Hinsdale Native Survives 48 Hours Lost in the Swiss Alps

After 48 hours lost in the Swiss Alps, Hinsdale native Mark Doose, 19, has been discharged from a hospital in the canton of Berne, and he’s expected to have no lasting physical damage.

Doose, a Hinsdale Central alumnus and bioengineering student at University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, has been studying abroad since January in Lausanne, Switzerland. He was skiing Sunday in the Les Diablerets resort in the Swiss Alps when a snowstorm hit, and he disappeared, according to Reuters.

He was found Tuesday, after three days and two nights hiking through snow banks, wading through water and sleeping outside.

“He survived out of sheer determination to survive, hiking nearly 4 kilometers through the mountain ravine and stream until his screams were heard by nearby hikers,” his mother, Barbara Doose posted Feb. 6 on Facebook. “It is nothing short of a miracle that he is in such good health and spirits, except that those of us who know him are somehow not completely surprised.”

At night, when temperatures dropped to around 14 degrees, Mark Doose, a former Boy Scout, slept in an igloo he made to ward off the wind and blowing snow, Reuters reported.

Passers-by heard his yells Tuesday, and rescue workers pulled him from thick, waist-high snow. The Chicago Tribune reported he was rescued around 3:30 p.m., Switzerland time.

In the hospital, Mark Doose was treated for for hypothermia, exhaustion and frostbite on several parts of his body, according to a letter sent to University of Illinois bioengineering students.

“He is in amazingly good health, mainly still tired with some numbness in his hands,” Barbara Doose said in her post. “You can’t imagine how good it is to see him smiling and to hug him!”

Image via Facebook.