Two boys, Alec Corbett and Alessandro Gelmini, were buried under tons of ice when an ice cave collapsed while the two were snapping photos.

The boys' frantic mothers called 911. Both were buried under tons of ice for five frantic hours as emergency workers carved through the shattered snow pack to reach the two teens.

At the time, a rescuer described the scene.

"I don't think there was too many people thought we were going to bring out two live, talking patients," he said. "The mood changed quite a bit when they started talking to us. It really changed the whole atmosphere."

Corbett and Gelmini spent more than six hours under seven feet of ice. Both had broken backs and badly damaged their ankles.

While trapped under the heavy ice, they thought they would never leave Snoqualmie Pass. One would understand if they never went back.

"It was cloudy and rainy. I remember that," said Corbett. "Cloudy, foggy and light rain. I'm hoping it's not, I'm really hoping it's not going to be like that tomorrow."

By "tomorrow," Corbett meant the 1-year anniversary of being trapped at Denny Creek. He wanted to mark the day by hiking it again.

"I just want to see what it's like up there again," he said. "I guess just to try to remember the area and what happened."

Day to day, the teens say, they don't dwell on the accident. But it's always there.

"I try not to think about it," Gelmini said. "Sometimes I get flashbacks. If I'm in a garage, I'll think maybe it'll collapse on me. But I try to keep my mind off of it as much as I can."

Still, Gelmini decided to return for the anniversary.

"I guess just to see how it is, what it looks like. And to see how far I've come," he said.

To see how far they've come, they wanted to see where they came from, one year ago. This time, there was sunshine and a big group of family with them.

With kids laughing and taking a break from the hike, Gelmini's mother, Chrissy Gelmini, took a moment to look around.

"We're not reliving something; we're having a new experience," she said.

And as they neared the breathtaking view at Franklin Falls, it was clear the landscape had changed.

"Alec, do you remember where the trail was that cut over?" Joni Corbett asked her son.

"Yeah, it's up there," he said with confidence.

As they continued up, there remained some confusion in the group.

"I don't think we were this far up," Chrissy Gelmini said.

But Alec Corbett found the spot.

"The cave came to like right here," he said.

Chrissy Gelmini asked her son, "So did you go through and...,"

"Yeah we went through," Alessandro Gelmini answered. He took a few more steps forward then fell silent.

It set in. They found the right spot. It is the place where Corbett accepted death and Alessandro Gelmini tried to hurry it up.

"After awhile I didn't feel cold anymore. I just felt tired. Uncomfortable," Alec Corbett remembered.

"I just laid my head down and I remembered that was one of the final stages of hypothermia. And I thought that was the end of the road. I started thinking about things I hadn't done in my life I wished I could've done."

Alessandro Gelmini also thought death was near.

"At one point I tried giving up, holding my breath," he said. "Because I was gasping for breath. There was so much pressure on my back. It was hard to breathe."

When the boys realized they were together and both alive, they changed their outlook.

"I knew my mom was out there. I knew she called 911," Alec Corbett said. "So I thought, 'Rescuers are on the way. I may as well try to stay awake.' So I opened my eyes and lay there and tried to stay awake."

He held hands with Alessandro Gelmini and kept him talking about things like their school, Bishop Blanchet High School.

"If he wasn't there, I probably would've died," Alessandro Gelmini said of his friend.

In one year, they've gone from the brink of dying to nearly a full recovery.

Alessandro Gelmini, now a high school sophomore, is getting back into soccer.

And Alec Corbett, who, in the end stage of hypothermia, was thinking about what he'd never get to do, is checking life experiences off his list.

He went to his high school prom. He graduated. He took a month-long trip to visit family in Scotland. And now he's gone off to college with a confidence few teenage boys have earned.

"People tell me all the time that me and him are both lucky and we're tough. I hear that all the time, 'You are tough, kids,"' he said.

The two have proven to be tough kids who cherish life. These days, they take things at a slow pace so they don't miss anything. The tons of ice that collapsed have all melted away.

Alec Corbett and Alessandro Gelmini can turn their backs on the mountain now, knowing they survived and the ice cave didn't.

Both of the boys spent weeks at Harborview Medical Center, both being treated for their injuries and then going through outpatient physical therapy.

Harborview will honor the teenagers at the UW Medicine Salute Harborview Gala event in February.