Dance Or Die

Survival

When Utah skier Karen Hartley found herself stranded in freezing temperatures and mountain snow as night fell, she knew it was either dance or die.

So by herself, she danced in the dark, playing remembered tunes in her head until dawn, when rescuers spotted her from a search helicopter. She was unhurt.

Hartley, a 33-year-old computer software developer, had wandered out of bounds at the Powder Mountain ski area Christmas Eve and spent more than 18 hours cold and alone on the mountain. The temperatures were in the single digits.

“The best thing I could think of was to keep my brain occupied by playing music in my head and dancing to it to keep warm,” Ms. Hartley said Friday.

“I sang and danced all night long, from about 6:30 p.m. to dawn. It was the only way I could think of to keep warm.”