would get to us in time.”
Spencer and Jessica Christiansen left their daughter with family before embarking on their adventure. (Spencer Christiansen)
Wet, tired and cold, the couple stayed in their place hoping rescuers would find them. They burned everything they had with them, including clumps of hair, to keep warm.
“We ate all our food and burned everything we could possibly burn,” Christiansen said. “We burned a lot of different things like baseball caps, a backpack, gloves, knee brace and cards in my wallet.”
He said it was “impossible to keep warm” due to muddy ground. Jessica Christiansen had fallen earlier, causing her more discomfort.
ARIZONA FATHER BEATS, KILLS MAN WHO FOLLOWED HIS DAUGHTER INTO BATHROOM STALL, POLICE SAY
“There are not a lot of ways to describe what we went through,” he said. “We had to fight off the claustrophobia and panic.”
But then they heard the sound of voices and were ecstatic.
“I don’t even know how to describe it but when we heard them it was a huge adrenaline rush,” Christiansen said. “We were screaming because we knew somebody was down there.”
Family members had called for help after the couple did not pick up their daughter.
The couple were rescued on Spencer Christiansen's birthday. (Spencer Christiansen)
K.C. Bess, a rescue volunteer, told “Good Morning America” that the couple was “showing some signs of hypothermia” when rescuers reached them. It took a crew of about 20 volunteers to get them out of the cave.
“Where we found them, they were 25 feet up in a small hole or cavern and one of our team members had to ascend up a rope to get to them, do an assessment on them, [and] build an anchor to help them repel out of that spot,” Bess said. “They were starting to really shiver a lot, shaking, and showing some signs of hypothermia.”
The rescue occurred on Spencer Christiansen’s birthday and the crew even sang “Happy Birthday” to him.
“All this stuff brings tears to my eyes,” he said.
The couple was treated for frostbite on their hands.
“It's really scary to think you're leaving a child with no parents and no way out. It's really cold and it's really scary to face your death for sure,” Jessica Christiansen said. “The scariest part it got to was when Spencer was scared. I had total faith in him the whole time to get me out of there, but when I saw how scared he was I knew it was the end for us.”
Despite the scary experience, Spencer Christiansen said it was a birthday he will most likely never forget.
“I would love to do it again,” he said. “If I could plan it for a whole month and could take enough water and food, now that I know. It was the most beautiful and amazing cave I’ve ever been through.”
The hottest stories ripped from the headlines, from crime to courts, legal and scandal.
