The Two Weeks Denali's Most Beautiful Ridge Turned Killer | Disaster Strikes E 268

On May 24, 1998, a Canadian climber lost his footing on Denali's West Buttress and disappeared down the north face toward the Peters Glacier. Two National Park Service volunteer rangers were a hundred feet ahead of him. One of them radioed for permission to go down and look, got it, and started descending — and somewhere on that slope a decision was made that two separate federal investigations would spend the following year trying to explain. What happened next left one man clipped to a single ice screw in a storm, with no radio, waiting to find out whether anyone knew where he was. Thirteen days later, on the same stretch of ridge, it happened again.00:00 Disaster Strikes Intro00:41 Whiteout On The Ice03:38 Denali Setup And Stakes04:18 High Camp And Ranger Program08:10 Gear Limits And Descent Plan10:13 Burrito Brothers And The Thumb13:41 Daniel Falls Off The Ridge15:13 Radio Call And Rescue Choice18:07 Unroped Descent Into Danger24:22 Mike Disappears, Hurtado Waits27:42 Rescue Team Rope By Rope31:09 Bodies Packs And Missing Mike34:34 Search Findings And Crampon Test37:00 Rescue Fever And System Lessons40:48 Aftermath; Another Fatal Fall42:59 Scholarship And FarewellREFERENCES

1. American Alpine Club, Accidents in North American Mountaineering, 1999 — "Fall on Ice/Snow, Unable to Self-Arrest, Weather: Alaska, Mount McKinley, West Buttress."
2. NIOSH / Alaska FACE Investigation 98AK012, "Volunteer Ranger Dies from Fall on Denali," June 1, 1999.
3. NIOSH / Alaska FACE Investigation 98AK016, "Assistant Mountaineering Guide Falls on Denali," June 22, 1999.
4. American Alpine Club, Accidents in North American Mountaineering, 1999 — "Fall on Snow, Unable to Self-Arrest, Descending Unroped, Weather: Alaska, Mount McKinley, West Buttress."
5. Porco, Peter. "Ridge Turns Killer." Anchorage Daily News, June 9, 1998.
6. Anchorage Daily News, contemporaneous search coverage, May–June 1998, archived at akfatal.net.
7. "Denali Claims Another Climber." Mountain Zone.
8.  "Climber's Body Found — Man Loved Adventure, Family, Friends." Seattle Times, June 15, 1998.
9. "From a charmed life to learning how to cope with losing a son." Post Independent, April 18, 2011.
10. Find a Grave memorial #28083415, Michael Adrian "Mike" Vanderbeek, Talkeetna Cemetery, Alaska.

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