911 Call Describes Stranded Sacramento Couple's Ordeal

GEORGETOWN (CBS13) - A Sacramento man and girlfriend made local and national headlines after surviving in the snow for three days, and on Friday the man's 911 calls were released.

An 11-minute phone call to 911 that likely saved the lives of Mark Schroeder and his girlfriend Janette DeGrace.

The couple are now safe at home after being stuck a snowy sierra road for three freezing-cold nights inside his Porsche.

"You guys went to the snow in a Porsche?" the CHP dispatcher asks Schroeder. "There wasn't snow at the time," he responds.

After waiting from Sunday to Wednesday hoping rescuers would come looking for them, Schroeder hiked six miles in snow to find cell service.

Stressed the phone's battery would die, he desperately gives directions along with details on how the couple survived.

"We've been melting snow for water and for food we took some snacks and we're almost out of those," he tells the dispatcher. "We've been using the car and just idling it."

Wearing plastic bags over his sneakers, his feet frozen from the hike, Schroeder's frustration with his situation and himself comes across over the phone.

"I grew up in Auburn. I know this area well, but I did a bonehead, stupid-ass move," he says. "I need to get us out of here and my feet are gone."

During another moment of frustration, he admits to the operator, "I broke the cardinal rule and didn't tell anyone where we were going."

Schroeder was eventually picked by helicopter from where he hiked out to and DeGrace was picked up after that. They spent the night an Auburn hospital.