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  • The Harness at Warden Stone: Why April Walked Away, Wayne Didn't

    The Harness at Warden Stone: Why April Walked Away, Wayne Didn't
    2026/09/10
    The Harness at Warden Stone: Why April Walked Away, Wayne Didn't

    Cold wind, brittle snow and a harness deliberately placed a quarter mile below the trailhead: a laminated ID reading ARMSTRONG, APRIL was clipped to it while Wayne Didn lay buried two meters under avalanche debris. How did April arrive at base camp at 4:19 p.m. with no memory while Wayne was recovered days later without a harness?

    In this episode, we follow the factual timeline from the December 9th discovery at the Warden Stone through the avalanche on December 8th and the subsequent fourteen-month inquiry, asking how precise, recorded details fail to add up. What did the physical record miss, and what does the placement of that harness really mean?

    Person: WAYNE FITZGERALD
    Person: APRIL ARMSTRONG
    Date: December 8-14, 2019
    Location: Brule Range; Warden Stone at 4,200 ft
    Event: Avalanche at 8,700 ft

    - Wayne Didn was 51 years old with eleven years guiding in the Brule Range and had summited Hatchet Shoulder seven times.
    - April Armstrong was 62, a retired hospital pharmacist with no prior technical climbing record in the Brule Range.
    - High camp was established at 8,300 feet on December 6 and a two-person tent was pitched at 9,200 feet.
    - A slab released at approximately 8,700 feet at 10:20 a.m. after wind gusts reached 51 mph with peaks at 68 mph and visibility below 30 feet.
    - Wayne's body was recovered on December 14, buried two meters under debris and sixty meters below where Martin Quell surfaced.

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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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    18 分
  • He Wrote His Own Diagnosis on the Mountain - Found in a Parking Space

    He Wrote His Own Diagnosis on the Mountain - Found in a Parking Space
    2026/09/09
    He Wrote His Own Diagnosis on the Mountain - Found in a Parking Space

    The rescue was dramatic: a man pulled off a mountain alive, and eight days later his logbook turned up open and dry in a handicapped parking space four point two miles from the road. Inside, in collapsing tremor, he had written a self-diagnosis of HACE with specific exam findings and a treatment protocol-so what exactly did he face alone at altitude?

    In this episode, we follow the expedition timeline, the missing six pounds in a pack, and the single handwritten entry that reframes the whole descent. What did Glenn write in the dark at three forty, and why did no one on the rope team know he was carrying that extra kit?

    Person: Glenn Hall
    Age: 26
    Location: Vorden Peak, Calvaren Range
    Date: November 9 (summit photo at 11:14 AM)
    Event: Final logbook entry reading "ataxia worsening... HACE" at 3:40 AM

    - Glenn carried an unlisted second full altitude medication set weighing six pounds extra.
    - He also carried a handheld ophthalmoscope and four extra liters of oxygen not recorded on the manifest.
    - Summit photograph was taken at 11:14 AM on November 9 showing Glenn with his left hand pressed flat to his head.
    - The team reached Notch Camp at 14,000 feet on November 3 and bivouacked at 16,400 feet on the evening of November 8.
    - The logbook slid off an SAR vehicle roof, traveled 4.2 miles by drainage wind, and was found open in a handicapped parking space eight days after the evacuation.

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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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    18 分
  • Axe Head on the Trail: What Christine Brought Down From Calthorn

    Axe Head on the Trail: What Christine Brought Down From Calthorn
    2026/09/08
    Axe Head on the Trail: What Christine Brought Down From Calthorn

    Cold steel at 22°F, a warped adze, and a woman who walked four thousand vertical feet with no handle - the scene at Cutter Fork reads like a deliberate choice made in impossible conditions. What happened in the forty minutes Christine Hunt cannot remember, and why did she carry that axe head down from a summit nobody had reached?

    In this episode, we follow the timeline from the October fifth field note to the October fourteenth trailhead discovery, tracing Christine Hunt's two decades of alpine experience, the Calthorn South Face Project, and the decisions that led to a near-fatal descent. Could a single unasked question about wind amplification have changed everything?

    Person: Christine Hunt
    Date: October 14, 2019 (trailhead discovery)
    Location: Cutter Fork trailhead
    Event: Calthorn South Face attempt
    Person: William Pratt

    - 7:18 AM on October 14, 2019: Dale Young found an axe head leaning against a wooden post at Cutter Fork.
    - Temperature at the trailhead when found: 22 degrees Fahrenheit.
    - Christine Hunt was 48 years old and found sitting in loose gravel about 20 feet from the axe head.
    - Calthorn summit elevation targeted: 14,220 feet; high camp "Shoulder" approximately 13,800 feet.
    - William Pratt fell 60 feet on a 45-degree traverse, sustaining two fractured ribs and a severely twisted left ankle.

    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 分
  • The Wrong Col: How Good Decisions Killed Douglas West

    The Wrong Col: How Good Decisions Killed Douglas West
    2026/09/07
    The Wrong Col: How Good Decisions Killed Douglas West

    A solitary crampon, dusted with granite, turned up eighty-three miles from the nearest trailhead on a suburban gas meter-evidence of a nine-day search for a missing climber. How did a sequence of careful, reasonable choices spiral into a fatal trap on a north face in 47 mph winds?

    In this episode, we follow the timeline from a pre-dawn navigation decision through the lost cache, the missing rope noted in a radio log, and the final solo descent; what went wrong, and how did one wrong col become the hinge of the disaster?

    Person: Douglas West
    Date: September 8-14, 2009
    Location: Hadden's Tooth, Cavender Range; Alderton Avenue, Renner, Colorado
    Status: Missing climber; found evidence (crampon) in town during search
    Team: Lori Thompson, Phil Hartley, Nora Casteel, Douglas West

    - The crampon was found propped against a gas meter on Alderton Avenue on September 14, 2009, with reddish-gray granite dust on its teeth.
    - The crampon was eighty-three miles from the nearest trailhead when discovered by meter reader Chad Wagner.
    - Douglas West was 33 years old in summer 2009 and worked as a structural engineer in Fort Hazel, Colorado.
    - The team intended to cache two fuel canisters, food reserves, and a medical kit at the Lower Tooth Col, but the cache was placed 400 meters from its intended location at West Notch.
    - Douglas West made a solo descent down a north face in 47-mile-per-hour winds carrying a full rack and one ice screw set but no rope; his radio log recorded the missing rope.

    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 Seventh Shadow on the Summit: A Missing Man in One Photo

    The Seventh Shadow on the Summit: A Missing Man in One Photo
    2026/09/06
    The Seventh Shadow on the Summit: A Missing Man in One Photo

    A single undeveloped frame held inside a church donation for fourteen months shows seven figures on a summit where six climbers were counted-one man missing from every report and every log. The photograph, a half-buried crampon in summit snow, and a chain of possession that breaks at the second link raise one central question: who is the seventh shadow and how did his image end up among a dead man's belongings?

    In this episode, we present the sequence of events, the people involved, the physical evidence, and the official records that do exist, closing on the unresolved image that surfaced sixteen months after the climb. What can a single photograph and an incomplete chain of custody really tell us about what happened on the North Tooth?

    Person: Gregory Bennett
    Age: 53
    Location: North Tooth, Calloway Massif, Seldane Range
    Date: August 11 (summit reached at approximately 11:45 AM)
    Evidence: Photograph containing seven figures; crampon half-buried in summit snow

    - Six climbers reached the summit at 11:45 AM and six climbers descended; the photograph shows seven.
    - The undeveloped film canister sat hidden inside a donated backpack in a church storage room forty miles from the mountain for fourteen months.
    - Gregory Bennett had attempted the North Tooth twice before and this was his third attempt; he brought a twenty-year-old compact 35mm camera.
    - The expedition established an advanced camp on August 9 at 12,200 feet; the North Tooth summit is about 15,400 feet.
    - Phil Arden logged radio contact with the team every fifteen minutes from base camp with exact timestamps.

    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 分
  • The Ice Screw Nobody Admitted Losing: Silence on Havelock's Tooth

    The Ice Screw Nobody Admitted Losing: Silence on Havelock's Tooth
    2026/09/05
    The Ice Screw Nobody Admitted Losing: Silence on Havelock's Tooth

    A titanium 22-cm ice screw, carabiner closed and cord cut clean, lay buried on a bone-dry granite slope at 8,200 ft-two thousand feet below the nearest glacier-yet nobody reported it missing. How did a piece of critical climbing protection end up far from any ice, with a cord cut like a knife, and why did three climbers keep silent about what happened next?

    In this episode, we follow the July 2011 Havelock's Tooth attempt and the decisions made on the mountain that no official report labeled a crime. The episode covers the climb up the West Face route called the Wrist, the fall at the Knuckle, the ninety seconds the team hung on a single axe, and the discovery by a dog named Beau-so what did each climber choose to say, and what did they leave unsaid?

    Person: Alice Cole
    Person: Erin Fleming
    Person: Paul Hecht
    Date: July 10, 2011
    Location: Havelock's Tooth, Fenwick Range

    - A 22-centimeter titanium ice screw with cord and closed carabiner was found at 8,200 feet on a granite slope.
    - The nearest ice (Calloden Glacier) was approximately 2,000 feet above the screw's discovery site.
    - The Knuckle is a 40-foot near-vertical wall of water ice that had blocked every serious attempt since 1973.
    - On July 10, 2011 the team left the Notch at 2:47 AM with a temperature of -8°C.
    - The three climbers hung suspended for roughly 90 seconds after Erin fell and was caught by Screw 2 while Paul arrested the system with one axe.

    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
  • The Notebook That Walked Down the Mountain: Teresa's Unfinished Sentence

    The Notebook That Walked Down the Mountain: Teresa's Unfinished Sentence
    2026/09/04
    The Notebook That Walked Down the Mountain: Teresa's Unfinished Sentence

    A waterproof pouch washed up at 04:51 on June 19, 2011 holding a spiral notebook whose last line stops mid-sentence - fifty thousand vertical meters of mountain and ice separated its last confirmed location from Sullen Creek, and no avalanche or meltwater could account for the journey. How did a notebook travel from near the Crale summit to a fishing creek while the woman who wrote in it was later found motionless and harnessed at 7,430 meters - and why did her account end unfinished?

    In this episode, we lay out the timeline, the gear notes, and the precise decisions recorded in Teresa York’s climbing notebooks, then contrast them with the physical evidence recovered on the mountain and at the creek to ask whether the mathematics of movement and the human choices above the third anchor can be reconciled. What combination of deliberate action and environmental forces produced the notebook, the scene at 7,430 meters, and the unanswered fragment of Teresa’s last entry?

    Person: Teresa York
    Age: 28
    Location: found seated at approximately 7,430 meters on the Crale
    Discovery date: June 21, 2011 (woman found); June 19, 2011 (notebook found)
    Expedition leader: Melissa Bell, age 41, 17 years guiding

    - Notebook discovered at 04:51 on June 19, 2011 in an orange waterproof pouch sealed inside a gallon freezer bag.
    - Crale summit elevation stated as approximately 8,060 meters; Sullen Creek elevation approximately 1,020 meters.
    - Time between Teresa’s last known entry (June 17) and notebook discovery (June 19): 48 hours.
    - High Shelter established on June 15 at approximately 7,200 meters with four oxygen bottles cached; Teresa recorded all four present.
    - Team movement timeline: left High Shelter at 02:00 on June 17; radio at 06:47 reported party at base of upper couloir; upper couloir measured as 380 meters with three anchor pitons.

    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
  • The Crampon on the Wrong Side of Greyveil Peak

    The Crampon on the Wrong Side of Greyveil Peak
    2026/09/03
    The Crampon on the Wrong Side of Greyveil Peak

    A single left-foot, twelve-point crampon with its harness buckle still fastened was found alone on a rock at 9,200 feet-no pack, no partner, and its serial traced to a woman who was later found at home safe. Why would carefully placed gear from a careful climber end up on the wrong side of the mountain, and what did that misplaced crampon reveal about what happened on May 10?

    In this episode, we follow the timeline from the gear check on May 7 through the May 10 summit and the descent that fractured a crevasse field, tracking the people, equipment, and weather that shaped the day. How did a routine crossing of a tested snow bridge turn into a fall, a split rope team, and one inexplicable piece of gear left behind?

    Date: May 22, 2014
    Location: Greyveil Peak upper glacier and eastern moraine
    Person: Sandra Pruitt, 55-year-old chemistry teacher
    Person: Larry Becker, 51-year-old licensed guide
    Event: Crevasse collapse on May 10 at approximately 11:38 AM

    - The crampon was found at 9,200 feet on May 22 with the left-foot, twelve-point unit's harness buckle still fastened.
    - Sandra Pruitt signed the crampon out on May 7 and was reported home safe after the incident.
    - The summit was reached at 11,400 feet at 9:52 AM on May 10; descent began at 10:20 AM.
    - The crevasse field sits at roughly 9,800 feet; Alan Grube fell through a snow bridge there at 11:38 AM.
    - Weather changed from clear, -4°F at 4:45 AM to -14°F with 30-foot visibility and eight inches of new snow by early afternoon.

    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 分