Trail runner Danelle Ballengee went for a run in Moab, Utah with her dog Taz on December 13, 2006. She’s a four-time Pikes Peak Marathon winner but such accolades can’t help a world-class athlete from slipping on an icy patch on a trail. After slipping, Ballengee fell to the canyon floor off the desert’s Amasa Back Trail. She shattered her pelvis and could barely move. It took her five hours to drag herself a quarter of a mile. Luckily, Taz alerted the search and rescue members and led them to Ballengee more than two days later.
Ballengee not only survived but went on to give birth to two children. She and her husband BC Laprade now own and run Moab’s oldest restaurant, a diner called Milt’s Stop and Eat which is known for its burgers and milkshakes. BC and Danelle haven’t changed the classic menu much but have introduced grass-fed, hormone-free beef burgers and natural buffalo burgers and locally grown vegetables. Ballengee and Taz’s story of survival will be featured on In an Instant on Saturday, July 2 at 9pm on ABC.
