The Mountain Between Us

Ben sits in the terminal of the Salt Lake City Airport. He’s a surgeon who mainly operates on children with sports injuries. He’s returning from a medical conference in Colorado to Florida, where he lives with his wife, Rachel.

As Ben uses a recorder to dictate notes about his patients, a woman named Ashley Knox comes and sits near him. She asks him about his work and then explains that she’s a magazine columnist. It’s the night before her wedding rehearsal dinner, but given the snowstorm, she isn’t sure if she’ll make it back in time.

Ashley asks Ben about his time in Colorado. He tells her that he’s a hiker and loves to climb mountains, which is how he spent all his spare time in Colorado. She comments that she used to compete in taekwondo at the national level, largely because of pressure from her father.

The airline tries to board their plane but cancels it shortly thereafter because of the impending snowstorm. After deboarding, Ben and Ashely pick up their checked bags. She jokes about the size of his bag, which holds all the essentials he needs for hiking. After taking her bag, she tells him that it was nice to meet him and then goes to get a taxi.

Ben takes the airport shuttle over to the private hangar next to the airport. There, he finds only one pilot, named Grover Roosevelt. Grover is shooting crossbow arrows at a target. Ben asks if Grover would be willing to fly him to Denver ahead of the storm, in the hope that he can catch a redeye flight home. Grover agrees.

Ben decides to first return to the airport, where Ashley is waiting for a taxi. He asks her to join him on the charter plane. She’s initially hesitant, but Ben insists that he’s just trying to be nice and that there’s no catch or expectations. Ashley agrees but insists on paying for half of the flight.

Back at the hangar, Ben and Ashley strap into their seats as Grover prepares for takeoff. He puts the weather radar on the GPS, which shows the green “blob” of the storm moving toward them.

Before they take off, Ben checks his phone and finds a voicemail from his wife, Rachel. She reassures him that in “three months,” everything will be “forgotten” and that she’s sure they’ll “make it” (26). She assures him that she loves him. When he hangs up, Grover tries to get Ben to call her back. He points out that because of their headsets, he and Ashley could hear her voicemail. However, Ben insists that he’s okay with waiting to call her, and Grover takes off.

As they fly, Ben and Ashley ask Grover questions about his life. He has more than 20,000 flying hours and has flown this route several times. He flies low, which means that he doesn’t have to file a flight plan or follow FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) rules. He jokes about it, but Ben and Ashley are slightly uncomfortable about his flippant attitude toward regulations.

A dog emerges from under one of the seats and surveys Ben and Ashley. It’s a small Jack Russell terrier, whom Grover introduces as his copilot, Tank. Tank looks around and then goes back under the seat.

Grover tells them that he and his wife, Gayle, have five kids and have been married for a long time. He assures Ashley that if she has found the right man, their love will get better over the years.

Throughout the conversation, Ben notices that Grover is coughing a lot and taking antacids. Ben asks him about his heart, and Grover assures him that he just saw his cardiologist. Ben makes him promise to see his cardiologist again soon, just in case they missed something.

Grover points out the High Uintas Wilderness, which is “the largest east-to-west mountain range on the continent”: It has “1.3 million acres of uncivilized wilderness” (32), more than 700 lakes, and a national forest in the middle that has banned any motorized vehicles.

Suddenly, Grover coughs and then groans. He takes off his headset, and then his head smashes against the window. The plane dips, and Grover struggles to correct it. The plane stalls, and Ben feels it slowing as they brush the tops of the trees. Grover brings the plane into the ground, which snaps off one of the wings, as he cuts the engine. The plane flips as Ashley screams, and then Ben feels snow against his face. The last thing he sees is the green blob on the GPS.

Ben records a message to Rachel, recalling the first time he saw her. As sophomores in high school, Ben saw her running with the cross-country team. He changed his class schedule so that they had Latin together. He was shocked when Rachel admitted that she already knew who he was.

One day after school, Ben saw Rachel angry and frustrated about her running. He insisted that he could help her improve her time, giving her several pointers about her arms and her stride. He offered to run alongside her to improve her stride, and she gratefully accepted.

Ben lies in the crashed plane throughout the night. He feels pain in his chest and finds it difficult to breathe. He assesses Ashley, who has a broken leg and is still unconscious. He finally falls asleep.

At daybreak, Ben checks over Ashley more thoroughly. She’s breathing okay but is cold. Her shoulder is dislocated, so he puts it back into place. Her leg is fractured badly.

They’re secured inside a cave created by the plane, rocks, and fallen snow. It’s cold, but they’re protected from the windchill and further snowfall. He creates a shelf for her out of snow, packing it with a sleeping bag.

Ben tries to set Ashley’s leg but struggles with his own injury. She briefly opens her eyes, encouraging him to “pull…hard” despite the pain it must cause her (47). He tries again and succeeds, with Ashley muffling her screams.

Ben dresses Ashley in warm clothing. He creates a splint for her and then packs snow around her leg to help with the swelling. He realizes that the pain in his ribs is worse than he thought: His breathing is shallow, and his pulse is elevated. He lies down next to Ashley to keep them both warm. Ashley—her speech barely audible—thanks him.

Ben tells Rachel about their situation. Ashley has been asleep since he fixed her leg. The world is quiet as the snow continues to fall. He believes that he may have broken three ribs and worries about a collapsed lung.

He tells her that Grover is dead. He says that Grover sort of looked like his father, but “a bit kinder” (51). He recalls what his childhood was like. His father forced him to wake up before five o’clock in the morning each day, timed him while he ran six miles on the beach, and then forced him to do sprints, sit-ups, push-ups, and other exercises. Even though Ben won three state titles as a freshman and set several records as a sophomore, it was never good enough for his father.

When Ben met Rachel, he finally felt like he had “laughter and light and wonder” in his life (53)—and love that didn’t depend on his run times.

Ben sleeps for more than two days. When he wakes up, Ashley’s leg is swollen, and she’s warm from a fever. However, she’s conscious. He repacks her leg with snow and then stitches up a cut on her head and above her eye. He tells Ashley that she’s doing well overall; she just needs to stay hydrated. He gives her Tylenol but refuses to take any himself, insisting that they don’t have enough.

Ben checks their surroundings. He estimates that they’re at an altitude of more than 11,000 feet, nestled among mountains. He tells Ashley that they must move down the mountain eventually to increase their oxygen levels.

They briefly discuss their chances of being rescued. Ben asks if she told anyone about the flight, and she admits that she didn’t. He says that he didn’t tell anyone, either, so due to Grover’s lack of flight plan, no one knows they were even on the plane. She jokes about the situation, and Ben notes how strong she is: She’s missing her wedding and is in a lot of pain, and they have no hope of rescue anytime soon, yet she can joke about it.

Ben has a Jetboil in his camping bag, so he boils water for them. Ashley has a bag of trail mix, which they eat and share with Tank. They talk about Rachel, and Ashley discusses her fiancé, Vince. Ben makes coffee that he brought for his hikes and starts a fire using Grover’s lighter.

Ben brings up their location on the GPS. He draws a map of the area as well as he can, realizing that the GPS will eventually die. He determines that they’re about 30 miles from the nearest road and that several mountains are in their path. However, he’s hopeful that they can find a lower place to move to and a source of food. He decides that this will need to wait, though, as any movement at all causes him excruciating pain in his ribs.

That night, Ben waits for Ashley to fall asleep. He then goes outside and pulls out his recorder to continue his message to Rachel.