The Last Climb

Dry Crampon, Wet Parking Lot: How a Silent Fault Nearly Killed Them A dry crampon on a rainy morning outside unit forty-seven hinted at a failure no one expected: a size nine steel-framed crampon found untouched on wet pavement while the padlock remained in place. One silent equipment fault, four days of above-freezing afternoons at 12,000 feet, and a snow bridge that had been called "reliable" set the stage - how did a sequence of small, defensible choices nearly become a catastrophe? In this episode, we tell the events around the Crestwall Peak expedition and follow the team from Base Camp to the Ashmer Shelf, tracing what each recorded decision and condition contributed to the outcome. Who noticed the dry crampon, what did the expedition logs record, and why did the "reliable" snow bridge fail when it mattered most? Person: Dawn Rogers Person: Bruce Cook Person: Joel Pratt Location: Ashmer Shelf Date: May 16-19 - The crampon found by Diane Russo was size nine, steel-framed, photographed outside unit forty-seven on May 23. - Base Camp assembled on May 14 at 11,200 feet on the western approach to the Ashmer Shelf. - Crestwall Peak's summit elevation is roughly 13,700 feet; the Ashmer Shelf sits at approximately 12,400 feet. - Guide Bruce Cook tested the snow bridge on May 15 and logged it as "reliable" after personally testing it. - Expedition temperature logs show afternoon temperatures above freezing at the Ashmer Shelf on May 16 and May 17.

The Radio That Came Down: Silence Between Peaks and Survival A yellow handheld radio began its descent from 17,400 feet and was found fully powered, still transmitting one-way nine days later - with no backpack, no boot prints, and no person nearby. How did a device that could only receive end up back at the trailhead, and what single equipment failure nearly turned a safe return into a catastrophe? In this episode, we tell what happened to a four-person climbing team on Kessler Peak in April 2009, how their agreed radio protocol worked, and why an unread silence mattered more than anyone expected - could one missing click change everything? Person: Donald Farrell Person: Vernon Mitchell Person: Scott Hagen Person: Person: Terri Lund Location: Kessler Peak, Bitter Range, Bitter Range, Montana - Radio label read "FARRELL EXPEDITION / HIGH CAMP TWO / 17,400 FT" and was found against the trailhead kiosk on April 19, 2009. - Team reached High Camp Two at 17,400 feet on the afternoon of April 10, 2009. - Base coordinator Phil Acker transmitted weather updates every 30 minutes from base camp at 9,000 feet through the night. - Weather report at 4:17 a.m. on April 11 warned sustained winds of 31 mph, gusting to 44 mph, projected to double by midday at summit elevation. - The radio at High Camp Two received base transmissions perfectly but could not transmit any signal back (one-way reception only).

The Regulator at Six Thousand Feet: Thornwall's Deadly Silence A yellow oxygen regulator with a serial number traceable to eleven thousand feet sat upright in a snowmelt pool at 6,200 feet - found by a man walking his beagle on March 19, 2011. The device belonged to a chain of decisions that began eleven days earlier on Thornwall's north summit at 26,800 feet; how did a regulator travel from that peak to the drainage below? In this episode, we tell the sequence of events and choices on Thornwall that connected a licensed guide, a high-altitude porter, three climbers and a missing supply chain, and we follow the unanswered question: which withheld truths allowed a death to happen on a mountain reached only nine times in recorded history? Person: Alan Crawford Date: March 19, 2011 Location: 6,200 feet, southwestern Montana Mountain: Thornwall north summit at 26,800 feet Guide: Curtis Berry - Found at 9:47 AM: regulator with yellow pressure gauge and corrugated hose in a snowmelt pool. - Thornwall north summit recorded history: reached nine times. - Curtis Berry had stood on Thornwall's summit five of those nine times. - Rachel Tillman was 26 years old with an oxygen threshold ~25,500 feet and volunteered at an animal shelter since age 19. - On March 11 at 8:15 AM, Curtis Berry learned by radio that the porters had stopped (strike effective).

The Glove on the Riverrock: Why Jennifer Left Camp Alone A dry size-medium Black Diamond Guide glove stamped "J.S." was found pointing upstream on a river rock 41 miles by road from the trailhead - and it was dry despite a February storm that would make that impossible for four days. What single decision sent a careful, checklist-driven guide from a high camp into a storm she had been warned about, and why did she go alone? In this episode, we lay out the sequence of communications, locations, and physical evidence recorded between February 6 and February 14 to follow what happened on Brundell Peak. We track the satellite communicator logs, the handwritten notebook entry, the distance from trailhead to the glove, and the last confirmed points for both climbers to ask: why did Jennifer continue toward the summit after the revised forecast arrived? Person: Jennifer Sawyer Person: Marcus Cole Date: February 6-14 (key events on February 8-9 and discovery on February 14) Location: Northeast Buttress, Brundell Peak; glove found on east bank of the Caspar Fork Event: Last outgoing satellite transmission from high camp at 18:00 on February 8 - The glove found by Kent Burns was a Black Diamond Guide, size medium, rated to -40°F, with "J.S." written on the inside cuff and a handwritten date "Feb. 9." - Sawyer transmitted her position from high camp at 13,200 feet at 18:00 on February 8; that was the last outgoing message from the device. - A revised forecast arrived on the satellite communicator at 23:17 on February 8, 5 hours and 17 minutes after Sawyer's last transmission. - Sawyer and Cole left high camp at 05:40 on February 9; Cole stopped near 12,800 feet at the Ledge Band and wrote: "Head bad. J continuing. Will wait at high camp." - The glove was discovered dry on February 14, located 41 miles from the trailhead by road and 19 miles in a straight line from the Northeast Buttress summit area.

Seven Vintage Oxygen Cylinders, One Guide's Secret, Deadly Descent From a cache of seven olive-green oxygen cylinders found at 11,200 feet to a guide who bought the same lot for $60 and never told his team, this climb hides a chain of small choices that turned catastrophic - who decided those cylinders were safe to use, and why did no one disclose what they knew? In this episode, we lay out the sequence of events on the Mount Cressfield expedition and the discoveries that followed, following dates, purchases, equipment notes, and witness actions to ask whether secrecy and assumption can be as lethal as a storm. Person: Patricia Padgett Date: January 9, 2003 Location: Caldwell Col, 11,200 feet Event: Mount Cressfield expedition arrival, January 15, 2003 Case: Purchase of seven surplus oxygen cylinders on November 28, 2002 - Seven olive-green cylinders were found arranged in a deliberate row at 11,200 feet on Caldwell Col. - Two cylinders had stenciling matching a thread standard abandoned before the Korean War, dated to 1938 equipment. - Robert Cooper bought seven of nine cylinders for $60 from Tom Fettig on November 28, 2002. - Cooper carried those seven cylinders to Caldwell Col and stored them in a yellow dry bag alongside two modern cylinders. - Wind during the expedition reached sustained 35 miles per hour with higher gusts the evening before the climb continued.

Half One Map, Half Another: What Lisa Drew at 9,200ft A sheet of green graph paper pinned to a trailhead bulletin board hid a page where handwriting changes midline - the top half precise contour lines, the bottom half jagged and barely readable. What happened between those two styles of penwork, and why did the map point to a camp at 9,200 feet where a methodical topographer’s plan turns into something else? In this episode, we follow the timeline from the moment the paper was found to the high-camp on December 9, 2019, reconstructing who was where and when to ask whether a planned expedition became a different kind of story on the descent. Person: Lisa Porter Date: December 9-11, 2019 Location: high camp at 9,200 feet near The Horn Person: Cody Wren Event: summit reached on December 11, 2019 at 11,040 feet - Map pinned to Dolores Creek bulletin board was folded green graph paper with handwriting changing exactly at the page midpoint. - Lisa Porter turned 53 in October 2019 and had 30 years of fieldwork as a topographer. - Cody Wren, age 29, slept in his truck at Dolores Creek on the night of December 6 and started up the trail at 6:00 AM on December 7. - High camp was established inside a band of rock at 9,200 feet on December 9 with two tents and sleeping bags rated to -20°F. - The Horn summit at 11,040 feet was reached on December 11 after a turnaround on December 10 due to rapidly dropping visibility.

The Boot Below: Why a Climber Vanished Before the Serac Fell A lone climbing boot sat upright on a stone at 9,400 feet for six days before anyone noticed it - laced, buckled, and without its pair - while four climbers above had already died in a serac collapse. What did that boot, found 900 feet below the trailhead, prove about a man whose boots were later recovered still on his feet? In this episode, you will hear a factual account of the Mount Iverson expedition on November 8, 2019, the sequence of the summit push, and the puzzling physical and medical evidence that followed; how could Warren Slade’s solitary boot end up far below the route while his body’s boots remained in the debris field? Person: Warren Slade Date: November 8, 2019 Location: Mount Iverson, Southeast Rib route Event: Serac collapse killing four climbers Status: Survivor walked out alone - A single climbing boot was found upright on a flat stone at 9,400 feet after six days. - The boot was located approximately 900 feet below the trailhead relative to the team's route. - The team left Camp Two at 2:17 AM on November 8 with five climbers on an 80-meter, 9 mm Beal rope. - Camp Two was located at 15,300 feet directly beneath a serac band; the route’s summit is 17,200 feet. - Warren Slade reported “the worst headache of his life” on the afternoon of November 7; Iris Fenn died the next morning.

The Compass She Held: Why Angela Waited Alone in the Snow A quiet, controlled decision left Angela Weaver sitting upright in eighteen inches of snow, spine straight, holding a compass with a red lanyard whose needle lay still-she was facing northeast toward Hollow Creek and had been dead for hours. Four people would later be found alive because of actions she took alone; why did she take a summit team's baseplate compass, a non-official route card, and a jet-replacement wrench from camp and leave in the dark? In this episode, we tell the sequence of events on Haverford Peak in October 2011 from the perspective of who Angela Weaver was and what she did at high camp; the episode follows Angela’s preparations, the expedition decisions, the radio calls, and the fifty-six minutes that ended with her leaving camp-what do those choices reveal about her intent and plan? Person: Angela Weaver Event: Haverford Peak South Face expedition Date: October 14-15, 2011 Location: High camp facing Hollow Creek Role: High-camp cook - Angela Weaver was twenty-eight years old and was sitting upright in eighteen inches of snow when found. - The compass she held had a red lanyard and the needle was still. - Angela made a log entry at 10:47 PM on October 14 reading: "Baseplate compass, red lanyard - taken for route verification." - The summit team called from the field at 2:19 PM on October 15 reporting they were off-route and in a full whiteout. - Angela served breakfast at 3:30 AM and watched the sky from camp alone for eleven hours before leaving; the team left camp at 4:00 AM.

The Rope That Left a Man on the Headwall A single orange ascender and a fourteen-inch tail of eight-millimeter static line turned up four and a half miles from the mountain after a rope failure left a 37-year-old climber dead - and the cut end was unnaturally clean. What chain of ordinary decisions and one six-minute span on a rope led to a death on Warden's Tooth? In this episode, we present the sequence of events from the rope installation on September 10 to the discovery of an asymmetry in a September 11 photograph, and we follow how equipment, people, and timing converged on the headwall - could a routine rope inspection have changed everything? Date: September 13, 2019 Location: Warden's Tooth, Southeast Ridge headwall Person: Sean Mercer, age 37 Equipment: eight-millimeter orange static line, 400 meters, purchased July 2019 Discovery: ascender found on county road with 14-inch tail of static line - The ascender was found upright in a drainage ditch beside a county road four and a half miles from the mountain. - The threaded tail through the ascender's cam measured fourteen inches and the cut end of the line was clean, not frayed. - The nearest fixed rope on the mountain was 4,200 vertical feet above, on the Warden's Tooth route called Warden's Tooth. - Sean Mercer fell 38 feet when a rope failed beneath the third anchor and was found deceased; eight other climbers had descended and left the trailhead earlier that evening. - A September 11 photograph, taken the morning after rope installation, later revealed an asymmetry roughly two meters below the third anchor when investigators enlarged the image.

The Upright Boot: How a Mountain Vanished a Geology Student A single boot stood upright, laces tied, clean and leaning against a utility pole at 9,400 feet - three and a half miles from where a 22-year-old geology student vanished from a granite ledge at 10,900 feet. How did one boot, one sock liner, and no body end up posed like a display item so far from the last known location, and who can explain the gaps the evidence refuses to fill? In this episode, we tell the sequence of physical facts left behind after Gordon Graham disappeared during a research expedition and trace the terrain, timing, and items investigators used to reconstruct the last hours. What do his field notes, missing crampons, and the upright boot reveal about what really happened? Person: Gordon Graham Age: 22 Location: East Prow ledge at 10,900 feet; boot found at 9,400 feet Date: August 10-11, 2009 Event: Summit attempt halted by storm; 14 inches of new snow - Boot found upright against a utility pole at 9,400 feet, three and a half miles from the mountain. - Graham was last seen on East Prow ledge at 10,900 feet writing in his field notebook at approximately 1:15 AM on August 11. - Temperature on the ledge that night was 19 degrees Fahrenheit with a northwest wind. - Team summit attempt lasted six hours and twenty minutes and was halted by a storm beginning at 11:20 AM on August 11. - After the storm passed at 6:15 PM, investigators recorded 14 inches of new snow covering the route.