One nice winter day two brothers, Sam and Mike, decided to travel to the next village which was about 65 miles southwest of their own village, Marshall. Only Sam packed some extra clothes when they got ready to go because Mike didn't think he needed them. They were to leave from Sam's house at 1:00 p.m. and they figured it would take about two hours to get there. Both of them thought it would be better if they traveled on separate snowmachines.

The land they were going to travel through was flat and barren. They already knew of the dangers of losing the trail in a snow storm or whiteout and getting lost. So even though Mike had the bigger snow machine he stayed with his brother. Ever since they were teens they'd been traveling in that area, and they'd always listened to their parents about would could happen in bad weather.

Sam took the lead because he knew the trail better than Mike. When they left Marshall the weather was still holding fair, but when they got a few miles out both of them noticed clouds building up. Still they thought it wasn't anything to worry about. A few minutes later it started getting foggy out but that didn't bother them very much either. Soon after, though, they lost the trail and were heading west toward the ocean.

Forty-five minutes into the trip the wind started picking up and big snow flakes began falling. Without even noticing, Mike lost Sam, and he started heading south again. Then Sam noticed that he wasn't going on the right trail. By now Mike was in a state of panic and really wasn't sure which way he was heading. A few minutes later he stopped, and since the wind and snow had turned into a blizzard he figured staying put was the only possible thing he could do.

Sam tried to keep going in the blizzard to find Mike, but suddenly he noticed he was on the sea ice and it was breaking up! As soon as he realized the ice was moving he stopped. Right there and then he knew he was on the ice pack. He tried to keep himself calm but he worried about Mike because he didn't have any extra gear with him. Then Sam tipped his snowmachine onto its side to block the wind.

Mike decided that if his brother didn't show within 30 minutes he would continue his trip and try and make it to the village. He was pretty confused but he didn't want to leave his brother out there. He knew of the possibility of his losing his life. After a half hour he was still undecided as to whether to go on or not. The wind had calmed down a bit but it was still kind of stormy. After a few minutes Mike started up his snow machine and took off again. He drove and drove until it ran out of gas and then he decided to stay with it.

When the weather finally cleared, Sam saw that he was on an ice pan big enough to hold him and his snow machine and that he was several hundred feet from the shore. But he figured when the ice went back in he would have a chance to get to shore.

Meanwhile, Sam's and Mike's relatives were expecting them to get back before dark. The next day when both of them hadn't shown up they called the V.P.S.O. and the coast Guard. Marshall and the other village formed two rescue teams each, and they searched the area all day and night.

By the second night Mike was in a hypothermic state. Without a sense of what was going on he started walking. He thought he knew where the village would be, and while he was walking he saw what looked like a village. But when he started running towards it he passed out. What he actually saw were two snow machines coming toward him. They found him 35 miles southeast of the village. When he woke up Mike had no idea where he was and he asked if his brother Sam was still out there and if he was alright. The two men rushed Mike back to the village and the next day they continued the search for Sam.

The next afternoon they found Sam in good shape. He'd tried to cross from the ice pack to the shore but his snow machine had sunk a few feet out from the shore. Lucky for Sam that he had packed extra clothes because he was soaking wet. The rescue team had found him walking home 40 miles north of the village.

The next day the two brothers were taken to the hospital in Bethel and both were found to be in good condition.