To your point - I recently read an account of the infamous Andean airplane crash (cannibalism, etc) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1972_Andes_flight_disaster htt

To your point - I recently read an account of the infamous Andean airplane crash (cannibalism, etc) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1972_Andes_flight_disaster http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1972_Andes_flight_disaster Three men struck out to find help for the group after they realized that they were not going to be rescued. They hiked for 3 days to get to the top of the closest peak. From that vantage they realized it was a much longer trip and they did not have supplies enough for 3 men. They sent one guy back. It took him roughly an hour (on a makeshift sled) to backtrack what it took them 3 days to climb. "On the third day of the trek, Parrado reached the top of the mountain before the other two. Stretched before him as far as the eye could see were more mountains. In fact, he had just climbed one of the mountains (as high as 4,650 metres (15,260 ft)) which forms the border between Argentina and Chile, meaning that they were still tens of kilometres from the green valleys of Chile. After spying a small "Y" in the distance, he gauged that a way out of the mountains must lie beyond, and refused to give up hope. Knowing that the hike would take more energy than they had originally planned for, Parrado and Canessa sent Vizintín back to the crash site, as they were rapidly running out of rations. Since the return was entirely downhill, it only took him one hour to get back to the fuselage using a makeshift sled."