Yong Chun Kim Burned Cash to Stay Alive on Mount Rainier
Park rangers say it is a miracle that a 66-year-old snowshoer named Yong Chun Kim was able to survive two days of frigid, blizzard conditions and near white-out conditions on Mount Rainier. He dreamed of a hot sauna and his wife, Sue. To keep warm, he used a yellow lighter to burn a $1 bill and a $5 bill. 
Amazingly, Kim, as cold as he was, worried he was breaking the law by setting the money on fire and that he'd been in trouble for creating a miniature blaze inside the national park. Later, he burned an extra pair of socks, a scarf and a toothbrush before his rescue Monday at an elevation of 6,400 feet.
A fall separated Kim from the group of 16 members of a hiking and climbing club from Tacoma. He fell about 150 feet. With his walkie-talkie, he told the group to keep moving -- that he would find help.
For more than two days, he wandered in circles. He sang "Amazing Grace" in Korean and managed to sleep a few minutes at a time.
"I don't want to die,' I say. 'I don't want to die," Kim told the Seattle Times an an interview from his home. "I prayed to God for my wife not to worry for me."
Disoriented, Kim kept moving, ducking into a tree well as night descended. At one point, he fell again, this time into a deep snowbank, which he frantically extracated himself from.
When at last he was found, an exhausted Kim accepted water and a candy bar from a rescuer. It revived him, and with some assistance, he was able to hike back down the mountain.
His son, Malcom An, recounted that when his family got news that his father had been found, a cheer erupted.
"He's a survivor," An said. "He's made of steel, He's 66 years old; he just beat cancer. He's old now, and he knew what to do."
As for Kim, he believes his Saturday morning hikes at Mount Rainier is the reason he's cancer-free.
"Maybe I'll take a week off, then I'll go again," he said Tuesday. "It's better than golf;' that's too much stress. Hiking isn't as much money, just lunch and $10 in gas."
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