Strong Will Helped Crashed Pilot Endure 12-Day Sierra Trek : Survivor: Peter DeLeo ate insects and waded through deep snow, but sensed his family’s prayers for him, his sister says.

A Long Beach pilot who hiked 12 days to get help for two friends who were injured in a High Sierra plane crash ate insects and slept in hollow tree trunks to survive, his sister said Saturday.

Peter DeLeo, 33, struggled through waist-deep snow to make his way from the 8,000-foot level, where his single-engine plane crashed Nov. 27. On Friday he flagged down a motorist on U.S. 395 and led authorities back to the crash site.

Passengers Waverly Hatch, 49, and Lloyd Matsumoto, 53, were dead when rescuers reached the wreckage of the plane in a ravine near Kern Peak in eastern Tulare County.

Denise DeLeo said her brother’s thoughts and prayers were with the two men’s families and friends as he returned to his home Saturday afternoon after being treated for his injuries. They include a broken ankle, four fractured ribs, a broken shoulder blade, frostbite and acute malnutrition, she said.

“I’m making do,” DeLeo said weakly as friends helped him hobble into the house.

“My brother had a strong will to live,” Denise DeLeo said later. “He knew his family and friends were pulling for him. He told me he sensed our prayers.”

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DeLeo lost about 20 pounds during the ordeal, she said. He wore a ski bib, jacket, long johns and winter boots during the hike. Initial reports Friday indicated that DeLeo had stayed with his two companions for a few days before starting his hike, but his sister said Saturday that he began his 20-mile trek on the first day.

The cause of the crash is being investigated by federal aviation officials. But DeLeo told rescuers that a sudden wind shear caused the plane to plunge into a backcountry ravine as the three men was headed toward Mammoth Lakes to take pictures of the winter snowfall.

Fellow pilots at Long Beach Airport where DeLeo kept his 17-year-old plane said it was missing a $35 battery for its emergency locater transmitter a few months ago. An inoperative transmitter would have kept searchers from finding the downed craft.

“He did an amazing job getting out, no matter what happened,” said Jim Herron, the instructor who gave DeLeo a test flight after he bought the $30,000 Maule M-5 last year.