A brutal cold snap may have cost Nick Skilbred, 35, his fingers and parts of his face, which were frostbitten badly in the North Idaho mountains.

He was fortunate not to have lost his life.

Skilbred and four others were attempting to reach the Richmond Hill mine, near Adair, when they became bogged down in snow that was sometimes 71/2 feet deep.

When another blizzard blew in, Skilbred “succumbed” to the cold and could go no further. Three of the other men proposed to push through to the mine for assistance, but one man, named Ford, “declared he would remain with Skilbred if it cost his life.”

The three men made it to the mine and returned with a rescue crew. The area was filled deep with fresh snow and the two men were nowhere to be seen. After shouting, the rescuers heard a response from Ford, who had moved with Skilbred to a less-exposed place nearby.

Ford was lying beside Skilbred in an attempt to keep their bodies warm.

Skilbred was so near to death that the rescuers had to drag him into camp with a rope. He was later brought to Spokane where he was being treated at Sacred Heart Hospital.

The doctors expressed hope that they could “save his face and hands” unless gangrene developed.

When Skilbred was recovered enough to talk, he expressed the hope that he could still obtain a job as a cook at the Richmond Hill mine – the job he was struggling toward during the blizzard.

From the weather beat: Spokane’s low hit 8 degrees below zero. The U.S. Weather Bureau declared the region’s cold snap “extreme.”