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  • The Runner, The Missing Bib, and Nine Days of Silence

    The Runner, The Missing Bib, and Nine Days of Silence
    2026/07/26
    The Runner, The Missing Bib, and Nine Days of Silence

    Cold river water delivered a paper racing bib to a fisherman on September 22, 2014 - bib number 417 - nine days after a runner vanished from a southern Montana ultramarathon. A veteran search coordinator deployed seventy percent of resources to the wrong corridor and a rancher's day-five report didn't reach the right desk until day seven; how did those delays shape what rescuers eventually found?

    In this episode, you'll hear the sequence of events from the Ridgeline 50K start through the discovery of the bib, the gaps in the search, and the personal details that shaped Marcia Farrell's decisions and survival; could her map study, route choice, and equipment explain why she was alone in Spur Hollow?

    Person: Marcia Farrell
    Date: September 13-22, 2014
    Event: Ridgeline 50K disappearance and search
    Location: Spur Hollow / Kettle Peak drainage, southern Montana
    Age: 44

    - Fisherman Norman Collins found bib number 417 pinned against a limestone shelf at the Gallatin Fork at 6:00 AM on September 22, 2014.
    - Marcia was logged through the mile 21 aid station at 11:47 AM on September 13, 2014, by Doug Sewell and left two minutes later.
    - In 2014, 112 runners started the Ridgeline 50K and 111 finished.
    - Marcia weighed 138 pounds, stood 5 feet 6 inches tall, and had run ultramarathons for six years.
    - The cliff band in Spur Hollow was approximately a 12-foot drop onto loose talus at mile three of that drainage.

    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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    18 分
  • One Boot, One Map, One Man: 54 Hours Crawling Home

    One Boot, One Map, One Man: 54 Hours Crawling Home
    2026/07/25
    One Boot, One Map, One Man: 54 Hours Crawling Home

    A single size ten hiking boot stood upright on a logging road with a tightly rolled, annotated topographic map tucked into its toe - the map contained two days of movements and a note: "left ankle compound, going down, aug 4." How did a methodical 28‑year‑old end up crawling 54 hours across more than twelve square miles of broken rock on a fractured ankle, and why did that one boot become the crucial clue nobody expected?

    In this episode, we follow the timeline from an August morning when Keith Miller found the boot through the decisions Mark Jones made after his fall; the story covers the injury, the improvised self‑care he applied, his route choices, and the consequences for the search that spent a day looking in the wrong place - what did his trip plan and actions reveal that changed the search?

    Person: Mark Jones
    Date: August 3-6, 2014
    Location: Talus Point Ridge, eastern Cascades
    Finder: Keith Miller
    Injury: left ankle displaced fracture (compound noted on map)

    - The boot found was a men's size ten trail model, nearly new, with laces double‑knotted.
    - The map inside the toe recorded two days of movement and a handwritten note dated August 4: "left ankle compound, going down, aug 4."
    - Mark signed the trailhead register at 3:47 PM on August 2, 43 minutes behind his planned schedule due to returning for crampons.
    - He fell 60 meters into the névé on the northeast face and climbed back up the same 60 meters to the summit plateau on a broken left ankle.
    - Mark began descending the south ridge at approximately 4:50 PM with his left ankle wrapped and the boot kept on as a splint, intending to cover three miles to the trailhead.

    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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    23 分
  • Boot on the Spit: How a Missing Crabber Survived Against Odds

    Boot on the Spit: How a Missing Crabber Survived Against Odds
    2026/07/24
    Boot on the Spit: How a Missing Crabber Survived Against Odds

    Fear and tension at sea: a single orange boot, size seven, upright forty-one feet from the waterline, and a commercial catch log naming the 42-foot crabber Delmar Rose - but no boat, no crew, and five days of silence. How did a captain with 27 years of experience and a dwindling radio battery keep her crew alive when rescue teams were searching the wrong direction?

    In this episode, we tell what happened from the moment the Delmar Rose left Coos Harbor on July 8 through the failed rescue attempts and the improvised survival choices that followed, asking how routine checks, a recalled EPIRB, and a drifting search buoy combined to turn a routine trip into a fight for life.

    Person: Cynthia Lawson
    Vessel: Delmar Rose
    Date departed: July 8
    Distance offshore: roughly 60 miles
    Search uncertainty: EPIRB position error 11 miles

    - An orange rubber boot, size seven, was found standing upright 41 feet from the waterline with a waterproof sleeve containing a commercial catch log.
    - The Delmar Rose was a 42-foot fiberglass crabber registered out of Coos Harbor and captained by Cynthia Lawson, age 53.
    - The crew of four departed pre-dawn on July 8 for the Heceta grounds with a planned return by the evening of July 10.
    - At 4:17 AM on July 9 a wave knocked the EPIRB off its bracket and it transmitted with a position uncertainty of 11 miles due to a recalled antenna fault.
    - Seas built to 18 feet while the search concentrated north; a sensor buoy had drifted off-station causing the drift model to underweight a southward current reversal.

    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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    20 分
  • Sippy Cup in the Sand: How a Toddler's Bottle Saved Them

    Sippy Cup in the Sand: How a Toddler's Bottle Saved Them
    2026/07/23
    Sippy Cup in the Sand: How a Toddler's Bottle Saved Them

    Heat, distance and a tiny green sippy cup became the thin line between life and oblivion: a cartoon-turtle cup left upright with liquid four point three miles from pavement in 107°F desert led searchers to a stranded woman and a sleeping four-year-old - but why did she place it there, and how did that small act change everything?

    In this episode, you will hear the sequence of events from a morning sighting to a night lost in the Sonoran Desert, following the decisions Megan made after her car overheated and how a chance discovery by a retired dental hygienist redirected a search; what did that carefully placed sippy cup reveal about their chances of survival?

    Person: Megan Peterson
    Date: June 15, 2019
    Location: Sonoran Desert, 4.3 miles from the nearest paved road on Cobre Road
    Temperature: 107 degrees Fahrenheit
    Companion: Cody, four years old

    - At 6:17 AM a retired dental hygienist found a green cartoon-turtle sippy cup upright between two rocks with one inch of liquid still inside.
    - Megan left Phoenix at 2:15 PM on June 14, 2019, driving a 2007 Hyundai Sonata with 161,000 miles.
    - The car’s temperature gauge swung into the red at 4:47 PM and the outside temperature was 107°F.
    - Megan started walking north with three water bottles, a 32-ounce Nalgene, the sippy cup, crackers, and a phone at 61% battery.
    - She set the sippy cup upright at 9:45 PM at the edge of the wash before continuing into the desert with her four-year-old on her back.

    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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    20 分
  • The Watch That Kept Time While She Buried Herself Alive

    The Watch That Kept Time While She Buried Herself Alive
    2026/07/22
    The Watch That Kept Time While She Buried Herself Alive

    Every second mattered: a stainless steel Timex kept ticking on top of a five-foot avalanche debris field while, beneath it, Karen Whitaker may have been alive - how could a thrown watch, a planted pole and two or three seconds rewrite what survival looks like? What did she do in those last instants that changed everything?

    In this episode, we follow the morning of May 9, 2011, on Cornice Ridge and the sequence of actions that followed the slab release; we describe what was found and why those three objects - a watch, a trekking pole and the shed beacon - force a new question about human response in avalanches.

    Person: Karen Whitaker
    Date: May 9, 2011
    Location: Cornice Ridge trailhead / runout zone
    Status: Found under approximately five feet of avalanche debris; watch found face-up, unscratched, functioning
    Witness: Ralph Rice, age 17

    - The avalanche slab ran approximately 1,200 feet across the aspect of the ridge.
    - Karen had left her avalanche beacon on its charger at home the morning she hiked.
    - The watch was thrown upward and outward between 15 and 20 feet before landing face-up.
    - A trekking pole with an orange strap was driven tip-down into the snow about 60 feet from Karen’s final deposition.
    - Ralph Rice discovered the ticking Timex at 6:40 AM during his delivery route.

    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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    19 分
  • He Drew a Dry Map and Left the Darkness Behind

    He Drew a Dry Map and Left the Darkness Behind
    2026/07/21
    He Drew a Dry Map and Left the Darkness Behind

    Fear tightens when a dry, hand-drawn cave map appears inside a soaked neoprene glove at the edge of a locked reserve - the map was dry, the gate was locked, and the access road had been buried under six inches of wet snow for five days. Why would a sixty-two-year-old technical diver send that map out through the rock itself instead of leaving by the gate?

    In this episode, we tell the story of James Erickson and the strange trail that led rescuers to Whetstone Caverns: a glove in a ditch, a sealed zip-lock with precise sump measurements, and three small cairns found beyond a locked gate. Can the rescue team read his map in time to follow the current he calculated years earlier?

    Person: James Erickson
    Date: April 19, 2009
    Location: Whetstone Caverns Nature Reserve
    Age: 62
    Certification: National Speleological Society Cave Diving Section

    - At 7:00 AM on April 19, 2009, a road grader blade snagged a neoprene diving glove in a drainage ditch outside Whetstone Caverns.
    - The glove was seven millimeter neoprene, soaked through, with a rolled and sealed wrist cuff containing a zip-lock bag.
    - Inside the zip-lock was an 8 by 10 inch white foam panel covered in black permanent marker with lines, numbers, arrows, compass bearings, and depth/sump measurements.
    - The access road had been buried under six inches of wet snow for five days and the reserve gate was locked with an intact padlock and chain.
    - Three deliberate cairns, each roughly eight inches high, were found on a limestone ledge beside the sump entry pool fifty yards past the locked gate.

    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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    19 分
  • She Survived 26 Days Alone - Why Her Trap Was Intentional

    She Survived 26 Days Alone - Why Her Trap Was Intentional
    2026/07/21
    She Survived 26 Days Alone - Why Her Trap Was Intentional

    Cold, isolated, and still alive after 26 days in a truck that should have killed her twice over - Linda Vickers engineered improvised survival in temperatures that ice over fast. She left an orange flagging on the roll bar not by accident but as a deliberate trap; why would a boundary verification technician set a signal to lure instead of warn?

    In this episode, we follow the exact timeline from Linda leaving for Drover Creek to the discovery at mile 7.5, detailing the decisions, calculations, and one critical mistake that defined her ordeal. How did training, habit, and a single intentional signal help her survive, and what did that mistake cost her?

    Person: Linda Anne Vickers
    Date: February 24 (departure) - found after 26 days
    Location: Drover Creek corridor, mile 7.5
    Occupation: Forest inspection technician (boundary verification)
    Relative: Brenda Vickers (sister)

    - Linda entered the corridor with a full tank and a job on February 24 and remained alive inside the truck for 26 days.
    - Searchers walked the corridor on day 15 and logged it clear, having turned around at mile 4 while Linda was at mile 7.5.
    - The orange flagging tape tied to her truck roll bar was intentionally placed as a trap, not mistakenly backwards.
    - Linda’s routine included a pre-shift run; her running shoes were found unmoved outside her apartment on the evening of February 25.
    - The engine quit on day 4 after she had been running it in 30-minute intervals; she had calculated fuel based on a 21-gallon tank and assumed roughly half a gallon per hour idle.

    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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    17 分
  • Lost at Sea, Found by a Tide Chart: How He Outsmarted the Search

    Lost at Sea, Found by a Tide Chart: How He Outsmarted the Search
    2026/07/21
    Lost at Sea, Found by a Tide Chart: How He Outsmarted the Search

    Cold, methodical survival beat chaotic luck: a tide chart tied to an orange fender washed ashore three hundred miles north of the chart’s intended waters, carrying a single handwritten instruction that would reroute a search. The only working man aboard a thirty-two-foot sloop had no radio, no mast, and a bruised rib-so how did one scrap of paper become his last, best signal to the world?

    In this episode, you’ll hear the sequence of events from departure to discovery and learn how small, deliberate choices shaped a four-day solo survival against a misdirected search-could a chart and a note really overcome a twenty-two nautical mile error in the rescue geometry?

    Person: Michael Stroud
    Location: Crestfall, Oregon coast
    Vessel: Patience, thirty-two-foot sloop
    Date: February 5-7 (storm and search events)
    Item found: orange fender with Northern California tide chart

    - At 06:15 a tide chart tied to an orange fender washed ashore on the Crestfall breakwater seawall.
    - The chart was issued for Northern California waters located 300 miles south of where it was found.
    - Michael Stroud had been missing for four days when the chart was recovered.
    - His EPIRB signal was logged as being 22 nautical miles southeast of his actual position.
    - On February 7 a debris field appeared 40 miles southwest of Crescent City that included an orange fender matching Patience’s equipment.

    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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    20 分