"He said his girlfriend was in a lot of pain and grief. He said he ate salt and water and that’s how he survived."

Said Liang Sheng-Yueh, saved, in Nepal, after 47 days.

Alerted by a fellow searcher who saw what he assumed were two bodies on the ledge, the leader of the rescue team, Madhab Basnet, carefully made his way to the site, using a handmade ladder the rescuers had quickly fashioned. When he reached the ledge, he was shocked when one of the two, an emaciated and badly weakened young man, spoke to him. He said that his girlfriend, Liu Chen Chi, 19, had died three days before.... Ms. Liu appeared to have died of starvation....

After becoming disoriented in a snowstorm, they tried to follow the path of a river, in hopes that it would lead them to a settlement.... As they made their way along the river, they slid into a ravine and became stuck on the ledge, where they took shelter in a cave. They remained there for more than six weeks. On either side of the ledge were steep rock faces, so they could not move up or down, and snow was falling outside, Mr. Liang told the rescuers. After 10 days, their food ran out, he said.