In the days to follow the crash of the Fairchild, the survivors held hope that they would be rescued, on the 3rd day a plane passed overhead, the survivors screamed and waved their hands in the air, and they were sure the plane had seen them. But when help didn't come they knew the truth - no one knew where they were.

The Medical students Canessa and Zerbino made checks on the wounded; Susana Parrado was growing worse, she most likely had internal damage that they could do nothing about on the mountain, her brother Nando was still unconscious but he seemed to be doing well with Diego Storm's care; Echavarren’s and Nogueira's legs were growing infected. Later, hammocks were built using luggage webbing and poles that were stowed in the luggage compartment, the injured could sleep more soundly in the hammocks with out being disturbed. The other boys who had injured legs were managing far better. Enrique Platero, whose stomach wound concerned Zerbino, was hardly affected by his injury.

One of the survivors Fito Strauch, invented a water making device out of the aluminum backing of a seat. When bent into a spout, filled with snow and braced against a couple suitcases, the sun would melt the snow, and the water would stream into a bottle that was placed at the bottom of the spout, they made several of these and soon had several bottles of water stocked.

The oldest survivors among them, Javier and Lilliana Methol, 36 and 34 respectivly, were fairing well. Although uninjured Javier was suffering from the altitude and was constantly disoriented and slow. Liliana, his wife of 12 years, was occupied with caring for him, as well as being somewhat of a substitute mother figure to the younger boys.

On the 3rd day on the mountain that Nando Parrado regained consciousness, and immediately began to care for his sister, though he himself was still weak from his injury. Sadly, on the 8th night on the mountain Susana died in Nando’s arms. In the morning her body was placed near her mother in "the cemetery", an area a few yards from the fuselauge where the bodies had been laid out.