She’s Why You DON’T Go Into National Parks Alone Anymore...

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Sign up for your $1 per month trial at Shopify.com slash special offer. Today I'm going to be giving you a chilling example of why you can't go alone in national parks. Not anymore. Then I'm going to tell you the dark truth about the most famous bodies left in Mount Everest's death zone. And then finally, I'm going to tell you. A chilling story of a man who straight up ignored the warning signs in the wilderness and paid for it dearly. If you're enjoying the show, please leave us a five-star review and hit the follow button and do it right now. I have a goal of reaching 1,000 five-star reviews and we have a long ways to go. So please help us out. And by hitting the follow button, you'll also be helping out our standing with Spotify. Do it right now and listen on if you dare. Every once in a while, something happens inside of a national park that just. Refuses to make sense. A trip that should have been normal and even forgettable turns into the kind of story that keeps you awake at night replaying every decision and every wrong turn, wondering how close you've come to the edge without realizing it. It's disturbing and it's one of the clearest reminders I've ever seen of how thin the line is between fun little adventure and absolute disaster. A black Honda sits in the middle of a dirt road in the Mojave Desert. The front end looks like it tried to head into a dead end. The radiator is crushed backwards, the windshield is spiderwebbed, several windows are shattered, and the airbag hangs like a deflated parachute. A tow truck driver is standing there in the heat looking at this thing like, yeah, this was not a gentle fender bender. But, there's no driver. Nobody is outside waving for help. It's just a wrecked car baking under a brutal desert sun, miles from anywhere that a 37-year-old single mom from Northern California, is supposed to be. And the worst part is that for months, everyone believed that this lonely dirt road was where her story ended, when in reality, it wasn't even where her story began. Now, as all of you remember, in early 2020, the world shut down, and 37-year-old Erica Lloyd was one of millions of people who got crushed by that shift. Erica lived in Walnut Creek, California, and she was a hairstylist and small business owner as well. As well as a single mom to a 12-year-old boy who, by all accounts, was the center of her universe. But then, the pandemic hit. Salons were ordered to close, and Erica's income basically evaporated overnight. On top of that, she was trying to homeschool her son, you know, locked in the same four walls day after day, watching the news get worse and worse. Her family later said that the pressure of all of this, the money, the isolation, trying to hold everything together alone, was really starting to wear her down. But, from the outside, Erica still seemed functional. She was still showing up for life. But, as all of you guys know, you can look fine on the outside and still be falling apart on the inside, especially when the entire world is seemingly falling apart around you. At some point in early June 2020, Erica wiped her Facebook page. She deleted her posts, her photos, her memories, everything. And though her friends and family would soon. look back on this as a red flag, at the time, it simply looked like a fresh start kind of move. On June 11th, Erica made arrangements so that a friend could watch her son in Walnut Creek. She told people she needed to take a little time for herself. And later that same day, she pointed her 2006 black Honda Accord south, and she started driving. Her destination was Joshua Tree National Park. Roughly 500 miles. The hills of highway and desert separate Walnut Creek from Joshua Tree. Depending on how many breaks you take, that's like a seven-hour-plus drive long enough to maybe make you feel like you've put your old life in the rear-view mirror, at least for a minute. Eventually, she rolled into Joshua Tree and she grabbed a spot in the Jumbo Rocks Campground and then camped there for the next two nights. At some point while she was camping, she befriended two people at the campground, James and Christian. Erica trusted these men enough that she apparently left her camping gear with them at Jumbo Rocks when she decided to do something very strange. The first of many strange things in this story. On June 13th, instead of chilling in the desert like a normal person on a camping trip, Erica left her gear with James and Christian, got into her car, and then drove all the way back to Walnut Creek. That's another 500-plus miles in the opposite direction. She spent that night back home. Sharing the house with her roommate and her son. And then, on Sunday, June 14th, she did it all over again. Her roommate later recalled that Erica planned to drive back to Joshua Tree and that she'd be camping there with friends and trying to clear her head. Just like she had done on the first trip down to Joshua Tree, she didn't take her son with her. She just loaded up the Honda, said goodbye, and then hit the road south. Again, this is the part that haunts her family. Erica clearly loved her. She loved her son, and they fully believed that she would be coming back for him. And I say that because I want to be clear, this chaotic road trip wasn't presented as Erica running away forever. It was simply a mom needs a break so she can keep going kind of thing. At some point in mid-June, Erica's mother, Ruth, spoke with Erica on the phone. Erica sounded like she was driving in the moment. She was talking fast, and she was kind of hard to follow. Folks, this would be the last conversation that. Erica's family would ever have with her. After it, the calls stopped going through, and out in the desert, Erica's trip took a turn that nobody could have imagined. On Monday, June 15th, park rangers at Joshua Tree came across an abandoned black Honda Accord in a parking area near Indian Cove, which is a different part of the park where Erica had been camping. This car looked rough. The glass on the front passenger side was shattered. The dashboard was damaged. There was no camping gear in or around it. No one was sitting in the driver's seat. There was no one lying unconscious in the back. The rangers documented the vehicle. They left a note on it, and then they moved on with their day. But by that very evening, just a few hours later, the car was gone. At this point, Erica's family still had no idea that anything was wrong. They were just trying to call her, and they were getting. And you know that weird little worry that creeps in when you're calling someone, but you can't reach them? Well, multiply that by, And that's where Ruth and the rest of Erica's family were sitting. But on June 16th, Erica's car showed up again, and this time on camera. At around 1.20 in the afternoon, a black Accord matching Erica's was caught on video, exiting through one of the northern entrances at Joshua Tree National Park. It was later seen driving past a school in 29 Palms, a nearby desert town. And shortly after this, a resident in the Wonder Valley area called in a complaint. There's a car blocking Shelton Road, which is a dusty remote track off of Highway 62. This car was just sitting there, facing towards the highway. A California Highway Patrol officer was dispatched to take a look, and this. This is the moment where we started this story. Once again, the front of the Honda looked like it had plowed into something. The radiator and the air conditioning components were shoved backwards. There was glass broken out. Even the airbag had been deployed. But, once again, there was no driver. There was no one around claiming the car. No active crash scene. Just this beat-up vehicle stuck out in the middle of the desert. Like, what the hell is that? With no one around to claim the vehicle, California Highway Patrol called a local towman, to haul the Honda away. But then a few days later, photos of the damaged car started circulating online and in news reports, with the headlines reading something like, quote, Missing Walnut Creek woman's vehicle found near Joshua Tree. For almost everyone following the case, this became the mental picture. Erica has some kind of crash out near Highway 62, by the turnoff for Shelton Road, gets hurt or disoriented, wanders off into the desert, and then. never comes back. And so on June 17th, Erica's family officially reported her missing, and they told authorities they believed that she was somewhere near Joshua Tree National Park. Law enforcement responded hard and fast, by the way. A sheriff's helicopter flew over the park and the surrounding desert. Search and rescue teams started checking trailheads and washes. Park rangers began sweeping areas inside the park. Deputies and search dogs scoured all along the highway. Meanwhile, her camping equipment was found back at Jumbo Rocks, and all her belongings were still there, including, strangely, a pricey cooler that her family said she didn't own before this trip. This is getting complicated. Let me clear things up. Her gear was in one place, her car was in another, and Erica was in neither. And so her parents jumped on a plane from Maryland to California on June 19th. They flew across the country and started driving back and forth between desert outposts and park entrances, putting up missing persons flyers with their daughter's smile on them. They even bought billboard ads throughout the area, putting Erica's face up over the highway and begging drivers for any help. They called her phone on repeat. It rang and rang, always going unanswered, that is, until June 20th. On this day, they heard a voice on the other end, and it wasn't Erica's, it was a man's, and he said that he had found the phone, two days earlier, on Cottonwood Road in 29 Palms. And I want you to think about that. Erica's car was found near one road, her phone was found along a completely different one, her camping gear was sitting at a remote campsite inside the park, and she was still nowhere to be seen. At this point in the investigation, the official line was that there still was no obvious sign of foul play. Her family was clinging to hope that maybe she had crashed, hit her head, and kind of just wandered off, maybe with some sort of memory. And so, Erica's car was found near one road, her phone was lost, maybe she didn't even remember who she was, maybe someone had taken her in to help, and she was sitting there on someone's couch, confused, but alive. Search teams zeroed in on the stretch of desert near Highway 62, and the junction with Shelton Road, the spot that everyone thought Erica's car had died. Volunteers, deputies, rangers, and a local cave and mine expert named Doug Billings fanned out along the highway, across washes, and up onto ridges. Doug, knew this landscape very well. He had helped recover the remains of 19-year-old Aaron Corwin from a mine in the area years earlier. And so now, he's back out there, sweating through his shirt, methodically grid-searching sand and rock for any sign of a Northern California mom who just needed a break. Days of searching turned into weeks, with still no sign of Erica. The billboard stayed up. Online fundraisers helped cover the cost of searches, and the case got picked up. The call finally came. The best holiday finds aren't always the ones you went looking for. At Ross, discover unexpected gifts, fashion, decor, and plenty of reasons to keep looking. Ross, expect the unexpected. 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A holiday deal this good obviously deserves an enormously expensive holiday song. Like, all I want is s**t. Right. Okay, we can't. We can't afford that. You know what? Forget the music budget. We're going to stick with whatever's in the public domain. Give it a try at mintmobile.com slash switch. Upfront payment of $45 for three months, $90 for six months, or $180 for a 12-month plan required. $15 per month equivalent. Taxes and fees extra. New customer offer for initial plan term only. Greater than 50 gigabytes may slow when network is busy. See terms. Still waiting in line? Again? Over 4 million businesses have skipped the line. Hikers out in Wonder Valley had spotted something in a field near a lonely stretch of Danby Road. It didn't look like much. Just some bones scattered among rocks and dry plants. And remember, this is the desert, so there's lots of animal bones all the time. I mean, I've found plenty in the time that I've done hiking in the desert. However, this was worth investigating. And when the deputies came out and collected what was there, and when forensic experts looked at the dental records, the answer was crystal clear. The remains that were found were Erica Lloyd's. After months of searching, dozens of people were able to find Erica Lloyd's. After months of air missions, ground teams, billboards, and hopes that she'd walk back into her life one day, Erica was found in the desert, reduced to a partial skeleton. And though this should have been the tragic end to this story, authorities soon realized that something wasn't right. The spot where Erica was found was not far off of Danby Road. And it was also several miles from where California Highway Patrol had found her car back in the day. In fact, she was found at the time of the death of Erica Lloyd. Authorities never publicly spelled out exactly how she died or what the official manner of death was. There was no neat autopsy report available to the public that said, you know, this is exactly what happened. By the time that she was found, the desert had already erased a lot of the evidence. And so at this point in the story, authorities and Erica's family knew a few big things. Number one, she had taken a pandemic road trip to Joshua Tree, clearly under a lot of emotional and financial pressure. Number two, she had taken a pandemic road trip to Joshua Tree, clearly under a lot of emotional and financial stress. Number two, her car had been damaged badly enough to deploy the airbag and crush the front of the vehicle. And number three, she had somehow ended up on foot in the desert and died out there. And I guess number four, she had lain there for months while people searched in the wrong places. And it's that last piece, the wrong places, that brings us to an incredibly frustrating twist in this story. After Erica's remains were found, investigators started going back over the timeline and the geography. They talked about witnesses who apparently saw a confused woman near danby road on the day that erica disappeared and so they took a closer look at how erica's car was damaged and they found out that on june 16th the day that the car was reported on shelton road two people did something that changed everything according to later reporting erica's car didn't originally get stuck out on that long stretch of shelton road near highway 62 it first collided with a sand berm closer to the intersection of shelton and a smaller road called two mile that initial impact was what likely destroyed the radiator and the air conditioning components it's what set off the airbag and shattered the glass it was probably where erica actually stepped out of her car for the last time and just to be clear once again where this happened was not where her car was found the car was not where she was driving it was probably where she was driving her car the crash site not the later tow location was very close to where her remains were eventually discovered at around 4 50 p.m on june 16th a witness saw a woman who looked like erica wandering around in that same general area appearing disoriented in the heat and about two hours later you know around 6 30 p.m will say two people came across her wrecked car which was still lodged in the berm their names were david crowe and tila campbell they looked around and they didn't see erica nearby or anyone and so they decided the car had simply been left behind and instead of calling it in right away and reporting it they just decided to try and take it using a pickup and some kind of tow rig you know maybe a winch maybe just a chain they yanked the honda free from the sand then campbell apparently tried to drive it south along shelton road towards highway 62 the honda was not able to drive it which was already badly damaged and overheating didn't make it very far before it just gave up and when it did they left it blocking the dirt road in the exact spot where california highway patrol would later find it and have it towed and so from everyone else's perspective from that point on the scene of whatever happened to erica was the spot where the car was blocking the road news reports said that her car was discovered along route 62 near shelton road search maps were drawn around that point helicopters flew grid patterns that radiated out from there ground teams fanned out from the wrong anchor essentially only after erica's remains were recovered and after more investigation did authorities come to realize that the car had been moved from its original crash site crowe and campbell were identified and arrested on vehicle theft and some unrelated firearms charges both of them had prior records for various crimes and one of them reportedly cooperated with law enforcement and explained what they did that day explained that they moved the car and let me be crystal clear the sheriff's department never said that you know these two people killed erica that's not what the evidence showed but their decision to treat a wrecked car sitting out on a lonely stretch of desert road as a free salvage opportunity instead of a potential emergency that needed to be reported well that had consequences doug billings the search expert who'd been out there in the heat looking for erica later said that if the original crash location had been known and used as the starting point for the search things might have played out very differently at the very least he believed that erica's tracks would have been easier to follow and search teams probably would have found her much sooner maybe even while she was still alive some personality quirks are really funny like i talked to my left foot more than i talked to my right you know what's not funny and not a personality quirk ocd although the term ocd is widely recognized it's misunderstood by most people it doesn't mean being tidy or clean it's having obsessive fears thoughts and urges you question your character you question your safety that's ocd breaking the ocd cycle takes effective treatment go to no cd.com to learn more the best holiday finds aren't always the ones you went looking for at ross discover unexpected gifts fashion decor and plenty of reasons to keep looking ross expect the unexpected this holiday all plans even unlimited are just 15 a month a holiday deal this good obviously deserves an enormously expensive holiday song like all i want right okay we can't afford that you don't forget the music budget we're gonna stick with whatever's in the public domain give it a try at mintmobile.com slash switch upfront payment of 45 for three months 90 for six months or 180 for 12 month plan required 15 per month equivalent taxes and fees extra new customer offer for initial plan term only greater than 50 gigabytes may slow when network is busy see terms the real cost of a break-in isn't your valuables it's the feeling that your home stopped being safe simply safe keeps danger away from your family with three layers of protection one smart ai cameras and live us-based agents help stop intruders before they break in two we sound the alarm at points of entry three our agents request emergency response plans starting around a dollar a day right now get 70 off your new system with professional monitoring at simply safe.com slash spotify outdoor deterrence plans start at 49.99 a month visit simply safe.com slash licenses for alarm license information you're listening to a quick ad you know what else is quick selling your car on carvana just put in your vehicle information and we'll give you an offer done no hassle no negotiation no guy from an online listing low-balling you which means by the time i'm done explaining this you could have basically done it still haven't started hey better late than never sell your car today on carvana pickup fees may apply but doug was careful in his wording he didn't say that you know she definitely would have survived because nobody knows how badly she was injured how dehydrated she was or how long she lived after leaving the car but doug did say that moving the honda hampered the search in a huge way in that the months of agony that erica's family went through partially traced back to that one selfish act and that's the twist this whole story has been building towards the car the one thing everyone thought they understood about this otherwise baffling case the thing that every map and every news story and every search grid was built around well it was a lie the last known point of contact between erica and civilization had been quietly erased by two strangers with a truck and a chain but the question still remains what actually happened to erica out in the desert and we can lay out the facts right we can draw arrows on a map but the brutal truth is that this case still lives in a weird gray zone between accident mental health crisis or the pure indifference of the desert one theory is that erica was in a very dark place mentally you know the pandemic had wrecked her finances isolated her from her friends forced her into a pressure cooker of homeschooling and financial fear in a world that she felt like it was just falling apart right i think we kind of all felt this way at the time she deleted her social media drove almost 1700 miles in a frantic loop between home and the desert and ultimately ended up wandering off alone into a sea of rock and heat another theory zoomed in on the crash itself the damage to the firm the airbag went off her mom talked about the possibility that erica took that hit to the face got out of the car concussed possibly bleeding definitely panicking and stumbled away dazed if you've ever had a concussion um then you probably know how weird and disorienting the world feels after right and now you add in extreme heat thirst and no clear idea of where the hell you are and of course if you've ever been to the desert you'll know what i'm talking about if you've ever been to the desert you'll know where the hell you are and of course if you've ever been to the desert you'll know where the hell you are and of course if you've ever been to the desert you'll know where the hell you are and of course if you've ever been to the desert you'll know where the hell you are from my understanding there really wasn't any public evidence to support a clear foul play narrative here by the time that erica's remains were found there unfortunately wasn't enough left to definitively say that she'd been attacked or vice versa if something did happen along those lines the desert had covered the tracks a long time ago the most likely scenario and i'm stressing likely here not proven was a horrible combination of all of the above a woman under immense emotional strain took a solo road trip into one of the harshest environments in california something happened with her she crashed into the berm the airbag hit her she left the vehicle disoriented and all alone and then in those next hours two strangers moved the one object that would have told searchers exactly where to start looking erica walked through the desert and out there with the sun dropping and no water the margin for error was zero what we do know for sure is that she didn't get the chance to come home and tuck her son into bed ever again her parents never got another phone call where she sounded maybe a little rushed but alive whatever final moment she had they likely happened in silence erica lloyd was a daughter a friend and the mom and dad of erica lloyd were both killed in a car crash and the mom and dad of erica lloyd of a 12-year-old boy who still has to live with the family fact that his mother went on a road trip to clear her head and then never came back. The desert around Joshua Tree and 29 Palms still looks the same today. The sand doesn't care that it's held the remains of hikers, cyclists, and a California mom who just needed a break. But somewhere under all of that, there was a line in the story where things could have gone differently. Maybe if the pandemic hadn't hit as hard. Maybe if someone had noticed how bad Erica was hurting sooner. Maybe if her car had been left where it actually crashed. We'll never know which of those maybes mattered most. We just know that the map everyone followed for months was wrong, and in a place like this, with the heat like this, sometimes being off by just a couple of miles is all it takes to lose someone forever. May Erica rest in peace, and please show her some love and support. And now, let's get into our next story. 5 Everest Climbers Who Never Left The Mountain Dead Or Alive And for this kind of video, it only makes sense that we put these stories in some sort of order. I'll be ranking these stories based on how many times the climber's body has been seen by other climbers. And so you'll need to stick around to the end because what happened in our last story is so shocking that it changed the way I view Mount Everest forever. On May 15th, 1982, Marty Hoey and a group of teammates packed up their gear, and climbed out of Camp 5 at around 25,000 feet. They were strapped into their harnesses and ropes, and they were pulling themselves slowly up the mountain at about a 45 degree angle. When they reached 26,600 feet, Marty and one of her teammates, Jim Wickwire, stopped to rest for just a brief moment. While this was happening, another teammate asked Jim to pass up some rope, and in order for this to be accomplished, a very simple move had to happen. Marty needed to lean, slightly back on her harness, to let Jim pass by her. And as she began to do this, she had no idea that she only had a few seconds left to live. Marty was young, fearless, and well before her Everest attempt, she had made a name for herself. Born in 1951, Marty grew up with a love for the mountains, working at ski resorts and national parks in her time off between school. And speaking of school, everyone that knew her back then knew that school was not going to be where Marty peaked. Marty started working as a professional guide on Mount Rainier, which she summited over 100 times. At only 23 years old, she would end up summiting Lennon Peak in Tajikistan, which is only about 5,000 feet lower than Everest's peak. And then three years later, she summited Nandi Devi, which is only 3,000 feet lower than Everest's peak. She also led several expeditions to Denali in Alaska, which is a brutal climb, as well as many technical events. Hikes across the Rocky Mountains. Marty was obviously an elite climber, so it came as no surprise to anyone that she soon decided to take on Mount Everest and to try to make history in the progress by setting not one, but two different records. When Marty turned 30, she announced that she would be not only climbing Mount Everest, but that she was attempting to become the first American woman to ever do so, and that she would be doing it on a never before traveled route up the north side of the mountain. And in April of 1982, Marty, who was now 31 years old, began her ascent of Everest alongside an all-male team. Due to a sloppy monsoon season, the mountain had become more like exposed rock and hard ice than usual, if that makes sense, but Marty's team was ready to overcome anything. The 16 men that she went up with wanted her to set that record just as much as she did. After about three weeks of climbing Mount Everest, Marty was able to climb Mount Everest, and she was able to climb Mount Everest, climbing, making camp, resting, and then climbing some more. The group made Camp 5 at around 25,000 feet, but now they faced a new challenge, a steep climb up rock and ice in order to reach a safe area to establish Camp 6, which sounds very daunting, but this would be basically the last step before making their final summit push, and so there was added excitement to this particular day. But Marty would never make it to Camp 6. Nor the summit, for that matter. She would never go on to become the first American woman to reach the highest point on Earth. After pushing up the mountain for a while, Marty and Jim took that break I told you about earlier, and when Jim needed to pass by her, she leaned back slightly on her harness. And when she did this, she heard a sound that no climber ever wants to hear. A metal click, meaning that her harness was unbuckled from the fixed rope. In a moment of sheer horror, Marty's teammates watched as a buckle on her harness opened up and then plunged 6,000 feet down into a deep crevasse. This is the kind of stuff that makes me never want to climb Mount Everest, because just like that, she was gone. All that she left behind was her ice axe, which remained stuck into the side of the mountain. The men around her were just stunned, you know, in total disbelief at what they just saw, and eventually they mustered up the strength to retreat back down to Camp 5. The very next day, a few of them went on a search mission for Marty, but this was more symbolic than anything else. I mean, she was gone, they knew this. Almost mercifully, a giant storm rolled over Mount Everest the very next day, and this gave the group their final excuse to call it quits. One of the climbers from the group claimed that Marty Hoey was the world's best high-altitude female climber, and on her last day, she was found dead in the middle of the mountain. The only mistake was that her buckle was slightly loose, likely due to her fingers being numb and her not being able to actually feel if it was locked in. If it wasn't for that simple mistake, she would have most likely summited Mount Everest, made history, and of course, survived. Again? My life is booked and busy. I don't have time to try on a million outfits that still don't feel right. That's why I get styled with Stitch Fix. My personal stylist sends outfits picked for my size, style, and budget so I can get dressed and get on with my day feeling confident. It's no risk, all style. Free shipping, free returns, no subscription required. Get started today at StitchFix.com. That's StitchFix.com. You're listening to a quick ad. You know what else is quick? Selling your car on Carvana. Just put in your vehicle information and we'll give you an offer. Done. No hassle, no negotiation, no guy from an online listing lowballing you. Which means by the time I'm done explaining this, you could have basically done it. Still haven't started? Hey, better late than never. Sell your car on Carvana.com. Car today on Carvana. TXU.com. Rep number 10004. The grim reality is that Marty's body most likely won't ever be discovered. Some Sherpas considered a recovery effort, but without any sort of clues as to exactly where her body could have, you know, just disappeared to after the fall, it just wasn't worth the risk to the Sherpas. Now, it is possible that an Everest climber on the north side might one day come across her remains, but this seems incredibly unlikely. From my research. However, this next story is about another person whose disappearance made it seem like finding their body would basically be impossible until it wasn't. How the hell does that happen? Okay. We're going to have to travel back in time right now. 139 years to be exact to meet a man who I'm sure a lot of you have heard of named George Mallory. Now I have told a decent amount of George's story in previous videos, but he is so significant to Mount Everest history that there's no way I can make this video. I'm going to have to travel back in time. I'm going to have to without finally telling his full story. George was born in a quiet British village, but quiet maybe isn't really an accurate description of George himself because from a young age, he was a standout in school, social life, and sports. At 16 years old, he went on a hiking trip to the Alps where he fell in love with high altitude mountaineering, but given his age and his point in life around this trip, there was a question that haunted him and haunts everyone at this stage of life. And that of course is what was George going to do for a career? After graduating from university, George chose a much more admiral career than YouTube. He chose teaching. And by all accounts, George was a superstar teacher, but like the, I don't know how to say this, the kind of teacher who the other teachers didn't really like that much. He was a bit of a know-it-all, but he was happy because once again, he was this standout person. He always had been. But in 1914, history reminded him and millions of other young men just like him, how quickly you can go from being a standout to just another body. I'm talking of course about World War I, where Mallory enlisted in the British army. For almost five years, he fought across France and England. And so in basically the blink of an eye, George had gone from being, an energetic 22 year old to a 32 year old war veteran and a father. He returned to being a teacher after the war, but you know, after everything he had experienced, this career just wasn't thrilling for him anymore. He wanted to stand out once again, like he had before the war. And he realized that the place where he stood out the most wasn't in the classroom or on the battlefield for that matter, but at the peak of a mountain. And so George started reaching out to his old climbing buddies, expressing interest in the world, and he started to learn about the world. And so in 1921, one of these friends sent George a fateful invitation with a letterhead from a brand new organization. The name of this group made George's eyes widen with both excitement and also with fear because it was the Mount Everest committee. George was recruited for the first official recon expedition of Mount Everest, which had never been summited before at this point. He would need to be away from his family for many months. And so George was recruited for the first official recon expedition of Mount Everest, which had never been summited before at this point. He would need to be away from his family for many months and resigned from his teaching job. But George and his wife agreed that he couldn't say no to this opportunity. In 1921, George and his team established the Tibetan route that would take them up the Northern Ridge, but they weren't able to summit that year due to some weather issues. And then in 1922, they tried summiting three more times, but they failed each and every time. And so after this, they'd have to wait until 1924 to try again. And with his age, George knew that this expedition would be his final shot. George's 1924 expedition included several other hotshot climbers, including 22-year-old Sandy Irvin. This time, they would attempt to summit in pairs so that if something went horribly wrong, they wouldn't lose, you know, the entire group, all of their climbers at once. The first pair that made an attempt was George Mallory and Jeffrey Bruce, and they almost made it, but had to stop short because of crew illnesses. And so two days later, George chose to go up with a different partner, Sandy Irvin. He chose Sandy because of Sandy's experience with supplemental oxygen. On June 8th, 1924, George and Sandy left their porters at the final camp and ascended towards the peak. A photographer tried to like follow them from afar, but rolling clouds shrouded them every few minutes. And so the photographer wasn't really able to follow them super close to the peak. However, at 1250 PM, the clouds cleared out for a brief moment, and George and Sandy were actually seen on a rock step at an elevation of about 28,230 feet, only about a thousand feet away from the summit. This was the highest that anyone had ever climbed, and they were going higher and higher by the minute. And so the crew celebrated. Technically, history had already been made just by the altitude they had reached, and they were able to climb up to the peak. They believed that, you know, even more history was going to be made that day when they reached the peak. But the clouds would end up rolling in once again, and this obscured George and Sandy. Nighttime came. Soon after, night fell. And the next morning, some crew members returned to the highest camp in order to meet George and Sandy there, presumably after they had come back down from the summit. But when these crew members arrived, there was no sign of George or Sandy. The crew even put sleeping bags into a T-formation, and the rest of the crew members were left on their own, and they had to leave on their own. And that afternoon, the code switched to six blankets in the shape of a cross, which was the sign of death. I mean, it was impossible for them to have survived a night on the mountain, and so, for now, it would be their grave. Officially, the first people who summited Mount Everest were Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay in 1953. But I think that's at least a very large possibility that George Mallory actually made it first. And so does respected historian Tom Holzol, who is fairly certain that Sandy gave George his personal supplemental oxygen so that George could go on and reach the summit on his own. Tom believes that the rope connecting Sandy to George ended up breaking, and that Sandy died due to a fall, and that George, after reaching the summit, had no way of coming back down and died near the peak. So, I think that there's at least a very large possibility that George Mallory actually made it through. In the decades after their disappearance, pretty much every expedition was on high alert for any clues leading to their bodies, right? In 1936, a climber named Frank Smythe claimed to have seen one of their bodies using a high-powered telescope. And then in 1975, several Chinese climbers claimed to have seen two English deads, but not knowing the potential significance, they buried the bodies before they could actually say who they were. Or at least, that's the official story. There may have been a cover-up from the Chinese. But if we take that at face value, that's two potential sightings over 75 years. And that was it. And so fast forward to 1999, when the official Mallory and Irvin research expedition was launched with the hopes to discover two things. First, the bodies, more likely Sandy's rather than Mallory's, because they believe that Sandy died closer to the highest camp. And second, a vest pocket, Kodak camera that George used, which potentially could have evidence of whether or not he reached the summit, like a photo from the summit. This would change history. And so those were the things they were trying to find. But to be honest, the odds of finding them were not good. I mean, using the analogy of like a needle in a haystack pales in comparison. I mean, you're looking for a needle on the world's tallest mountain, like not good odds here. And yet somehow on May 1st, 1999, one of the searchers from this expedition, Conrad Anker, stumbled off the path and came across a pile of clothing and a rope. And as he kind of was poking around investigating this clothing, he touched something that was rock solid. I think you know where I'm going with this. It was a frozen corpse, a massive, massive discovery. And at first, Conrad Anker thought that he had found the body of Sandy Irvin. However, when he looked at the jacket that was kind of, you know, still over the body, the label said, double red G Mallory. He was completely shocked. That's probably the biggest understatement of this entire video. George Mallory, his body, it was right there in front of him. And of course, George's body had deteriorated, but the possessions that were found with it were very much intact. However, his pockets did not contain a camera, nor did they contain a photo of his wife, which George had stated publicly he would place at the peak of Everest if he made it. And of course, that photo was never found at the peak of Everest. The coordinates of Conrad Anker's discovery were marked and a crew would return the following year to further examine the body. But the weird part is, and this is a little hazy, but when a team returned to the exact coordinates, George's body was gone. And my understanding is that it hasn't been seen since, which just tells me that something is going on here that may be beyond normal Everest mystery stuff. I don't know. But the last update that we got to this story was, just this past year, 2024, when Sandy Irvin's boots and a part of his leg were discovered. However, the rest of Sandy's body and the entirety of George's body are still up there on the mountain waiting to be discovered by someone else, or I guess in George's case, rediscovered. And so obviously George Mallory's body may not be the most visible on our list, but this next body may come dangerously close to taking that honor. Sometimes Mount Everest produces warnings for climbers that if you choose to ignore, you are risking everything. And when our next Everest-er ignored her warning, it wasn't just deadly, but it literally changed Mount Everest history. This episode is brought to you by TXU Energy. If you're looking for a better way to save on electricity, both night and day, look no further. Other than TXU Energy, free nights and cool summer. It gives you free energy all night, every night, all year long. Plus a 25% bonus toward your daytime use every summer. It's the only plan that lets you use free energy to get more savings. So while nights are always free, summer days are now always discounted. With savings like that, you'll never look at a free nights plan the same way again. Learn more at TXU.com. Rep number 10004. 50s, great polo collection. Remarkable. He squints, reads it again, smiles and says, Dang, that's a good offer. No haggling, no hassle. Astonishing. Is your closet ready for summer? I used to dread. Shopping. Hours browsing online or fighting the store with no guarantee I'd find anything I liked. That's why Stitch Fix is my secret weapon. My stylist knows the trends and what actually works on me. Then sends it straight to my door. Free shipping, free returns, no subscription needed. A holiday deal this good. Obviously deserves an enormously expensive holiday song. Like, all I want. Right. Okay, we can't afford that. You know what? Greater than 50 gigabytes. May slow when network is busy. See terms. Hannelore Schmatz was born in Germany in 1940. And unlike some of the other people, we've talked about in this video, she didn't grow up as an elite athlete. You know, she did enjoy hiking, of course, but dreams of reaching the world's tallest mountain were only just that, dreams. But that would all change in 1962, when Hannelore married a man named Gerard, who was a high-altitude climber. And it was Gerard who introduced Hannelore to the possibility of her becoming a mountaineer, too. Over the next decade, the husband and wife took on the smaller peaks of the Alps, as Gerard showed Hannelore the ropes. Get it? Ropes. Okay, I'll focus. And something I want to make clear here is that Hannelore wasn't just, like, following her husband's lead. I mean, he was encouraging her to guide other hikers and build her own intuition, knowing that one day they might need to make decisions on their own. Between 1973 and 1978, the couple went on an absolute tear in the Himalayas, climbing higher and higher mountains. Hannelore became one of the faces of German climbing, because she was setting records left and right. And so it was only fitting that in 1979, the couple took on the Himalayas' crown peak, even the world's crown peak, Mount Everest. Hannelore did most of the prep work for this expedition. Much like Marty Hoey, Hannelore was the only woman in her crew, but, you know, with her husband by her side, she felt truly unstoppable. They made it through a giant blizzard, and once they arrived at Camp 3, the crew split into two smaller parties who would make individual summit pushes. The first team to push up was led by Gerard and didn't include Hannelore. On October 1st, 1979, Gerard and the first team reached the summit of Mount Everest and then made it back to camp before nightfall. The second team started their summit push early in the morning of October 2nd, and they were feeling confident. There was no reason to worry. They were able to make it to the top of Mount Everest, and they even had Gerard watching from below in case something went wrong. By this point in their expedition, this second team was very used to the sounds of heavy breathing, boots crushing into snow, and wind just whipping into their faces. But as the morning wore on, a new sound crackled through Hannelore's walkie-talkie. And this was a extremely panicked Gerard who warned them of bad weather reports and suggested that they turn around and head back to the summit. When she heard this over the walkie-talkie, Hannelore kind of paused to look around. And other than some light snow, the weather, the conditions weren't anything out of the ordinary. Like, it seemed fine. What's the deal with this warning my husband just gave me? And because of this, the second team decided to push on, thinking that Gerard was just being overprotective of his wife. And almost as if the spirit of Mount Everest was listening to that walkie-talkie, the weather conditions worsened almost immediately after they continued on. Heavy snow rolled in, and it became a grind to get to the summit. But despite these difficulties, the second team actually did make it to the summit right around 1.30pm. Hannelore did become the fourth woman to ever summit Mount Everest. But now, on the way back down, she had to avoid becoming the first woman to ever die on Mount Everest. The weather was getting worse by the minute, and Hannelore, as well as another climber named Rae Jeanette, were starting to succumb to exhaustion. And as I'm sure a lot of you guys know, there is no worse place for a nap than in the death zone of Mount Everest during a storm. As the sun went down, Hannelore and Rae were not well enough to descend without risking a fall. And so, they laid down on the icy slope near the South Coal, but that didn't mean that they were giving up. Hannelore thought that she was prepared for this kind of situation. She started making a bivouac, which is basically shelter without a tent. The Sherpas begged the two climbers to keep descending, having never seen this kind of shelter work so high on the mountain. But Hannelore and Rae stayed. One Sherpa named Sung Dare decided to spend the night with the two of them, trying to do his job, trying to protect them. Folks, imagine trying to fall asleep in below freezing weather, with only a third of the oxygen that you need to survive, and all this without a tent. And unfortunately, Rae's hypothermia didn't allow him to do this. He struggled until, sadly, he passed away before morning came. Hannelore and Sung Dare somehow made it through the night, and now, they had to hurry up. Sung Dare developed frostbite so bad that his fingers and toes were turning black, and Hannelore was barely able to move at all. At some point during their descent, if you can even call it that at this point, Gerard just straight up collapsed. She sat in the snow, resting on her backpack, and she begged for water. And tragically, those would be her last words. Sung Dare went on without her, surviving, barely, but losing most of his fingers and toes in the aftermath. And this probably goes without saying, but more than anyone, Gerard was devastated. I mean, he did everything he could have to try to get his wife up and down the mountain safely, but the warning sign that he gave her over that walkie-talkie, unfortunately, just wasn't enough. Ray's body was hidden quickly by snowfall, and by early 1980, it had already disappeared. But Hannelore's body did the opposite. It sat on the mountain right above Camp 4 on the southern route for years. Eyes open, face wind-etched, hair moving through the wind. This is a perfect example, as much as it pains me to say this, of, you know, a deceased climber's body becoming a landmark. In fact, Hannelore's body landmark, feels weird saying that, you know what I mean, though, was even given a nickname, which was the German Woman. In 1984, a recovery effort was made by local police because, you know, having a visible dead body sitting between Camp 4 and the summit wasn't a very good look. But in that effort, a police officer and guide both ended up falling to their deaths. And so, no more recovery efforts were made, and Hannelore's body sat there for three more decades. It was one of the bodies that defined the infamous area of Everest known as Rainbow Valley, named after the scattered colored jackets of climbers who, unfortunately, didn't make it off the mountain. Many people wrote about seeing her body almost as if it was like a rite of passage. At some point around 2014, Hannelore's body was pushed over a ridge. Just by the elements and out of the line of sight of most climbers, but her life and her impact on hundreds of Everest climbers after death put her into legendary air. So now we're getting into the real likelihood of seeing a body on Everest. And this next story is about someone who is taking every single precaution on their climb. Someone who did stop at the first warning sign. And even then, Marco Letenaker still makes it. Marco was born in 1959 in Slovenia. A country obsessed with mountains. But instead of traditional climbing, he went into competitive ski mountaineering. A brutal combo of high altitude climbing, cross country, and of course downhill skiing. And that sounds intense obviously, but I want to be clear that Marco wasn't a daredevil. He worked in mountain rescue, learned basic engineering to fix gear, and was known for being cautious and precise. After placing 6th at the 2000 Everest Games, World Skiering Mountaineer Championship. he kind of changed things up in his life and the following year 2005 he joined an everest expedition on the northern route obsessively preparing mastering his gear and studying past everest disasters like so many serious climbers do marcos summited mount everest on may 21st 2005 in as pretty much of a textbook fashion as you could possibly imagine they had a tight weather window to get back down but marcos party knew about this and so they took no pauses for glory on the summit marco essentially just tapped the top took a quick photo and then started to carefully descend and as he did he noticed that his mask wasn't fitting him right there was this small hiss coming out from right under his nose and so he adjusted on the fly or at least that's what he thought he did he thought he fixed it and he kept going and at least for the moment he kept breathing but a few minutes went by and the problem with his mask persisted he knew he had to fix this before things got worse and so he stopped descending for a moment to focus on the oxygen kit but his hands were moving slowly and each time he thought he had it and started to descend again the hiss came back and so he had to stop again marco was trying to fix the issue himself and he didn't ask anyone for help but maybe he should have because in hindsight anyways it's obvious that he most definitely needed some help in this moment the difference between this equipment issue and any other equipment issues he had faced before was not actually in his gear but in the setting itself taking even just a few short minutes to fix a mask on a normal mountain well that's one thing but taking a few minutes to fix an oxygen mask in the death zone of mount everest is well a borderline death sentence eventually those minutes ran out and marco never made it back to camp his teammates learned the next day that he had collapsed quietly kind of laid down in the snow and died primarily due to lack of oxygen and folks marco actually died right below the summit on the route up to the peak which not only meant that his body was pretty much unrecoverable that year but also that it would be highly visible to future climbers for over a decade marco died right below the summit on the route up to the peak which not only meant that his body marco's body was visible to anyone climbing the northern route of everest people who described seeing him said that his mask just kind of sat right off his face like he was just about to solve the problem before he perished every single year there were conversations about sending a team up to recover his body but it was always decided that it would be too risky that is at least until 2017 this is when members of a private crew reached marco's resting site with the intention of doing something about it but when they reached marco's body they had to take a beat because what they saw was deeply disturbing his face was like fully preserved like the skin and all it wore a a pained expression almost as if marco had been choking on his last bit of air and they realized that marco's body would be just too heavy for them to move down the mountain and so the crew covered marco's remains with a white canvas one designed to withstand the elements for you know a long period of time they covered him up they performed a ritual and then they left the mountain now i haven't been showing you guys that many photos in this video just because most of them are too graphic for youtube i don't want to get my channel in trouble but i will show you this photo of where to this day you can still find marco's final resting place with his body covered in that white canvas just off of the northern route like the fact that it's still up there is just nuts to me um but not quite as nuts as this next body who happens to actually be an everest legend that you won't recognize by his name or names but rather by the nickname given to his body i'm talking of course about green boots if you're climbing everest on the north side you are almost guaranteed to see the infamous body known as green boots a frozen figure lying on the ground on the north side of the mountain and you can see him lying against the slope boots bright neon green jacket stiff and wind sculpt and again you've probably seen photos of green boots unfortunately i know for a fact i cannot show the those photos specifically i will get in trouble and so rather than focus on the photo i'm going to tell you about the man or possibly the men who people think is or was green boots and that probably didn't make sense let me explain these two indian men are to see wong paul jor and dorje maroop and get this they were both friends on may 10th 1996 their party tried to make a summit push that i'm sure they would have all liked to take back now may 10th 1996 may sound familiar to some of you it might hit a nerve because that's the same date of the highly reported disaster that took the lives of rob hall and scott fisher and was written about by john crack hour in his book into thin air but all of that craziness was happening on the southern route of everest on the north side of green boots on the northern route paul jor and more opes party was just about to reach the summit when they were hit by an unexpected blizzard half of their party bailed immediately they didn't want to take any chances but paul jor and more op and their party leader pushed on and at 3 45 pm the three of them reached the summit this was obviously a big deal for them because you know it's mount everest but it was also a big deal because they were hindu it added a spiritual importance to the accomplishment and as a result of that they were able to reach the summit and they were able to reach the summit as a result they spent way more time at the summit than is typically advised placing down prayer flags and offering gifts to the mountain but there was one massive issue that isn't super well known it's possible that due to poor visibility they might not have actually been on the summit at all and this is just speculation it's definitely not confirmed but it is certainly possible that where they were doing this ritual was actually about 430 feet below the summit on a false peak and if this is true it might explain why their descent down was not so blessed after they reported via radio that they had summited we didn't get any more updates from their team at around 7 30 pm base camp saw two headlamps moving through the darkness and they assumed that it was paul jor and more op flash forward a couple hours an unknown amount of hours but not that many and the mystery of the exact identity of green boots was born there were two separate sightings from two separate groups of japanese climbers one of paul jor alive and one of morup also alive the first report was that in his green boots paul jor was heading slowly down the mountain the second report was that morup was refusing to put his gloves back on and after he accepted some help with his rope he kept descending neither of them were able to reach the summit and they were able to reach the top of the mountain team realized that these were the missing indian climbers they had been told about earlier and so no one thought to like rescue them and as a result both of these sightings would go on to be the last times that paul jor and morup were ever seen alive while most people believe the body known as green boots which you know found its final resting place in a small rock cave you know right off the main route most people believe that it belongs to paul jor due to the matching description of the boots however the body was found without any gloves in sight and based on where the japanese climbers claim to have come across morup that means it's possible that it is actually his body and again unlike most of the other climbers that i've talked about in this video green boots his body rested directly on a well-used climbing route and so for years the body served as a literal trail marker like people would say when you see green boots you know you're getting close and get this uh there has never been a successful attempt at removing green boots even though his body has been partially covered by snowfall and rocks to this day everest climbers can still see a streak of neon right off of their route to the summit and there's two things that really get me about this story the first is that there is definitely still a body up there that hasn't been discovered belonging to either morup or to paul jor whoever isn't actually green boots and i wouldn't be surprised if that other body is still there and i wouldn't be surprised if that other body is still there and is actually discovered fairly soon and so just keep that in mind when the next climbing season comes around for everest and the second thing is kind of emotional to be honest um this thought just really gets me the thought of one of these two men excitedly going shopping before this trek you know the biggest trek of their lives and thinking like we all do something along the lines of should i buy you know the fun colorful pair of boots he didn't choose plain boots he wanted a cool and awesome climbing mount everest just like george mallory did and that's the reason why i think green boots is a perfect but totally depressing symbol for mount everest in one moment it can feel cool awesome even conquerable but one day of bad weather or one piece of advice not taken or one malfunctioning mask or one unclipped harness or one torn rope and just like that everest turns into your tomb folks please show some love for all the videos that you've watched i hope you enjoyed this video and i'll see you in the next one bye Each of them had a full life and definitely had loved ones who wished they would have come home instead of becoming famous landmarks. So just keep that in mind when you're commenting. And now, let's hear about what happens when you ignore the most important warning of your entire life. And spoiler alert, it's bad. Worse than you can even imagine. Just after 3pm on the 4th of July 2012, runners in Seward, Alaska gathered at the starting line. And folks, this was not your typical 5k or fun run. The race that they were about to compete in was the infamous Mount Marathon race. A race so intense that locals insist that if you're not bleeding by the time you cross the finish line, you didn't try hard enough. One of the runners in 2012 was 65 year old Michael LaMaitre. And despite being in phenomenal shape for his age, the odds were stacked against him. Not only was this his first time running. But he had never even climbed the mountain before. Both of those things despite numerous warnings from the race directors that rookies should absolutely not, under any circumstance, have their first trip up Mount Marathon be during the race. That's a scenario ripe for disaster and sure enough, in 2012, disaster struck. One racer lacerated her liver. Another broke his legs and damaged his brain. And a third racer, the aforementioned Michael LaMaitre, disappeared off the face of the earth right after this photo was taken. And he has never been seen dead or alive since. How the hell was it possible for a man to vanish during a popular race? Were the race organizers to blame for his disappearance? And even with better organization, was the Mount Marathon race simply just too dangerous to go on? Lawsuits quickly followed the 2012 disaster. And people began to choose sides. Some argued that the race organizers had in fact failed LaMaitre. And at the very least, serious race changes needed to be made. And at the most, the race needed to be shut down entirely. But then again, others argued that the danger is part of the allure and tradition of the race. And that every runner, including LaMaitre, needed to be prepared for that. Safety versus thrill. Improvement versus tradition. These are the things that were debated following the infamous 2012 Mount Marathon race. And at the forefront of all these debates in Seward, Alaska, were these two simple questions. How the hell and why the hell did a man vanish halfway through a popular mountain race? This is the controversial story of the 2012 Mount Marathon race and the disappearance of Michael LaMaitre. Folks, this is a bizarre. And very controversial one. When I first learned about this case, or I guess more specifically when I learned that there was a disappearance during a race, I assumed it was going to be the story of an ultramarathoner disappearing from like a remote trail when he was like 50 miles into the race or just some extreme scenario like that. So when I learned the real details about the Mount Marathon race, I was shocked to be completely honest. Approximately 125 miles south of Anchorage is the small town. Of Seward, Alaska. There's not too much going on here. Less than 3,000 people call Seward home. And most of those who visit from elsewhere are doing so either as tourists or commercial fishermen. But regardless of if they're a resident, a tourist, or a fisherman, or anything else for that matter, all who visit Seward can't help but notice the rising slope of Mount Marathon, which dominates the landscape on the western side of town. And though Seward is usually quiet, the 4th of July. Is a major exception to this. Seward is home to the Mount Marathon race, which is one of the oldest races in the entire world. And it's largely considered to be the oldest mountain race in all of the United States. Every year since 1915, racers start at the center of town and then they shoot up and then back down Mount Marathon on foot. Now, I want to stress that though this is a mountain race, this is not like an ultramarathon, which I feel is what people usually think. Of when they think of foot races in the backcountry. Rather than being 30, 50, or even more miles long, the Mount Marathon race is only about 3.1 miles or just about equal to a 5K. This race, however, is definitely not your typical 5K. I think it's safe to say that it's far more intense and even dangerous. I'll explain very soon why that's the case, but for the moment, I just need you to take my word for it. The challenge and perhaps the danger. The danger are what make the Mount Marathon race so unique and what draws in its runners. There are a lot of people that want to compete in this race. So many that they actually have to use a lottery system to determine who will be allowed to run each year. And prior to the summer of 2012, one of the lucky winners of this lottery was 65-year-old Michael LaMaitre. Michael LaMaitre was no stranger to pushing his limits and honestly, his luck. It's reported that in the 80s, he signed up for a 210 mile cross-country ski race as an excuse to learn how to ski. Another time, he and a friend sailed off of the coast of Alaska from Anchorage to Homer, some 120 nautical miles in a leaking jerry-rigged boat. And that's just the tip of the iceberg. Michael clearly enjoyed the risk and to his credit, he did manage to survive it all the way until the age of 65. But in all of the things that he had been through a three mile heavily regulated race must have not seemed to be that extreme, right? Now, I don't know exactly what was going through his head. I'm just taking a guess there. But one thing that's not a guess is that the Mount Marathon race is quite extreme. In fact, when Michael LaMaitre received the letter congratulating him on winning a spot in the race, the letter came with a warning. Quote, do not make the July 4th race your first trip up Mount Marathon. The Mount Marathon race starts in downtown Seward, and it then winds through the streets of the town for about a half mile before it finally enters the woods. From there, the course goes straight up, gaining some 3000 feet over loose shale and mud while weaving in between cliffs and drop offs. Then once the climbing is done, runners reach a false summit known as Race Point. And once there, they have to turn around and make their way back down the mountain over snow fields, waterfalls, and many of the same cliffs they dodged on the way up. While climbing up to Race Point might be the most physically taxing part of the race, the speed and sometimes lack of control that racers experience on the way down makes descending the most dangerous part. The Wikipedia page for the Mount Marathon race even says, quote, it is not uncommon for the racers who finish to cross the finish line injured or bleeding and covered in mud. According to the challenges and dangers I just mentioned, racers must also contend with inclement weather. The race organizers apparently take pride in not canceling the race due to poor conditions. In fact, my understanding is that the only times the race has been canceled was either due to war, financial depression, or pandemic. And since this is Alaska we're talking about here, it almost goes without saying that wildlife is another potential hazard of the Mount Marathon race. So I imagine incidents with wildlife are rare. I did read at least one account of a racer escaping a less than pleased bear. So given everything I just presented to you, it might be easy to call for the end of the Mount Marathon race before we've even gotten into the details of the 2012 event. And to that I'll say the race may be too dangerous for some people, maybe even for most people, but for others, especially folks similar to LaMaitre, the danger of the race is almost what makes it fun. The brutality of the race certainly makes it unique, and sometimes a bit of risk is worth it in order to feel alive. After all, if we wanted to just play it as safe as possible, we could just sit inside all day and never do anything. That would definitely be safe, but it wouldn't be very fulfilling, would it? It seems as though the runners of the Mount Marathon race are more than happy to accept some level of risk in order to be a part of something special. There's also a lot of people who, at least on paper, have no objections to the race, but they sure as hell wouldn't want one of their loved ones competing in it. Now, I can't say this with certainty, but that seems to be how Michael LaMaitre's family felt leading up to the race in 2012. His wife and daughter reportedly tried to convince him not to run, but Michael didn't listen. And thus, on the 3rd of July 2012, he, along with his wife, found themselves at a pre-race safety meeting in Seward, Alaska the night before the race was going to take place. At this meeting, there was allegedly yet another warning to those who had never hiked up Mount Marathon. One of the organizers was reportedly quite blunt with the audience, actually, saying, quote, "If you have not been up that mountain before, you should consider going home right now, and you should not be in the race." Michael LaMaitre's wife apparently doesn't remember hearing this warning, though, there were several others at that same meeting who do. It's unclear to me exactly what went on here, but we do know that the Mount Marathon, race organizers made a considerable effort to warn first-time runners about what they were about to undertake. And so the next afternoon on Independence Day 2012, Michael LaMaitre along with 175 other racers began. Some personality quirks are really funny. Like I talk to my left foot more than I talk to my right. You know what's not funny and not a personality quirk? OCD. Although the term OCD is widely recognized, it's misunderstood by most people. It doesn't mean being tidy or clean. It's having obsessive fears, thoughts, and urges. You question your character, you question your safety. That's OCD. Breaking the OCD cycle takes effective treatment. Go to nocd.com to learn more. This holiday all plans, even unlimited, are just $15 a month. A holiday deal this good obviously deserves an enormously expensive holiday song like All I Want. All I Want. Right. Okay, we can afford that. You know what? 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Their charge up Mount Marathon, they started running and the half mile of pavement through the downtown area quickly gave way to a steep, muddy incline as everyone began scrambling up to race point, eager to turn around and begin their descent down the mountain. And while I'm sure that Michael was just as eager to do this as everybody else, his pace didn't necessarily reflect that. At 4.30 PM, a race photographer stationed halfway up the mountain snapped this photo of Michael. He's covered in mud. He's soaked, but it sure looks like he's having a hell of a time, doesn't it? It's important to note here that apparently at the time that this photo was taken, Michael was reportedly in dead last in the race. There were no other runners behind him and this photo would end up being his last. The photographer who snapped his last photo would not be the last person to see Michael alive. However, there was a timekeeper stationed at race point, which again is the turnaround point. And around 5 PM, a racer came through and told this timekeeper that he was in last place. This racer was not Michael LaMaitre, however. I guess this person was just confused. And so just to be safe, the timekeeper actually waited another 45 minutes standing there in cold, windy, and rainy conditions with no tree coverage, by the way, before finally making the judgment that no other racers would be coming up. It seemed like a reasonable judgment, I'm not going to lie, but unfortunately it was wrong. After descending about 200 feet below race point, this timekeeper actually noticed a man dressed in light running clothing that was still slowly making his way up the mountain. And one thing to note here, I got some conflicting reports about whether there was just one singular timekeeper or if there was like a group of multiple people. I'm not really sure, but either way, the timekeeper and this final runner still making his way up. We're not face to face, but we're rather about a hundred yards apart on different routes, but they were above the tree line. And so the runner actually yelled, out and asked if it was too late for him to finish to which the timekeeper told him it wasn't once again, they were only about 200 feet below the turnaround point. And despite the bad weather, it was still apparently visible through the clouds though. The man was moving slowly. The timekeeper didn't notice anything that suggested that he was in distress and the runner didn't ask for any help. The timekeeper shouted out and asked him for his bib number to which the runner replied 5 48. The timekeeper apparently texted race organizers that were back in town and told them that this last racer would be finishing up in roughly an hour and a half. It would turn out that bib number 5 48 belong to Michael Lemaitre. And once the timekeeper continued to descend down the mountain, Michael was now all alone on Mount marathon. I'm going to go off script for a second here, folks. I just want to say that I've noticed in other online discussions about this case, that the timekeeper, whoever they were, has gotten a lot of slack for leaving Michael up on the mountain. And you know, I'm not going to lie. I definitely think that scrutinizing that decision is reasonable and I'm sure people will be doing it in the comment section here too, but I just want to give you some perspective. I know a lot of you have experienced this, but I also know that a lot of you watching these videos aren't necessarily hikers. And so you might not have ever found yourself stuck above tree line when it's freezing cold, windy, and you're wet. I'm just going to tell you it's extremely uncomfortable. It sucks. And again, while the timekeeper probably should have waited for Michael or turn them around or something, I don't know. I'm not here to make that judgment. I can also understand why this person or people wanted to finally get out of the bad conditions and finally get back down and get warm and get clean and honestly get into a safer spot. So just something to keep in mind. By 8:00 PM, Michael still had not finished the race and his wife was now starting to get extremely worried. It's at this point that she alerted the authorities and a search was started almost immediately. And I think that's an important detail to note, by the way, because in so many of the cases I cover on this channel, searches aren't started until like days after somebody was last seen. Starting a search only hours after they were last seen, like happened in this case, greatly increases the chances of finding the lost person alive. One thing that was decreasing the chances, however, was the weather. Even though it was in the middle of the summer, remember this is Alaska we're talking about. It was raining, it was foggy, and it was cold. And since Michael was only dressed and equipped to be out for a few hours, he was definitely not prepared to spend the night outside. Hypothermia was a very real concern. In the hours following his disappearance, helicopters scanned the mountain using infrared technology and investigators on the ground tried to theorize about where Michael could have wandered off course. They wondered if he had missed the turnaround points and actually continued further up the mountain away from civilization, or if he had turned around in the right spot and then had an accident while descending the dangerous slope. The search for Michael continued for four days and zero clues were discovered. I'm talking absolutely nothing. Part of the search was even featured on the TV show, Alaskan State Troopers. Unfortunately, like I said, four days and no clues. So after that, the Alaskan State Troopers called off the search, but the Seward Volunteer Fire Department, as well as Michael's friends and family, pressed on. They looked over aerial photographs and they even brought in cadaver dogs. That's never a good sign, and it seemed at this point that they were likely looking for a body and the chances of finding Michael alive were very, very slim. Weeks went by, and still with no sign of Michael, the unofficial search slowly dissipated. It's also my understanding that at some point in the weeks, or I don't remember exactly months, I'm going off script here if you couldn't tell, that followed his disappearance, eventually his family had him legally declared dead. And as this happened, and as the search slowly dissipated, controversy was starting to brew about the 2012 Mount Marathon race, both in relation to Michael, but also in relation to its lack of safety generally. Michael LaMaitre's disappearance was a big part of the search, and it was a big part of the search. Michael LaMaitre's disappearance was not the only serious accident in the 2012 race. A female Iraq war veteran was descending during the women's race, and she accidentally slid off a cliff. This resulted in several broken ribs and a lacerated liver. And as if that wasn't bad enough, later that day, another runner, this time a man, fell off the same exact spot, breaking his legs and suffering severe brain damage. So all that in addition to LaMaitre's disappearance, and presumed death, obviously a lot of questions were starting to be asked about the Mount Marathon race. Was there anything that the race organizers could have done to prevent these accidents? Should the timekeeper or timekeepers have told Michael LaMaitre to turn around even though he was only 200 feet away from race point. Who was responsible for his disappearance and presumed death and who was responsible for the other accidents that happened at the race that year. Just about a year after the 2012 disaster Michael LaMaitre's wife actually sued the race organizers. These organizers were actually the Seward Alaska Chamber of Commerce and LaMaitre's wife claimed that she was owed five million dollars due to their negligence during the race playing a role in Michael's disappearance. She argued that the timekeepers had abandoned their positions at the halfway point before the last runner Michael had reached it. She also argued that the race should have been called off that year due to the inclement weather that they experienced but that race organizers had neglected to do so. The race organizers the Seward chamber of commerce fiercely defended their actions and the race itself in court. They argued that since Michael's body had never been found it's almost impossible to pinpoint exactly what happened and blame the race. They also argued that his poor vision meant that he was ill-prepared to be running in the first place. Apparently Michael was suffering from glaucoma at the time and he was actually in the process of recovering from a recent eye surgery. I will note that Michael's wife pushed back against this and claimed that his vision was improving. The race organizers strongest argument was that Michael and every other racer for that matter had been warned repeatedly about the dangers of the race. Every racer was told very specifically that they should not attempt the race if they had never climbed mount marathon before and racers also signed a waiver of liability in order to compete. Michael LaMaitre did not heed the race's warnings about first timers who had never climbed the mountain before. Ultimately the lawsuit ended up being settled for twenty thousand dollars far less than the original five million that Michael's wife was asking for. The accidents in 2012 also resulted in a few safety changes made to the race itself most notably that racers are now kept away from some of the dangerous cliffs. There's also a time limit for racers to reach the halfway point i'm assuming to prevent any stragglers from getting left behind again. And apparently the racers are also monitored much more closely while they're on the course these days. Now despite the settlement and despite the changes that were made to the race the race organizers maintained that they were in no way responsible for Michael LaMaitre's disappearance. The Seward Chamber of Commerce said quote the decision to resolve this matter referring to the settlement with LaMaitre's wife was a business decision made by the chamber's insurance company and is in no way an admission of liability. The evidence supports the conclusion that the chamber was not negligent and did not cause or contribute to Mr. LaMaitre's disappearance or presumed death in any way. LaMaitre's disappearance and the events that happened in 2012 at the race in general have raised a lot of almost philosophical questions about risk and responsibility in the outdoors. It goes without saying that, in the end, there's always going to be some risk. And I think we can all agree that some level of risk is worth it in order to live a fulfilling life as I mentioned earlier in the video. But a line clearly has to be drawn somewhere right? And much of the debate following the 2012 mount marathon race revolved around where exactly that line is. To this day there's still been no sign of Michael LaMaitre and his case remains a mystery. To this day, there's still been no sign of Michael LaMaitre and his case remains a mystery. My heart goes out to his friends and his family and I hope that someday they're able to get some closure. Assuming he's not out there somewhere I think it's pretty safe to say that unfortunately he's probably passed. May Michael LaMaitre rest in peace. 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