Snowbound Parents Survived `For Our Baby' -- Couple Recount Terrors Of Cold, Cave, Coyotes

CEDARVILLE, Calif. - Marooned with her baby in a frigid cave, Jennifer Stolpa listened through three days and nights for the rescuers she feared would never come. Instead she heard the howls of coyotes, which seemed to draw nearer by the hour.

The food - fruitcake, coconut cookies and a few tortilla chips - had run out long before, and now on Wednesday her breast milk was gone as well. Melting ice in her mouth and feeding her infant son the liquid like a bird, she fought the mounting panic and wondered: Would they freeze first or starve?

Then came the roar of a rescue vehicle, and Stolpa, disbelieving at first, realized they would be saved. With both feet frostbitten and painfully sore, the weeping mother could not rise. But she waved her arms and cried out from her tiny cave, and the rescuers saw her through the falling snow.

"I thought I was going to die," Stolpa, 20, said as she rode to safety Wednesday night. A day later, she spoke of her husband, James Stolpa, 21, who had walked more than 40 miles through a blizzard to summon help.

"He is more than a hero to me," she said from her hospital bed, grasping his hand with a smile. "He promised me he'd get us out of there, and he did."

And so the worst part, the scariest part, has ended. Vanishing Dec. 29 while en route to a family funeral in Idaho, their ordeal in the desolate Nevada desert spanned a week - five hopeless nights in their disabled pickup truck and, for Jennifer Stolpa, three more shivering days in the cave with 5-month-old Clayton. For most of the time, snow fell and temperatures were below freezing.

But one danger - frostbite - remains. Doctors at Surprise Valley Community Hospital in Cedarville said Jennifer Stolpa suffered severe frostbite and was at risk of losing her toes or possibly her feet.

James Stolpa, an Army private first class based at Camp Roberts, Calif., also faced that danger but had fewer problems. His feet were encased in ice when he was found. But walking had kept blood circulating in his feet, said Dr. Hugh Washburn, who treated the couple.

Both adults received pain medication and sedatives yesterday, and Jennifer Stolpa was given oxygen and intravenous fluids as well. Clayton bore the ordeal well, Washburn said, largely because Jennifer kept him warm by cuddling him and was able to breast feed for much of the week.

During a break in a storm that dumped three more feet of snow on the region, the family was taken by ambulance yesterday to Reno, Nev., escorted by a convoy of seven official vehicles. A plastic surgeon and other doctors specializing in the treatment of frostbite awaited the Stolpas at Washoe County Medical Center.

As they recounted their saga, the Stolpas had their feet thickly wrapped in blankets. They appeared exhausted, their mood was somber and their eyes filled with tears as they recalled their ordeal.

According to James Stolpa, the family left the Bay Area Dec. 29, heading for his grandmother's funeral in Pocatello, Idaho. When they learned that Interstate 80 and U.S. Highway 50, the two major highways through the Sierras, were closed by snow, they decided to follow State Route 299 east from Redding through the mountains into Nevada, and use county road 8A, known by locals to be unpaved and closed in winter, to link up with Nevada State Route 140.

The Stolpas' Dodge pickup became stuck the night of Dec. 29 in deep snowdrifts east of Vya, Nev., a virtual ghost town. Enveloped in a blizzard, the couple decided to remain in their car, hoping another motorist would pass. They waited four days, and no one came by, though they heard planes overhead.

With only the fruitcake, cookies and some pre-natal vitamins as nourishment, the Stolpas grew desperate. On Sunday morning, the family set out on foot in waist-high snowdrifts. Clayton was bundled up in several layers of clothing and a sleeping bag, and James and Jennifer wore sweatshirts and coats - but only tennis shoes on their feet.

"We had to decide whether to stay put and die or do something and die," James Stolpa said.

They trudged eastward, hoping to reach Nevada Route 140. They tried to soothe the crying baby by placing him inside a garment bag, attaching it to his father's belt and dragging him like a sled.

Through it all, "Jim kept up the faith," Jennifer Stolpa said. "I'd get so tired. Each time we went around another boulder I'd see the highway wasn't there and I felt I couldn't go on."

She said she managed to keep walking only because "Jim kept telling me, `We're not doing this for me, we're not doing this for you, we're doing it for our baby.' "

Eventually, the couple found a cave and decided to spend the night. They used a diaper bag and sagebrush to kindle a small fire, but it didn't last long.

The next morning, the couple agreed James Stolpa would have to continue the search for help alone. He stretched the garment bag across the mouth of the cave to keep out the wind. "I gave her a kiss . . . and I promised her I'd make it," he said.

During his long trek, James Stolpa said he frequently heard coyotes. When it was "just one or two," he would ignore them. When it seemed a larger number, "I'd sit down in the sagebrush and hide myself." During those stops he took catnaps, five minutes or so, "to rest my bones."

After spending Monday night alone in the family pickup, Stolpa headed for Vya, walking all day Tuesday and all Tuesday night. At 11 a.m. Wednesday, a county road worker saw him.

The road worker took Stolpa home and summoned help. The road worker's wife used a hair dryer to thaw Stolpa's feet.

In the cave, Jennifer Stolpa tried to keep from losing hope.

"I was worried; I was just praying to God Jim would make it," she recalled. "I've never prayed more."

Dusty Ferguson, who plows the county roads around Vya, was among the three rescuers who found Jennifer and Clayton. The five-hour hunt was aided by footprints occasionally visible in the snow and a blue coat Stolpa had hung on a bush near the cave.

"I got up there and reached down and she gave me the baby," Ferguson said. "Then she gave me a big hug and said, `Thank God you found me.' "

---------------------------------- TIPS FOR TRIPS ----------------------------------

Safety officials offer these tips for travelers on long automobile trips:

-- Carry emergency items such as flashlights, antifreeze, jumper cables, gloves, flares, tire chains, a shovel and something to help traction, such as sand or salt.

-- Tell relatives or friends your intended route and the time you expect to arrive at your destination.

-- If stranded, consider your surroundings and hazards in deciding whether to stay in a vehicle or go for help. Generally, safety experts say to stay with your car if there is any chance of help passing through the area.

-- In an emergency, to attract attention, make an SOS sign by stomping out deep trenches in the snow or using branches or brush on the snow or ashes from a fire.

Knight-Ridder Newspapers