almaguer. >> reporter: before first responders arrived in emergency vehicles, before firefighters unwound spools of rope to pull a rescue bucket up a hill through thick brush, the 64-year-old victim clung to a tree, suspended on a steep slope dangling 400 feet off a road, so exhausted from a battle with hypothermia, she could only utter a single word, "help." >> she was in pretty bad shape. the fact that she was able to hold on the way she did just shows how much she wants to live. >> reporter: matthew stewart's mother gayle had gone hiking outside reno. when she didn't return, her son and his friends set out to find her. >> i heard some groaning, like someone was in pain. >> reporter: dominic la cota spotted stewart in the dark as temperatures plunged into the low 30s. do you think she would have survived the night? >> no, no. definitely not. >> reporter: 12 hours after her fall, rescuers finally