- Family warms rocks by fire and puts them in overturned Jeep
- They are stable with "no frostbite, just some exposure issues," hospital says
- The two adults "did a fabulous job keeping (the kids) warm," hospital CEO adds
(CNN) -- The 2006 silver Jeep Wrangler with a black top carried the excited family of six into the back country of northwestern Nevada for a playful weekend outing in the snow.
Those moments of adventure dissolved into a fight for survival after the vehicle turned over, slid down an embankment on its top and ended up in a crevice 15 miles from Lovelock.
When dawn broke Monday to a temperature of 21 below zero, the situation for James Glanton, 34, and his girlfriend, Christina McIntee, and four children could have been desperate.
Instead, they kept their heads. They didn't try to walk out of danger, thereby making it easier for rescuers to find them.
Survival expert on NV family's rescue 
Doc: Nevada family smart to stay by car 
Missing adults, four children found safe Those rescuers did find them about midday Tuesday, nearly 48 hours after the ordeal began. And, within hours, an incredible story of resourcefulness and steady nerves began to trickle out.
Keeping warm
A car drives up a snow-covered street in Brooklyn, New York, on Tuesday, December 10. A massive weather system spread cold and snow across much of the United States. 
A woman walks past Independence Hall during a snowstorm in Philadelphia on December 10. 
Baltimore Gas & Electric lineman Jim Thompson repairs a power line that was damaged by a tree limb in Towson, Maryland, on Monday, December 9. 
An American Airlines jet is de-iced at O'Hare Airport in Chicago on December 9. Wintry conditions have caused numerous flight cancellations and delays. 
A woman strolls past the Capitol Building in Washington on December 9, after an overnight ice storm hit the region. Federal agencies opened two hours late because of the weather. 
Emergency personnel respond to an accident on southbound Interstate 43 in Mequon, Wisconsin, on Sunday, December 8. 
Juan Carlos tries to free his vehicle from the snow on December 8 in Wilmington, Delaware. 
The Detroit Lions and Philadelphia Eagles face off during heavy snow in Philadelphia on December 8. 
A towing company employee works where a semitrailer jackknifed off Interstate 94 in Racine County, Wisconsin, on December 8. 
Vehicle traffic on I-35 in Sanger, Texas, is at a dead stop due to icy road conditions on Saturday, December 7. 
Motorists struggle to cross the icy bridge leading to Minnis Drive in Haltom City, Texas, Saturday, December 7. Large ice ruts made passage difficult. Ice remains Saturday after low temperatures refroze sleet from Friday's storm that had begun to melt. 
Moisture from low-lying clouds coats trees in Virginia's Shenandoah National Park with a layer of ice and frost on December 7. 
A fountain stands frozen in Chandler's Cove at South Lake Union in Seattle on Friday, December 6. 
A pedestrian walks down the street after a heavy snowfall on December 6 in Carbondale, Illinois. 
Icicles hang from mailboxes in Owensboro, Kentucky, on December 6. 
A worker at Wilson Air Center de-ices an airplane before it takes off from Memphis International Airport in Memphis, Tennessee, on December 6. 
As freezing rain falls, Tyshun Lindsey, 15, rings a bell to get drivers' attention while selling bags of pecans in Memphis on Friday, December 6. 
A man clears a path for Christmas tree shoppers in Indianapolis on December 6. 
A tree, split in two, lays on two homes on December 6 in Dallas in this photograph taken by CNN iReporter Earl Wallace IV. 
A gust of wind collapses Joseph Mezo's umbrella as he walks to work on December 6 in light sleet and ice conditions in Dallas. 
Matthew Eller catches air after sliding down a hill and jumping a ramp in Arlington, Texas, on December 6. 
A bronze statue is covered in ice December 6 at Grand Prairie Municipal Airport in Grand Prairie, Texas. 
Traffic moves slowly along an ice-covered highway in Dallas on December 6. 
Jeff Chupp walks his ice-covered bicycle along Great Southwest Parkway in Grand Prairie on December 6. 
Stephen LeFlore scrapes ice from his windshield in McAlester, Oklahoma, on Thursday, December 5. 
An American Airlines employee hands out cots to stranded airline passengers at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport on December 5. 
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Photos: Ice storm spreads across U.S. The couple, who were without extra blankets, started a fire outside after the Jeep overturned. They heated rocks and placed them in the spare tire to keep the children, ages 3 to 10, warm at night.
"I have never heard of such a thing, but I think it was pretty clever of him," Paul Burke, who coordinated the rescue effort for the state Department of Public Safety, said of Glanton's tactics.
"To the extent he was ingenious about it, that is one for the books," Burke told CNN on Tuesday evening.
When three residents finally found the family and their vehicle during a massive search, the family had little food left, so resident Salvador Paredes pulled a candy bar from his pocket and shared it with them.
Glanton and McIntee, 25, along with their two children -- Evan and Chloe -- and McIntee's niece and nephew, were taken to Pershing General Hospital.
Doing 'very well'
Dr. Doug Vacek told reporters they all were doing "very well."
"They just expressed that they're really happy and they're going to enjoy this Christmas" more than usual.
Remarkably, the six had no frostbite, instead displaying symptoms of mild hypothermia and dehydration.
Vacek and others recounted the factors that worked in the family's favor: They had water and some food, heavy winter clothing, they stayed near the vehicle and were able to start and maintain a fire.
Speaking of the adults, Chris Montes, another rescuer, told CNN that "obviously they knew what to do. They kept those kids safe 48 hours in subzero temperatures."
The group apparently ran out of food on Monday, he said. The children, Montes said, "did not seem too bothered. They were in good spirits. They just figured they were camping."
Survival expert Joseph Teti said it's the little decisions that add up to an enhanced chance for survival in brutal conditions.
"Mother Nature will not allow you to make too many mistakes at all," said Teti, co-star of Discovery Channel's "Dual Survival."
Massive search
The group was found safe in an area called Seven Troughs, according to the Pershing County Sheriff's Office. They were discovered from a distance by a volunteer searcher using binoculars to scan mountainsides, the sheriff's office said. It wasn't immediately clear which of the three rescuers made the discovery.
The search, which involved at least 200 people and spanned 6,000 square miles, was aided by technology.
Officials remained undaunted despite the fact they no longer received pings off the cell phone of the missing persons, said Sheila Reitz of the Pershing County Sheriff's Office.
On Monday, authorities had been encouraged when they were able to receive a couple of pings from the phone of Glanton. Cell service is spotty because the area is so remote.
The Civil Air Patrol, an auxiliary of the U.S. Air Force, said its cell phone forensics experts "played a critical role in helping rescuers narrow the search area," according to a statement by the patrol.
"The cell phone forensics team pinpointed where they could not possibly be," Nevada Wing Commander Col. Tim Hahn said in a statement. The forensic efforts "were very time-consuming," he said.
"This morning they provided a key clue that redirected the search and led to the rescue," Hahn said.
Weary and ecstatic
One of the CAP crews spotted the family's Jeep about the same time that the searcher with binoculars found the lost group, the patrol said.
The Air Force Rescue Coordination Center will award the Nevada Wing with six saves, Hahn said. The children's ages are 10, 4, 4 and 3, the patrol said.
Amanda Fitzpatrick, mother of 10-year-old Shelby Fitzpatrick, one of the missing children, joined the search in the bitter cold.
"It's been extremely hard, probably the hardest 24 to 36 hours of my life," she earlier told CNN's Piers Morgan. "It's my baby girl."
The close-knit community was both weary and ecstatic after the family was found. Pershing County Sheriff Richard Machado became emotional as he detailed the effort.
Jo Ann Weagant, a family friend, told CNN, said no one in Lovelock wanted to give up the search.
"I truly believe there was an angel in the sky watching over them," she said.
The family's disappearance was among the most dramatic developments in the Arctic-like weather shocking much of the Lower 48 states.
Big flakes of wet snow and ice snarled travel across the country Tuesday and hit major airline hubs in the Northeast, with about 1,200 flight cancellations reported by Tuesday evening.
Temperatures in storm-stricken parts of the country are expected to stay about 10 to 20 degrees below normal for the rest of the week, the National Weather Service said.
CNN's Miguel Marquez, Carma Hassan, Sarah Aarthun, Chuck Conder, Todd Borek, Shane Deitert, Stephanie Elam, Randi Kaye, Chuck Johnston, Judson Jones, Ralph Ellis, Holly Yan and Casey Wian contributed to this report.
