6 Below: Miracle on the Mountain

Josh Hartnett,Mira Sorvino,Sarah Dumont

An adrenaline seeking snowboarder gets lost in a massive winter storm in the back country of the High Sierras where he is pushed to the limits of human endurance and forced to battle his own personal demons as he fights for survival."Eric LeMarque (Josh Hartnett) is a hockey player and an adrenaline junkie. He has had several injuries as a hockey player, including dislocated shoulders, broken jaws and torn knees. he got back up each time. Eric is a Meth junkie and was arrested recently for DUI and smashing his car into another. His mother Susan (Mira Sorvino) admonishes him for throwing his pro athlete career away. Susan hires him a lawyer and Eric has to show up in court in 7 days exactly.Feb 6, 2004. Eric travels to the Sierra mountains for a day on the slopes, even though a large winter storm is predicted to hit that day. 6 days to show up in court. Eric gets locked out of his cabin when he goes out for some fresh air. He makes it back in by breaking down the door. He injures his leg in the process. Eric misses the scheduled bus service to the top and takes a life from Sarah (Sarah Dumont), who teaches Eric about why not to eat ice (it dehydrates and leads to hypothermia). Eric feeds his nutrition bar to Sarah's dog Jackson. Sarah is the Ops risk manager for the mountain. Eric takes the cable car for the peak and snorts some drugs before starting his run.He does this multiple times when the storm finally hits the mountain. Corey (Austin R. Grant) is the weatherman who predicts 2-3 ft of snow from the storm within 1 night. Before Sarah can order the closure of the mountain, Eric starts his run. He takes the unsanctioned route. As Eric descends, he comes to a flat area where visibility has dropped to zero. He is lost. No cell reception and the storm hits in full force with icy winds and snow. As night falls, Eric takes shelter under some trees. He has no gloves and can't build a fire due to the wet matches.Eric remembers how his dad David LeMarque (Jason Cottle) coached him not to quit. Eric uses the snowboard to descend further down the mountain, but barely manages to not fall off a cliff. He encounters a wolf, who he manages to scare away. The wolf gathers its pack and starts hunting for Eric. Eric digs a hole in the snow and hides in it. Eric survives the night and its Day 2. The storm has cleared out. Eric resists eating the snow. Eric descends the slopes further and comes to frozen lake and ends up falling through the ice into it. He manages to climb his way out but is now soaking wet in ice cold water. Eric remembers how his coach (Marty McSorely) taught him that ice hockey is a team game. Eric has to remove his clothes to survive. Eric throws away his remaining drugs as he needs his wits about him to survive. He uses the plastic pouch to gather some ice and turn it into water. At night, Eric spots lights at a distance on top of a hill.Eric is still being followed by the wolf pack, but he hides for the night. Day 3 arrives. He drinks the water from his plastic bag. He wears his clothes back, which are dry, but loose fitting since he has lost weight in 2 days. Eric can't travel far as he gets drug withdrawal symptoms and curls up in severe pain. Day 4 arrives. Eric's socks are stuck to his bleeding leg and when he pulls the socks off, he takes away part of the skin and exposes the wound. He starts bleeding again and leaves a trail, but in the morning, Eric cannot see the lights on the hill anymore. There is nothing there. The leg infection is getting worse. He eats his own flesh (coming out from his leg). Eric remembers how his hockey career goes nowhere and he ends up in his mom's basement, while his colleagues go on to become huge hockey stars.Eric realizes that as he climbs the hill, his location finder is getting a weak signal. Day 6 and Susan starts to worry that she hasn't heard from Eric for so long, and he has missed his court date. She finds out that Eric was last seen at the Winter Haven cabin on the Sierra Mountain. Day 7 and Susan reaches the cabin. Susan reaches the mountain admin where she meets Sarah. Susan insists that Sarah launch Search and rescue immediately as Eric is most probably missing on the mountain. Sarah realizes it's the same guy that she gave a lift to. She launches a helicopter in 15 mins. Sarah gets her whole team to look for radio signals from anywhere on the mountain. The helicopter flies directly over Eric, but he was hidden beneath a canopy of trees. Sarah has to return when the light goes down. Susan pushes her to keep searching through the night, but Sarah refuses as there is more chances of an accident.Day 8, Eric resolves to reach the top of the hill. He continues to eat his own flesh. This was the coldest winter in ages and Sarah knows chances of Eric surviving are next to none. With 4% battery left, Eric reaches the top of the hill. But he faints from the effort. Eric remembers how he quit ice hockey after being admonishes by his coach that day for not being a team player. He is determined not to quit today. He drags his body right to the top of the hill with the help of his snowboard. Eric records a message for his mom just before the battery on his location finder dies. Fortunately, the signal is detected at the mountain center by Corey, before it dies. Sarah rushes to pick up Eric. Eric loses both his legs due to frostbite but survives and goes on to coach a junior ice hockey league. Exactly 1 yr after the incident, Eric went snowboarding again on the same mountain. He is drug free and lives in Southern California with his wife and 2 sons.