On October 12, 1972, an Uruguayan Air Force plany carrying a team of rugby players crashed in the remote snowy peaks of the Andes. Ten weeks later, only sixteen of the forty-five passengers were found alive. This is the story of those ten weeks spent in the shelter of the plane's fuselage without food and with scarcely any hope of a rescue. The survivors protected and helped one another, and came to the difficult conclusion that to live meant doing the unimaginable. Confronting nature at its most furious, two brave young men risked their lives to hike through the mountains looking for help–and ultimately found it."A chilling tale...Will involve the reader as thoroughly as the best adventure novel. A book of real and lasting value." –Rolling Stone"A classic in the literature of survival." –Newsweek