Episodi

  • The Upright Boot: How a Figure‑Eight Knot Became a Survival Puzzle

    The Upright Boot: How a Figure‑Eight Knot Became a Survival Puzzle
    Aug 22 2026
    The Upright Boot: How a Figure‑Eight Knot Became a Survival Puzzle

    A single boot stood upright on a gravel shoulder, laces tied in a figure-eight knot, eleven miles from the nearest mountain range-no second boot, no footprints, and a twenty-six-year-old woman still alive above the snowline. How did a boot left beside a mile marker become the key clue in a forty-hour collapse of safety on a nine-thousand-four-hundred-foot peak?

    In this episode, we follow the summit team of four climbers on Harrow Peak from summit to crisis, tracing each decision and equipment choice that shaped the outcome and asking how one person’s choice to walk toward rescue changed everything.

    Person: Nancy Olson
    Date: March 14
    Location: mile-seven marker on the access road; Harrow Peak summit at 9,400 ft
    Event: summit and subsequent descent accident
    Status: one survivor who walked toward rescue

    - John Burke found the upright boot at 7:40 AM on March 14 and photographed it without touching it.
    - Nancy Olson was 26 years old with seven years of technical climbing experience and a wilderness emergency medicine certification.
    - The summit team left Camp Two at 4:00 AM on March 11 and reached the summit at 2:40 PM the same day.
    - Kevin Albright fell 40 feet on a wind slab at 4:20 PM and suffered a clean fracture of the left fibula.
    - The expedition used a five-day weather window identified by leader Peggy Thorpe, and they had two days of that window remaining when they summited.

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    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    14 min
  • Left Crampon, Pristine Snow: Who Walked Eight Miles From The Tooth?

    Left Crampon, Pristine Snow: Who Walked Eight Miles From The Tooth?
    Aug 21 2026
    Left Crampon, Pristine Snow: Who Walked Eight Miles From The Tooth?

    A left-foot crampon marked E.W. turned up wedged chest-high on a granite slab eight miles from the nearest road - eight days before its owner was found dead less than 400 vertical feet below his last GPS signal. Who could have carried size large, ice-scoured crampon that far from the mountain, and why did it arrive before Eric Ward's body?

    In this episode, we walk through the recorded timeline, the gear detail, and the conflicting radio logs to present what is known and what remains unresolved about the ascent and descent from the Tooth. Can the sequence of radios, calls, and a taped initial answer where the investigation did not?

    Person: Eric Ward
    Date: February 7 (summit reached at 12:17 PM)
    Location: The Tooth, Heldren Massif, Halverson County
    Age: 47
    Found: Crampon found eight days before body; body found three weeks after summit

    - Crampon: left-foot, size large, athletic tape with initials "E.W." written in black marker
    - Distance from road: crampon found eight miles from the nearest road and twenty-two miles from the mountain it came from
    - Summit time: Eric Ward reached the summit at 12:17 PM on February 7, confirmed by his GPS
    - Body location: found on the northwest shoulder at 8,800 feet, less than 400 vertical feet below his last registered signal
    - Team composition: three climbers (Eric Ward, Ralph Bennett age 53, Don Aldrich age 38) on one rope with radio log entry "summit possible, proceeding, three on rope" at 6:51 AM

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    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    16 min
  • The Seven WWII Cylinders and the Climbers Who Vanished on Widow's Shelf

    The Seven WWII Cylinders and the Climbers Who Vanished on Widow's Shelf
    Aug 20 2026
    The Seven WWII Cylinders and the Climbers Who Vanished on Widow's Shelf

    A fisherman found seven olive-drab World War Two oxygen cylinders stamped 1944, full and sealed, stacked on a riverbank six miles from the nearest mountain at 12°F on January 14, 2019 - why were surplus military canisters linked to a missing winter mountaineering party? What connection, if any, ties those cylinders to the climbers stranded on Widow's Shelf?

    In this episode, we follow the timeline from the team's January 4 check-in through the weather shift and the events on Corrow North, detailing decisions, injuries, and the physical evidence rescuers recovered; could a single on-mountain choice explain the disappearance and the riverbank mystery?

    Person: Jean Gray
    Date: January 4-14, 2019
    Location: Corrow Range, Widow's Shelf and Caskie River
    Event: Winter climbing expedition and subsequent disappearance
    Status: Evidence recovered - abandoned gear, sleeping bags, river cylinders

    - Seven military oxygen cylinders, stamped 1944, found stacked in a pyramid on a gravel bar in the Caskie River on January 14, 2019.
    - Air gauges on the cylinders read full and the valves were sealed when discovered by Vernon Holmes.
    - The climbing team checked in with SAR on January 4 with expected return January 9; Jean Gray had been alone on the north face for nine days by January 14.
    - Pete Carlin fell around midday January 7, arresting within 20 feet and dislocating his right shoulder; Amy Voss sustained two fractured ribs from the shock on the same incident.
    - Rescuers found two pristine sleeping bags inside an unused tent, a rope cut cleanly at a fixed anchor, and crampons abandoned inside a shelter at 10,000 feet.

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    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    14 min
  • She Drew an Impossible Route - Then Someone Followed It

    She Drew an Impossible Route - Then Someone Followed It
    Aug 19 2026
    She Drew an Impossible Route - Then Someone Followed It

    A laminated map pinned inside a lodgepole pine with four blue-ballpoint words - FOLLOW THIS TO ME - led a rescue team to a coherent woman who’d been stranded for approximately two days in dense fir timber. The map’s route was later confirmed impassable, with cliff bands the entire way and no fixed ropes; how did a fifty-two-year-old cartographic technician, losing finger sensation and disoriented, engineer a successful self-rescue the map should not have allowed?

    In this episode, we trace the final four days before rescue and the decisions on Cutter's Horn that produced an impossible map and an unexpected survival. We follow the timeline from the secondary storm that blew in early on December 15 to the moment rescuers found the map and the woman it led to - and ask how professional mapmaking met a route no trained climber would attempt.

    Person: Valerie Padgett
    Age: 52
    Event: Rescue found at 9:47 AM on December 19, 2011
    Location: Western foothills of the Cabrejo Range, Cutter's Horn area
    Occupation: Cartographic technician with 30 years experience

    - The laminated map was pinned inside a lodgepole pine with four words written in blue ballpoint: FOLLOW THIS TO ME.
    - Rescuers located the woman at 9:47 AM on December 19 after she had been in place for approximately two days.
    - The drawn descent route was later confirmed impassable due to cliff bands the entire way and absence of fixed ropes.
    - Valerie Padgett was 52 years old and had worked as a cartographic technician for thirty years, including mapping for field crews and engineers.
    - The party turned around at 11:43 AM on December 15 after a secondary disturbance arrived at 11:40 AM while they were at about 11,100 feet.

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    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    16 min
  • Harness on Scree: How Four Vanished From Mount Calvern's Face

    Harness on Scree: How Four Vanished From Mount Calvern's Face
    Aug 18 2026
    Harness on Scree: How Four Vanished From Mount Calvern's Face

    A bright orange climbing harness, every buckle fastened and initials K.H., was found in scree a mile of vertical below the collapse site with no rope and no body - a mystery that begins with a radio transmission: "they're gone... rope." How could a harness travel that distance and what do six minutes and one cleanly cut rope tell us about the night four climbers disappeared?

    In this episode, we tell the factual sequence from discovery to the moments on the mountain: who was on the rope team, the timeline of the summit push, the radio call at 3:47 a.m., and the physical evidence recovered. Listen to understand the precise facts and the single unresolved question that threads through every detail.

    Person: Kimberly Hansen
    Date: November 5, 2014 (collapse at 11,200 feet)
    Location: Northeast face of Mount Calvern
    Event: Radio transmission at 3:47 a.m. with words "they're gone" and "rope"
    Status: Four climbers remain on Mount Calvern

    - Harness found by Glenn Foster at 7:41 a.m. on November 9, 2014, with every buckle fastened and initials K.H, on the rear panel.
    - Kimberly Hansen was 44 years old and had 22 years of technical climbing experience; she taught chemistry at Portsmith Community College for 14 years.
    - Six people began the summit push at 2:15 a.m. on day five; the critical incident occurred at 11,200 feet in the dark.
    - A rope was found cut so cleanly the lead investigator photographed it before touching it.
    - Philip Zeller transmitted the three-word radio message at 3:47 a.m.: a name, "they're gone," then "rope."

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    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    15 min
  • Summited He Shouldn't-Found Upright, Compass Pointing South

    Summited He Shouldn't-Found Upright, Compass Pointing South
    Aug 17 2026
    Summited He Shouldn't-Found Upright, Compass Pointing South

    A photograph shows a seated climber at 11,000 feet with a compass pointing south - and the compass wasn't his. The man, 26-year-old Wade Griffin, had signed a written agreement not to summit, cached a full oxygen bottle on the east ridge, and left a map plotting a westward descent; what drove him to a summit he was not supposed to climb, and why did he leave his emergency oxygen where he would never pass again?

    In this episode, we lay out the confirmed timeline, the objects found at camp, and the documented actions that produced an outcome everyone in the inquiry described as deliberate but inexplicable. Can the evidence tell us what Wade believed would happen next?

    Person: Wade Griffin
    Date: October 14, 2009
    Location: Arrowhead Spire, west cornice at ~11,000 ft
    Role: Base-camp cook and supply manager for the Meridian Expedition
    Guide: Melvin O'Connor, 51, Bozeman-based with 30 years' experience

    - Photograph taken at 6:12 AM on October 14, 2009 showing a seated figure at the west cornice of Arrowhead Spire, ~11,000 ft.
    - Wade called Joyce Elam from a satellite communicator at 7:14 PM on October 9, 2009 and said he would be back by Thursday, October 15 for his Wednesday shift.
    - Wade had signed an agreement before departure explicitly confirming he would not attempt the summit.
    - On October 4 and 5 Wade carried supply loads up the east ridge and cached a full oxygen bottle at approximately 10,800 ft behind a rock outcropping.
    - On the morning of October 11 Tess Waring found a topographic map with a blue-pen route to Dennard Valley, a note reading "Spoke to Elam - Wednesday shift - back Thursday," and an empty stuff sack where the spare balaclava had been.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    15 min
  • The Helmet on Trapper Road: Who Cut Charles Hughes' Rope?

    The Helmet on Trapper Road: Who Cut Charles Hughes' Rope?
    Aug 16 2026
    The Helmet on Trapper Road: Who Cut Charles Hughes' Rope?

    The helmet was dry on the outside and wet on the inside, upright on Trapper Road with "HUGHES" written inside and no footprints beside it - a yellow climbing helmet left as if someone had set it down and walked away. A pre-rigged eleven-millimeter rope on Mount Erevan failed in a twelve-foot free-hanging section, not at a rock contact point; who could have cut it, and why was a solo climber seen on the ridge two days earlier?

    In this episode, we lay out the sequence of events from the helmet discovery to the climbers' summit push and the later forensic findings, following witness accounts, guide protocols, and recovered gear to ask whether the mountain was merely the site of an accident or the scene of interference.

    Person: Charles Hughes
    Date: September 14, 2009 (helmet found) and September 6-8, 2009 (sightings and summit push)
    Location: Mount Erevan South Ridge and Trapper Road
    Status: Rope section recovered and photographed; helmet left upright, no footprints
    Guide: Scott Bell, 38 years old, 12 Erevan summits, led Summit Line Expeditions

    - The helmet was found a quarter mile below the Erevan South Ridge trailhead on Trapper Road, upright and dry outside but wet inside.
    - Search and rescue activated at 7:15 AM on September 14, 2009, after Teresa Cook called 911 from a logging shed two miles up the road.
    - Charles Hughes was 54 years old, weighed 212 pounds fully loaded, and had summited Mount Erevan twice before (2003 and 2006).
    - A solo climber in a green shell with an ice axe (orange handle) was seen descending past camp and paused at the upper fixed rope traverse for 10-15 minutes on September 6, 2009.
    - Recovery team member Paul Denning found the rope frayed and broken in a free-hanging section roughly 12 feet from the upper anchor; the break showed no signs of abrasion from rock contact.

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    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    15 min
  • One Boot, One Ledge: The Vanishing That Tore a Mountain Silent

    One Boot, One Ledge: The Vanishing That Tore a Mountain Silent
    Aug 15 2026
    One Boot, One Ledge: The Vanishing That Tore a Mountain Silent

    A lone mountaineering boot, crampon attached and laces threaded, sat on a southern Oregon logging road at 6:20 a.m., while the owner had been missing for more than 24 hours on a granite wall at 12,600 ft. The satellite messenger stopped transmitting at 4:00 a.m., three objects appeared in three locations each farther from where they should be-what happened on that ledge between midnight and 2:00 a.m.?

    In this episode, we follow the timeline and the people involved to piece together the climb, the injuries, and the sequence of disappearances that defied easy explanation. We ask whether a fracture concealed during the ascent, the failing satellite transmission, and the scattered gear can explain how Donna Tate vanished from Vantage Spire.

    Person: Donna Tate
    Person: Christine York
    Date: August 12-13, 2019
    Location: Vantage Spire, southern Oregon
    Event: Missing person / last seen summit photo

    - Boot found on logging road at 6:20 a.m. with crampon still attached and laces through every eyelet
    - Donna Tate was 22 years old at the time of disappearance
    - Satellite messenger stopped transmitting at 4:00 a.m., recording silence
    - Summit photo taken by Christine York at 2:47 p.m. on August 12 shows Donna standing and smiling
    - Approach to climb was 12 miles with 6,000 feet of elevation gain, high camp at 11,000 ft on August 10

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    16 min