On May 11, 1996, Beck Weathers died on Mount Everest. At least, that’s what everyone was sure had happened. The truth was even more incredible.

Over a harrowing period of eighteen hours, Everest would do its best to devour Beck Weathers and his fellow climbers. As raging storms picked off much of his team, including its leader, one by one, Weathers began to grow increasingly delirious due to exhaustion, exposure, and altitude sickness. At one point, he threw up his hands and screamed “I’ve got it all figured out” before falling into a snowbank, and, his team thought, to his death.

But after being left for dead – twice – something incredible happened: Beck Weathers woke up. Black frostbite covered his face and body like scales yet somehow, he found the strength to rise out of the snowbank, and eventually make it down the mountain.