In December of 1991, a man set off into the Himalayas on what was supposed to be a week-long hike.

When the week was up, however, the man was still missing and what he would go on to endure in the next few weeks would be one of the most prolonged and grueling ordeals in the history of the area.

This is his horrifying story, and as always, viewer discretion is advised.

In September of 1990, Australian medical student James Scott sat down to write a letter.

When he was finished, he folded it up, slipped the paper into an envelope, and sealed it before dropping off at the post office.

The letter was bound for an unusual place, the South Asian country Nepal, which at the time was considered a third world country and one of the least developed on earth.

For James, however, the country's plight made it the perfect place for him to fulfill an elective period requirement before he graduated with his medical degree and helped those who needed it most.

After sending the letter on its way to a Kathmandu hospital, James eagerly awaited a reply

that just never came.

He was a bit disappointed as the days, weeks, and then months passed without hearing anything

back, but James is too determined

to take nothing for an answer.

So one full year later, he had a plane ticket to Nepal in hand and recruited his good friend

Tim Hooper to join him there.

His hope was that he could convince a hospital there to let him come on board temporarily

to fulfill his medical school requirement, but as it turned out, he wouldn't need to lobby

for a spot after all. Just before he was set to flat in Nepal, a response finally showed up and it was a resounding

yes. The hospital informed him that he could begin his elective period at the end of December

1991. Receiving this long-away to reply was the icing on the cake for the then 22-year-old.

James felt like he was on top of the world.

He was attending a great medical school and earning top grades, and he had met a woman

he planned to marry once he returned to Australia after his residency in Nepal.

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