Boy Believes in Miracles After His Mountain Rescue

His frostbitten feet wrapped in gauze, an Orange County sixth-grader said Monday that surviving with a companion for two harrowing days on a freezing mountainside was a miracle that has bolstered his faith in God.

Ryan McIntosh, 11, described the emotional roller coaster that he rode with Cynthia Moyneur, 37, after the two became separated from four hiking companions and were trapped by a sudden, fierce snowstorm on Mt. Baldy on Friday night. His memory is still spotty, and his feet, which made him scream in pain Sunday night, are still tingling.

The two were rescued Sunday morning after enduring 43 hours in temperatures that dropped to 13 degrees, in thin clothing, with nothing to eat or drink except a few handfuls of snow.

“I think it was a real miracle,” Ryan said, reclining on his living room couch under the grateful gaze of his parents. “God wanted us to stay alive. (But) they (rescuers) got us at the very end of our life. We were on the verge of dying.”

Moyneur, of Anaheim, was being treated for frostbite and dehydration at San Antonio Community Hospital in Upland. She declined to be interviewed Monday. Ryan was released from the hospital Sunday night.

Friday, the two had tried to get down the mountain, but took the wrong path. Three times in the next two days, their hopes were buoyed when they saw circling helicopters. They tried to attract attention by catching the sun’s rays in a mirror. But their hopes were dashed as the hours passed and no one came, Ryan said.

To survive the stabbing winds, the pair built a V-shaped shelter, the boy said. Moyneur ripped branches from fallen trees and Ryan stacked them 2 1/2 feet high. Inside, they built a fire.

“I was crying a lot,” Ryan said. “I just wanted to see my family. Cindy kept saying, ‘We’ll be fine, Ryan, we’ll be all right. We’ll be out of here.’ ”

Sleep took a back seat to survival Friday night. Ryan and Moyneur were forced to gather twigs and feed the fire until dawn. Huddled near the flames, Ryan remembered Moyneur’s warning: If they fell asleep for too long, they might slip into unconsciousness and die of exposure.

She told him she felt lightheaded; Ryan said he prayed that Moyneur would not faint and that he would not doze. The two kept each other going by sharing cherished visions of warm beds, hot baths and French toast. Ryan felt the tingling numbness in his feet creeping up his legs.

One of their most hopeless moments came Saturday, when their fire died out, Ryan said. They had used the only two matches they had. The deepening cold signaled evening’s approach.

“At that point I thought I was going to die,” Ryan said.

Anticipating the worst, the two launched into fervent prayer.

“As soon as we were done, like 30 seconds later, we turned around and it was in flames again,” Ryan said, his eyes widening at the memory. “And later, when it died out again, it did the same thing, it leaped up again. I thought that was a miracle.”

Grateful, they fed the flames with anything they could grab, including dollar bills from their pockets.

Back home in Tustin, Ryan’s parents were losing hope.

“At one point Saturday night, when no fire had been spotted, Barbara and I eulogized him,” said Ryan’s father, Jon McIntosh, 36, glancing at his son. “We thought of him as our very special son, the best of the both of us.”

Sunday morning, Ryan’s parents, on the advice of a family friend, sought the aid of a so-called psychic.

The woman held Ryan’s Denver Broncos cap in both hands, her eyes tightly closed. And as Jon McIntosh tells it, she said: “Feel my hands. My hands are warm. If the person is dead, my hands are cold. They’re on the eastern side of the mountain, on a summit. They’re lonely, they’re cold and they’re afraid. But you must have positive thoughts.”

Weeping, the couple left the office and immediately got on their car phone to inform rescuers that they were heading back up to the mountain, McIntosh said.

“The sheriff’s commander told us they had found two people,” McIntosh said. “Barbara and I were sobbing. I said, are you sure it’s Ryan and Cindy? Have you touched them? And he said yes.”

Moments earlier on the mountain, a lone rescuer had rounded a bend and stumbled onto Ryan and Moyneur.

“Cindy was sitting on a rock,” Ryan recalled. “We heard a walkie-talkie. She yelled, ‘Yes!’ and I said, ‘Yes!’ and the guy was all screaming, ‘Yes! We found them!’

Safe again, Ryan is soaking up the things that home has to offer. As his mother caressed his forehead, he lifted a cup of water and took a big gulp.

“Aah,” he said, smiling.