WCI #392: Heroes of My Life, Part 1
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This is the White coat investor podcast where we help those who where the White coat get a fair shake on wall street. We've been hoping doctors and other high income professionals stop doing dumb things with their money since two thousand eleven. This is White code investor podcast number three ninety two, the heroes of my life part one.

This episode is brought to by sofa, helping medical professionals like us bank barn and best to achieve financial illness. Sofa offers up to four point six percent A P Y on their savings accounts as an investment platform financial planning. A student on refinances featured exclusive ate discount for mid professionals and hundred dollar amount payments for residents.

Check out all the sofa offers that White cold investor that comes sash sofa months original red by sofi bank and a animal estis times six, nine one bizer services by the of the is security thrace ipc investment comes to this of loss terms distance may apply welcome to the White code industrial podcasts. I know many of you listening to this podcast in particular, this particular episode are not regular listeners to the White code investor podcast. So let me introduce you to you very briefly.

Uh this is a podcast about personal finance and investing for I arms you know mostly doctors, probably seventy five percent of the right to audiences as doctors and um you know other people listen to a chinese uh small business owners, engineers, tech workers is Better but typically high owners that's what most of the financial information is dear that now the truth of the matter is ninety five percent of personal finance and investment is the same for everybody and only about four percent of that is specific diagnose. Only about one percent of IT is specific to doctor. So even if you're not in that uh you know target audience for this podcast, you've probably find most of the stuff on this podcast still pretty relevant and useful to use.

So we encourage you to stick around even if you kind of just came for this particular episode. This episode is not going to be what we usually talk about on the podcast. We usually talk about you know financial planning, investing， uh, you how to make your career Better.

Things like that beating, burn out those sorts of problem. You are the real first, real problems for most of listening ers. But there are problems nonetheless.

Podcast doesn't be liked that. And in fact, I think a lot of the people listen to this are not doctors at all. I can be climbers or other outdoor ventures, friends of mine, family of mine, uh, people who just heard something bad happened to me.

I wanted to hear the details, and that's okay. We welcome you to podcast regrade you here. We hope you find some of this useful, but this episode is well as what we put on most podcast.

But for the next couple of weeks, working, talk about some trauma, some trauma that my self and my family, this was here, the right code investor had been through. More importantly, and i'm excited, do this introduced you to some of my heroes he hears on my life. I have a lot of new heroes now than I used, a lot more heroes now than I used to have in my life.

And i've been thanking doctors, not to listeners s this show for what they do in their daily lives for many years. Uh, I have a new level of gratitude when he comes to that. And you'll soon understand why as you listen to the rest of story.

Now, a regular listeners, who are those interested, really, anybody be aware that we have a real state web in our coming up? I'll be talking about real estate. This is the twelve of november at six P M. mount. Or can we talking about how to boost your returns, lower al taxes and build wealth in real state?

Will talk about how current interest rates, your impact in the real est market, our real state and fast track your financial freedom, the present cons of real state investment strategies, choosing the right real estate investments for your portfolio, not a maximum of real state tax deduction, are out there. Uh, when your questions and Q N A session afterward can be live november twelve, six P M, sign up White on investor. T comes flash real estate, weapon and arts, totally free.

As you listen to this podcast, keep in mind that there is material on the youtube channel version of this podcast that is not on the audio version of the podcast. I've included pictures from the climb from the rescue and videos of the actual rescue that are quite a bit more interesting than anything I can describe verbally. So highly recommend the youtube version of this particular podcast.

Okay, since many of you aren't doctors are listening to this, i'm going to try to do a good job of finding the medical terms we use in this a podcast in the next h since many of you are not climbers, i'm going to try to do good job of describing the climate terms that we use so that that Normal people can understand those. I'm in the best I can. If I don't define the term.

You don't know what IT is. This is just google that i'm sure that will be pretty quick to come up. You know, identities are interesting. Many of us out there identify ourselves by our work and were a doctor where a physician or dentist were an attack y or business owner, right? We identify ourselves as husbands, or wives, or brothers, or sisters, or parents or whatever, right?

One of the things I have identified as for much of my life is as a climate i've been climbed since I was fourteen years old. I was introduced to IT in boys counts. You know, we'd go to a local crag on spend an an hour two scampering around on our top open, trying to give the top of, uh, you know, some ridiculously hard climb over nothing, our usual gyp's, you know.

And I always seem very difficult backend. But as I became an older teenager, I became more more interesting than in the fact my first big climb was denali summer return eighteen. Just before return, eighteen has spent three weeks on the only alaska and successful we can reach that summer.

And after descending from there, I was hurt. no. And i've been climbing ever since, other than a few very short periods in my life, when I wasn't able to climb, whatever reason i've been climbed.

I love being mountains. I love the views, but is not about the summer most of the time. IT truly is, you know, the journey along the way that is most enjoyed.

Climbers are interesting people. A lot of us are dirt bags. You know, we get used to making some financial sacrifices in order to do what we love. They may may be living in out of a hand, quite literally, camping out, eating pretty cammy food, just in order be able to have the time to spend in the mount.

You know, that has been me and a lot of times in my life, you know, I can remember sleep in in a ditch down outside, lost vegas and uh in a tent and give up before clock in the morning to to hike in to to iraq and spend all day climbing and the type of climbing I like is not necessarily the particularly gymnastic climbing. I've never really love climbing indoors. For instance, climbing indoors feels to me like skin and ski resort, right? It's like skin, but it's not the same thing.

And, uh, climbing in the gym is like climbing, but is not the same thing. It's like a workout for climbing. I like long rounds in the mountains, spending all day on eight pictures of of a five, eight climb, which is a climb in reading eight pitches or rate rope.

Es, uh, sounds like a great day to me, you know, uh, a little bit of planning, a little bit of a hiking to get there, some great times with somebody I care about and a little bit of risk and some obstacles overcome. IT feels pretty to get to the end of the day like that. I have many, many great days like that in my life.

I'm not the world's best climate by any means. In fact, i'm considered, how are consider I climb roles that are consider by most to be quite moderate, not necessarily short or easy, but not terribly difficult in terms of sheer difficulty of the hardest st move on the road. Now climbs are raided by the hardest to move on the raft.

So if the whole climb is very, very easy, but there's one terribly difficult move, IT gets a difficult rating and um IT uses you know most climbing in the U. S. Uses the useless ity test system.

So a one is basically walking down a trail. Two is an up pilled trail. Three is where you're starting to scramble.

Maybe you using your hands uh, a little bit as you scramble around, but you know you don't really feel like you need a rope at a four. Most people want a rope. Guides would say they don't need a rope with the clients to do on a class for client.

Once you get to class five climbing, that's where most people are going to be using in a rope. Obviously, leaders, some people out there, that free solo client without ropes. I'm not one of those people for the most part.

And so and I do five class climate. I'm typically using a road. And that starts to five point one, five point two, five point three, five point four, five point five.

And actually these days goes all the way to five point fifteen, five, fifteen. Climb is far more difficult than anything i've ever climbed. And usually overhanging cleaning to the tiniest of holds for fifty year, one hundred feet, until you get to the top of that particular difficile crimp.

Most long climbs to type by enjoy are not five fifteens. You know, most we'll have a moderate rate like a five, seven, five, eight, five, nine, five, ten, those sorts of ratings. Next, most of the climate i've done over the years, because I love long climbs in the mount, the basic process of climbing is probably important for people to understand before.

Listen to the rest of this podcast, a typical climbing team is two climbers. We have one that is doing the climbing, doing the leading, and the other person is holding the other end of the rope is called blame. They are the blair and they're secured either on the ground or to the side of the mountain.

Um when they are doing that blame, they're essentially in quite a safe place and there's risk everything I suppose, but you're pretty safe for you're blame. The leader, on the other hand, is not safe. They are the one taking the risk that the phrase the sharpen of the road and as you lead, you put in protection, this is gear that attaches you to the Cliff that you are ascending.

IT might be both that have been drilled into the Cliff, and you just clip in a Carry on to them and attaching your rope to IT. Often times, IT is little metal checks that you wedge into a crack for active camin devices, they push off on both sides of a crack, then you attach the rope to that. And this way, if the leader falls, they will fall down to the last piece of protection, a place and that much further.

So if you put a piece in every ten feet, you can fall ten feet to that last piece of protection. And another ten feet beyond IT. So a twenty football would be what you are risking if you are putting in protection every ten feet.

If you are putting in protection every five feet, you're just in a ten football and said, and that's where works, when the leader gets to the end of the pitch or ropes, they secure themselves to multiple pieces of protection in the form of an anchor, and are secure often on a ledge, and then bring the blair or second climb up. Now, the beautiful thing about being the second climber is that you have a top of this rope goes straight from you up to your blair, your flayers now above you. And so if you fall, you know, there's a little stretch in the rope.

Maybe you fall six inches. And so it's really not particularly risky most of the time to be the second climate. The risk is taken by the leader and most clime teams alternate itches, right? One person leads one, and the other person leads one.

And one person leads one, the other person leads one. Sometimes they blocked them together and lead three or four in a row and then a switch, and sometimes one. The climate does also look, but for the most part, they swing leads one person leads one and then the other.

And so you're really only at risk half of the time because you're only leading half of the time. The rest of the time, your risk is much, much lower. And so as the basic process is a climate, as you work away our climb, if there's ten pictures on the climb, you'll do that process ten times with the leader, goes up and then brings a uh only one person is climbing at the time.

And so IT can be a slow process. But uh the longer the route, the faster you need to do the process and that matters how quickly you can transition from one leader to the next and um to do the various part of the climb in order to get to the time. So hope that help to you.

Now i've been climbing for a long time. I'm almost fifty years old, and i've gone to the point in my life where while my experience ed level is still increasing, my physical strengths and physical abilities are starting decrease. And the some of those two things is probably now starting the decrease.

I recognize this the last two or three years. And so i've been trying to take off the hard stuff, these routes that have been my bucket list for years that i've always wanted to do. And the last few years, i've been doing quite a few of us, especially as i've been able to work a little bit less, thanks to the financial principles that we usually talk about here at the White code industry.

An example of this, uh, is half to which I climbed last year with my main climbing in partner, Christian. We spent three days on half done. IT took us longer than we thought I would, but I never felt particularly dangerous.

IT was very chAllenging to us, but we climb the face of half some over the course of about two and a half days. And, uh, he was, he was a wonderful experience, an incredible place. This, just like I expected IT to be IT, was very hard for us, and we managed to do IT safely.

Uh, neither. We have any significant polls at all during the time we're run there, but I was great experience. I've spent a lot of time in the tea tons tea on national park.

You may have been to driven by maybe even done some hike in when I go to the tea toons, i'm not interested and go on the places most of the tourists are going. I'm interested in climb in the peaks. And there are a number of high peaks in the tea tons that climbers cherish.

They have been going there for many decades to climb these pegs. These include the grand tea on the middle, heat on the south, heaton, mount O N and t or not that the, uh, the five main peaks there. Another major peek is called mount maria, also quite high.

I've climbed all of these peaks by various routes over the years. I've done them with friends, i've done them with family. I climbed them with my wife, I climb b them with my children.

And, uh, he has been a wonderful time to experience these. A lot of these routes are just fantastic client. They are Sunny.

They have solid rock on them. They are beautiful and they're all in an incredibly stunning location. Sometimes there's some snow eyes involved, especially if you clime earlier in the summer than later in the summer.

And uh sometimes the routes have a some less than stunning aspects to them. You know maybe some loose rock, maybe some uh, chAllenging road finding, but many of the claims are not that hard, incredibly beautiful and fairly safe as rock climbing jumps. Not all of them are. However, in these last few years, when i've been trying to take off the hard stuff, I always wanted to do, one of the roots I did with a friend was called the grand, or rather the cathedral travers.

And this is a climb up, mount or not, along the ridge between two and on and mount on to the summer amount oil, and then down across ss, the grand stand, the formation of rock between mount own and the grand tea on after the north ridge of the grand tea on and then down the grand tea tone back to the parking lot um this is often done in a single push with no rest. And that's how we did. We started at uh one a clock in the morning or so and saw the sun rise on top t and the sunset on the summer of the grand heat on and got back to the car six hours later.

Uh, we were exhausted. We've been moving for twenty six hours at the time. That was a pretty incredible day in a pretty awesome accomplishment for us now that has been done as little as eight hours by incredible climbers that don't use much in the way of ropes protection um but that is not the kind of climbers we are were much more Normal climbers and IT took us over twenty four hour period to do IT.

Now while climbing in the north ridge of the grand tea on, we ve got a pretty good look at the north face of the grand tea on and this is around. I've wanted to do for many years, but did not. Why not? Because it's scary.

It's a scary route. okay? It's the longest climbing out on the grand tea town, which is the highest mountain in the tea tons, however, is also a pretty incredible a climate.

Who did IT in one thousand nine hundred eighty five, said, the north face of the grand is the most hauntingly beautiful place i've seen you above a glaser in a high jaggs circ was slowly but constantly changing light conditions. It's visually breathtaking. Each year, changing snow and ice conditions may make IT seem an entirely different climb from one year to the next.

And IT is is a beautiful place. I've been staring at that face for decades, wanting declining. Uh, you can see when you climb tea, not, you can see IT when you climb mount. O N.

Uh, you can see when you do the north ridge of the grand, you can see IT from the valley uh is, uh you know it's an iconic face and that is considered one of the fifty classic climbs of north amErica by a book of the same title and has been on the buck list of many climbers in the past. However, IT has been the scene of at least one major rescue. There's a movie out there are called the grand rescue and is the story of rescue that became in sixty seven on the north face, the grand tea time.

Seven rescuers rise their lives to save the severely injured climbers. Campaign cue to three hiring days and pushed the team in new abilities. Remarkably, the injured climate was critical of those who rise their lives to save. His two climbers became stranded high on ledge after a rock fall across. This causes the serious injury, and the rescue team came to their aid, relying on ina's skillman trust in one another to accomplish the burying rescue.

In this movie, the grand rescue, the rescue is the survivors relieved the trial with honesty, and una vash ed canter rescue captured the attention in the nature of the nation and left lasting impression on all involved. So if you're interested in learning more about rescues on the north, the grand teton, i'd suggest watching that movie. I think he came out in twenty eleven and can be found on the internet.

The website only in yamin said this about that rescue. And this was one of the few things on the internet about this road that I read prior to going to climate. Says in the one thousand nine hundred and sixty, mountain rock, climate was still in niche sport.

They worked any rock jams and climbers were seen as part of the counter culture in the mountains of the united states. One of the most popular climate destinations in the country was granted on national park. IT offered dozens of technical out student scenery and walking mean community of alpine climbers for years.

The north face, the grand ever, was considered one of the most chAllenging climbs in the world. This intimate route is technical, dangerous. And on many climbers, bucket ness IT was first ascended in one nine hundred and thirty six, but I had eluted many climbers in the years following the rain.

Hugh and gilead cambell were attempting the road, nearly completed their climb on August twenty first. Note that date, nineteen sixty seven. And disaster struck just below the summer.

Large blocks broke loose and send cambell tumbling down the rocky face. He was injured, bad. He made a splint with her eyes, pig and rap her partner and sleeping bag, and began to cry for help.

SHE flashed S, O, S with her flashlight, but never saw in your response. There was no way for her to make IT down the face with campus on our own. Maracota ly, two climbers, her cries for help from the north face while they were climbing.

Now own, they raised down to the june lake anger station reported to, well, timmy. They showed up at timi ranger cabin door to report the wall on mount own. And theyd heard cries for help from the north face.

Raf ti, just twenty two years old, called out to the other rangers and began to assess the situation. There had never been a rescue on the north states. Deny saw huge flashlights and responded in kind, but he was never able to make out his response as the participant.

The first night on the grand SHE was unaware that a team of talented mounties was making their plan tiny along with other raindrops. Peace tinkin crees part employees ted Wilson, later the mayor sell late, and mike earmark made up the rescue team. Just so happened the world class mountain years, lee ordinary burger and bobber vine, the summer of the grand.

And quickly descended to help the efforts. The rangers were air lifted to a ledge on the north face, began their daring rescue attempt. The only way to help cambell was to lower him two thousand feet to the tea on grass, where a helicopter could remove him.

He was placed in a stretcher, stabilizes broken leg, and the rescue began the radioed for the needed supplies and had to spend a night on the mountain. Waiting for the helicopter to the deliver the needed rope cables in more thing the next day they're able to carefully to send one hundred feet. The climbers spent one more night on the grand tea time before the final day when they reached the the team work for hours to create a support icp ter pick up cambell, and he made IT to the hospital.

At that evening, the rescue team head back down to the genuine cabinet where they found the case of beer weight for them. After three exhAusting in dangerous days in the north days they achieved when many thought was impossible and save gilot campus life, they never heard from cambell out to that until he criticized the rescue and documentary. Cambell claimed the clammers should have Carried him.

My backpack style, which had been quicker, would put his life at risk to a chance of severing arteries in his leg. Sorry, I get emotional telling this story. IT comes little close to hometown.

Let me tell you a little bit about this route, the northeast, the grantee tum. The first exploration of this row was done in one thousand nine hundred thirty three about paul petz, les. He trovers in from the north ridge to check out the row possibilities, but he wasn't until nineteen thirty six that made the first sent with his brother elder and jack dance.

Dance was an exceptional climate, one of the most famous climbers the day, and did most of the leading they were to meet up the last five hundred feet and traversed up to the north ridge. And what is known as the second ledge, the complete north east, wasn't climbed until one thousand nine and forty nine. I dick panel, rag garner are guilty.

Y, in the fading light of dusk. Panel, and lock the to the update face with this brilliant lead of the pendulum pitch as pitch which he swung, crossed on the rope. Pendulum's was later free, climbed, obviously with a road not free, slowing on the second accent to one thousand nine hundred and fifty three by dick emmerson.

So a description is, this route is you hike cup for a couple of hours on trails from the parking light. You gained three thousand vertical teacher. So, and then you leave the trail.

You weave through a marine, the debris left behind by the tea on glaser, and climb up that, and then eventually reach the glacier self and continue to ascend with Spikes on your feet called crampons, and a nice sex in your hand to secure yourself to the glaces. You assent at this point to another two thousand vertical feet. So you've climbed five thousand vertical feet since the time you left the parking.

Then you come to the end of the glaser and you discover that he has melt IT IT away from the wall of the mountain. This is called a bird train, or a mote. And a moat can be pretty deep.

You have to get across IT onto the face of the rocket self. You then climb several pictures of nondescript and difficult to describe loose rock with chAllenging around finding before you get into the guano chimney. The first are named pitch on the road.

And obviously not always the most pleasant, given that is often covered in guano. That leads to what's called the first ledge. Then I send up this first ledge, which is quite long and actually a not flat at all.

Then climate pitch up to the second ledge. From that point you can escape from the road. You can get over to the usual the center, which is on the west side of the mountain.

From the second ledge, the harder pitches start showing up on this round, including the famous pendula pitch, as well as one that's called the traverse into the v and you move on to the summer. Once you reach the summer, you go down the standard to sent round, which involves a couple of repel s and quite a bit of downcycled them. Hours of hiking. Something is taken me about six hours to do in the past, from the summit back to the parking lot.

That's the route that I went to climb the t toons on August twenty first of twenty twenty four is a step that I wanted do for a long time and uh plan carefully gotten into excEllent shape for gathered all the appropriate gear fore and felt like I had the skills to accomplish in the rest of this podcast and the next podcast, i'm going be interviewing some guests. All of these guests are my heroes. There are other heroes.

They are not guests on this pot, guests that also had a role, the story. But let's start by introducing the gas that we're going to show up in these two pod gas, right? Thank you.

Doctor dally. Appreciate you have me here, but i'm doctor quint then hf currently live in idaho falls, idaho, work at eastern idaho gono medical center, and I work in emergency department. So i'm A A R physician.

Name is brand and Kelly. I'm a neuroses surgeon iho falls ito, 好。 And I take call at A H level two trauma center. And I have a general neurology practice, and I also do complex fine reconstruction.

My name is then Chris. I am a genetic climbing ranger granted on national park.

right? My name is Michael. And I do a bunch of seasonal work in the national parks. And I got a job working at as a Jenny late ranger for grantee town national park about eight years ago.

My name is bread Stevens, and I am the COO, the White code investor, which means I run the daily day Operations I live in and see in the utah, actually very close to gem.

So i'm Christian, five hour. I'm an E R. doctor. I live in new creek, which is uh, kind of party slip city, and I worked at a few local hospitals, ran here in year.

So i'm kid di. I married to gym. I am the t fuck product offers here, the White coat vester. And we live in the suburbs of select city, utah.

Okay, let's talk about the mountain because this is a place union a lot of time in the last twenty five years. What of the mountain meant to our family over the last twenty five years?

The mounds are very special place to us. It's really amounts are a happy place. We like to go to the mountains. There's just something calling and peaceful about being in the mountains and just connecting you to nature.

And so we spend a lot of time doing a variety of activities in the mountains, from hiking to mountain biking, climbing, cineworld ing skin. We like to be the mountains, and we get there as often as we can. There's a reason we live at the base of the mountains and their mile from her home to be hiking in participating month.

when we moved up to utah, after by time in the military, we deliberately put a point at the mouth of little conward kenyon drew a two uh mile radius circle around that and looked at every home for sale in that circle those the in the homes we look at to buy we wanted to be near the mountain little kind. Canin is as two world class ski resource, as rock climbing and ice climbing and mountain biking and road biking. Biking a back country.

Skiing is a beautiful place. There's a reason we live here. And because we like to spend time doing that stuff is great to be able to do IT within minutes of the house.

You know we ride our bike right out of the garages. There's no driving to the trail head and uh Frankly, we can go trail running right out of the garage as well. So it's so it's been a wonderful thing for us. Be in the mountain at .

the grand teton, a special place. There's nothing you know regardless of whether you do in a day and you're starting you one two o'clock in the morning or if you're starting from the upper satel, you know five A R R, the lower satellite, five A M.

It's you know it's it's dark when you first start climbing and as you watched that sun come up and you just have these glorious views, uh, I wish I could take you to that final ridge you're sending up to the summit and you're just looking, you know, down this, the ridge of mountains and off to you've got wiping off to one side and I hole off the other side and you just feel like you're on top of world. It's really uninspiring. And so the grantee town is a special place, is beautiful lakes around and IT just got some incredible views up top.

And so we enjoy climbing IT. And it's a reason it's sort of a bucket, the item for our kids to take them when they're um in their teens to go and climb the grantee town. So three of where kids have done IT so far and yeah we just really enjoy IT and really is climbing took off in medical school when he met his friend Christian that was actually climbing with him on the day of the accident that they met in uh, first year medical school. So they spent in a lot of time the afternoons after class climbing in the nearby wash tch mountains. And so that's where he really started getting to climbing a lot more.

Right now. Twenty five years ago you married a climb or did the risk of something that happened to that climate concern you at that time?

Well twenty five years ago, what i'd married a climate he was sort of a hat climate. He only did a little bit um at the time and really is climbing to have off in medical school when he met his friend Christian that was actually climbing with him on the day of the accident that they met in uh first year medical school. So they spent a lot of time the afternoons after class climbing in the nearby washed mountains and so that's where he really started getting to climbing a lot more. But as far as any concerns know, at the time, we did a lot of outdoor hydrant activities and everything has some risk.

So i'm Christian. Five hour. I'm an E, R. doctor.

okay. Can you tell the audience where you first met me?

So I made you my first year medical school because we were in the same medical school, glass. And what was I like in medical school? You were always competitive in everything you did and included school and climbing, which we did a lot together.

Okay, so we started climbing together in in ninety nine, you know basically only five years ago, we started plying them together. And how many different states have we climb ed them together? I mean we climb ed in colorado.

I think we cried together in a zone I haven't yeah certainly all over you tah uh several places in while mean um I think we've been the organ we've certains been a multiple places in california. And the bad together to climb over the last twenty five years in other states are living out well. British colombia, that's british colombia.

So been the british columbia. And we've also been to italy, done the british together in italy before. true.

So we've known each other for a long time. We've been coming together for a long time, but that's not all we do together. We've had some other adventures together. We've add some rivers together, package file putting the s coon and design narrows in the last year. And we've been continuing army together now for a couple of weeks a year, for the last what ten years, anyway.

ten years.

a lot of time together in slot canyons. So what did you think when I called you up and suggested that we go climb in the north face of the grand detail?

But I know that you've spend a lot more time in the tea dumps than I have. You've been up to the top of the grand several times i've been up there to um I knew the north face was quite A A more serious of around like logistically and you know it's one of the fifty classes client in north amErica so I was game for IT sounded like an adventure and another kind of thing to pick off the list.

What what do you think if you started doing research, honey? And in the few available books about the out well .

for rouse supposed to be so classic, there was actually not a lot of information out there, which was a little unsettle, because another grantee done is, you know, gets climbed by dozens of people every day. If not hundreds say, think about to the top that first be so classic he would have a lot more information about IT.

I guess I didn't know exactly what I was going to expect because there wasn't like really detailed descriptions about where you're gna go. Just kind of go up to this land, working away to the next land. Keep going up a weight over so you can and tell you, make you to the top.

So as you prepared for this climb where you particularly nervous about IT, you feel that this was too hard for your ability or where you worry at all about us completing this room?

No, I mean, I didn't think he was behind our ability at all. My biggest concern was like, are we going to make good enough time that we can get off the top of the mountain and get back to our car before three dog in the morning or something like that? That was kind of my bigger concern, rather than any doubt that we'd be able to do IT.

But we also had the advantage of knowing there was an escape from the out, you know, when you get about three quarters the way up, and actually, before you get to the hardest climbing, you can get off out and get over to the usual, the out relatively easily in a place i've been before. So I wasn't terribly worried. I knew if we were running late, we get off the thing and and at least beyond volatiles ly safe ground by the time nights ells.

So I wasn't terribly worried about that. I didn't know we'd actually finished out. But I have no doubt in my mind that we could get to wear. We can escape from the out without haven't to spend a night on that face. My youth climbed the north face, this route iran into trouble on tell us your thoughts about the right about the north .

ACE the grand tea on well, it's i've heard from a lot of people is a must do I think because it's just iconic. It's it's a classic route. It's not a clean route.

It's a it's a lot of wandering, a lot of loose rock um a lot of sections that are not high equality um but it's definitely adventure and is a big one and involves a lot of different kinds of climbing. He got approach on a glass. You got ta deal with a berkery crossing a lot, a third, fourth class rambling drain and some more technical parts.

I would describe IT as a wanted that, that I would highly recommend. It's not a route that I would probably do every summer. After kenni did that, we were happy to have done IT. I would again yet recommended, but I think doing at once, maybe twice as planning.

Now you, uh, a mick of climb, ed, the north face. Can you tell the audience your thoughts about that particular out?

It's a super cool out. And you know it's really historic and uh you know for this mission IT was actually really was a cool experience that um micon I had actually climb ed the north face together and then we were on this rescue together going back in there so I was he was cool. You know be able to talk to him as we were, uh, get ready to fly in there and like, go yeah you remember when we were doing mr doing that, we ve got orange ously off out in the first few pitches but you know IT was he was cool that the lead had that personal experience together.

So we get to the glaser starting to get light. What were you how are you feeling at that point?

Just feeling pretty good, that we're making pretty good time. I thought we might have been a little faster than that to that point, but I think we were falling back too far. I'm kind of excited to go across the glass without pretty fun.

Yeah, I mean, it's beautiful up there right at this point the suns come up and were between mountain and and tea one and the grand teton on a glaser. IT is an incredible place, right? Is super beautiful. And looking at the glaser, was that intimidate IT.

all well was little intimidating. When the big avella broke off, the right side came tumbling down. Targets looks like just a piece of that snowfields or to cut loose and pumble down side the mountain. Nothing, there was any danger to us, but makes you realized that, you know, ice and snow and rock is all always moving in fifteen, and stuff can break loose and fall at .

any time. There was a battle, and for our day wasn't looking back. Um yes but I I agree I wasn't particular intimated to me at all.

And actually we fall down the road where we were gone just kind of to the side of relation. So we work our way up to the bird run to the moat where the glaser has melted IT away from the Cliff. And this is known by mini that i've done.

The north ACE is one of the most chAllenging. Uh, when we got there, that gap between the glass and the rock was wet two and a half this seat. why? Maybe you think, and at least forty feet deep. Yeah.

that sounds right, right. Big, deep work run. But we were pretty close to the rock.

So we took off our rock shoe or we took off our our mountaine boots. We took up our campsite, took up our ice axes and put on our rock shoes and in our climbing deer and roke up at this point. And I think I had the climbing gear on my harness.

So I took the first lead and step across this. This bird runs this mode, started climbing on the rocks, started putting gear and and work my way up around. I love at the remaining snow and ice up to a glass pot, and then brought you up at that point. And then was your turn for your personal, what were your thoughts going up for your first lead on the road?

But like I said from the research I did, wasn't a lot of detail about where supposed to go. We knew you suped to be about five, seven, maybe five, eight. Suppose be kind of trending slightly less, but kind of going up through all this loose stuff.

I came across some moves that seem pretty chAllenging, round up, kind of moving left because I was like, that's harder than five seven or five eight if I go this direction. So um IT definitely wasn't straight forward climbing, but as long I kept t kind of looking for the areas of weakness and nothing, there was super difficult from a outlining standpoint. At one point I came up to some rock that about this spying on IT.

Look, I could might be a place spot, but I didn't feel like i'd done far enough to really stop there. So at that point, I sort of went left around the corner into a panel open chosen goal. And because i've done around this corner, I start to get some rope drag at that point. So I was trying to go higher, but the plan wasn't hard, but had a lot of rope drag. So um after actually going up trying to find a place to make my belay, my anchor, my end up coming back down about twenty feet to the sledge after the side that has like the only decent rock around there that I felt would hold a good anchor and in red respect .

it's good you go to that place because I found out that anger was very important. All right. So we're starting up the third pitch at this point and it's my turn to lead and i'll talk about what I remember.

So I placed about four pieces of year. The last one may be not so great because I was getting into some. And then I remember one point thinking, all four of my holes are loose.

Both of my hand holds, and both of my foot holds are loose. This is not good, but I looked up and saw that got a lot easier in about six feet if I could get to that point. Then I thought to be home free for the rest of this charge. And that's my last memory for quite some time. So i'm going to let you take over the story at that point with what you saw next.

okay. So as if you are leading, you're on the sharp end, as we say, because that's where all the risk is. And you were going up this fellow, I say the head role, which means, you know, kind of where rock makes an angle into sort of a corner.

And the bottom section was pretty easy. But you'd gotten up where IT was steeper and very loose. I remember you calling down, saying, this is loose.

Watch me. And I even remember you kicking off little pieces iraq from your foot holds. And so I was wiping pretty closely. And I could see above you there was sort of almost a little LED where I got a lot easier and you were making a move up for there. Remember, you reach your hand out, right, kind of to get to that ledge.

And whenever you put your hand on, just broke right off some loose piece of rock and you fell at the point where you fell off to your right side and I was walking you and holding the rope and you fell and IT seems like you hit or gland stuff of sort of a small legs below you, but then you just kept falling, and I would estimate that was about thirty feet or so, and you were kind of falling head first because you had fAllen off towards your right and that hand hold broken loose. And it's pretty obviously that you must have pull the piece so you wouldn't fall in so far. So I think that last piece you had placed in the rock just came right out.

And so I just heard a third as you hit the rock and I call over to you and all i'm hearing is this loud breathing and i'm calling your name and you weren't answering at all. And my first flag would just like, while this isn't just a fall that he's really hurt, this has turned into something else. You know, this is where the members little fussy.

I don't know how long everything took because time can stand still when you in the situation that kind of this scary, I can hear you breathing so knew you're alive, but you aren't responding to me at all. You're just hanging on the road kind of mostly upside down at a bit of angle and when I kind of look around the corner, I could see all this blood kind of dripping off your face and a bunch of water which I first took a minute realized I think you broke your uh, water. Blood there was on your back and your backpacks when you fell.

So all that water was just pouring over your shoulders, onto your head, dripping down onto the rock. So after a minute or two, when I realized you were not, if, if you're gonna be able to rescue yourself, I figure I had to get up there. So h thankfully, you were putting a lot of force on the road because the area you landed was sort of low angles.

You were putting some weight on the rope, but a lot of your weight was on the rock. So I was able to tie off the rope and attached the anchor. So the rope that went from you up through the last piece, you placed and down to my bad device, I tied that to our anchor.

So you were secure. And then I was able to, what we call escape the belay, meaning, get the rope out of my way device. Now, sometimes that can be really chAllenging if all of the way that the climber is on the rope. But thankfully, that wasn't the case.

So at this point, I had completely gotten off of my anchor off the rope, and I was basically free slowing, because I could tell that the the train coming right off, the the ledge where I was blamed from was pretty easy, I say, was less than fifth class. So I scrambled up these broken ledges up to where you were, and you were still not responding, breathing really heavily, and you were kind of mostly upside down, pressed up against the rock, kind of an awkward position. So I actually, did I catch a sling that I had into one of the pieces you placed in the rock, which just happened to the first, to where you were hanging?

So I was secured into the rock while I tried to sort of manipulate your body to get you upright. I was really trying to hold your neck in your head. You know, I don't know if you have a surgical spine injury or exactly what the extent of your injuries are, and then trying to just manua use that your legs with sort of fall downward are trying to get gravity to try to let you follow to a more upright position.

And thankfully, that was the case. And so I got you kind upright, leaning against iraq. I kind of started to just looking to see, like your breathing is good.

I don't see the obvious, the form these in your extremities and still get calling your name and then you started just, just wake up. I was like, thank goodness he's at least waiting up but you had no idea what was going on. Your first few words were just like, what's happening? Where are we next? We on the grand tea town and you just said, why are we here?

Which was was a great question, right at that point, a fantastic question, most intelligent thing I could have possibly said at that point.

Ah so I mean, I think you were unconscious for at least ten minutes would be my estimation still at all. This blood running off your forehead, your helmet doesn't broken. So I guess I did what supposed to do, but I unfortunately, I think you have landed mostly on your face rather than on your comment.

And so after a few minutes when you were awake, I was kind of asking you, what heard you said? Your left rist hurt IT was all taped up in stuff. So I couldn't really examine very closely, but I thought that wasn't very important at the moment.

Your breathing thing fine, he said. Your legs were not hurting you, so you kind of stand on a little ledge there. At that point, I decided that actually probably go back to the bay and try to lower you to the blaze.

So we've got you on a nice big, stable platform and gets you clicked into the way lage. And so that I did, I free solo back to my lay ledge and click myself back into the anchor. I put you back on the lay, and then I cocked you down to the ledge, which was actually pretty chAllenging because I told you something a few seconds later, you didn't remember what I told you.

So I would have to say, jim, lead back on the rope and when to lower you down to this and you take a step and then you would look around and you'd say, where are we? What are we doing here? And i'd have to read, ate, we're on, are on the north face of the grand teeth on, I need to get you to this ledge lane back, and slowly you came down and got to the ledge and walked over night, put you in with a few pieces to the anchor.

The one thing I will be keep kept saying was, is this a dream? Kept asking, is this a dream? Is this real IT is really happened if this feels like a dream, as soon as I kind of got us both really clipped into the, uh, anchor on that play, edge seems pretty stable.

I can see you are breathing. He were awake, but obviously very contest at a pretty significant head injury. I thought, well, I don't think we're gonna be able to wrap off this self extricate at this point.

So i've got a call for help, and you mention you had an in read, and I know you've had that on a lot of our trips, but i've never really used that. I know you would send some text messages. I didn't know where I wasn't your pack somewhere.

For some reason I have been reading about himself rescue devices and some of them, I thought, used a blue tooth that went to your phone. There's an interface, so I maybe I should use your phone in in case that somehow connected to the end read. But I just use your phone to call nine, one, one and lone by hold that went right through.

Hello, this is under.

this is Christian. So i'm on the north face of the grand tea time with my friend jam and he just took a leader fall. He his head was on contest for about a ten minute or so. Um is awake now but very good, angered and persevering and take work going to need a rescue OK we're .

only .

like this is up the north face here. He's bleeding from his face and his left with hurts but he doesn't know where is what we doing up here all right, got IT. I can get you on with the search rescue, one of search rest you folks right now.

Okay, just one second. Hello, hi, this is Christian. Are you at the seen at the incident? Yes, I am okay. Can tell me what's gone on and where you are.

The were in the north face of the grand tea on, okay, and we are only about two to three pitches up. So we crossed the, uh, glacier n we were going up in. My friend jim was leading some rock broke.

He put a big fall, okay? And so it's very had injured. He was unconscious ten minutes now is a way he's bleeding from his face is persevering.

And and that doesn't really remember how we got up here. His left rst hurts. He's able to walk.

I was able to low him down to the last leds that we were blamed from. Okay, but I know can have to talk with him. this. I can lower back to the grater or if he even when okay, um and how and what's the name of the injure party? And how old is he ames or James and dolly deals and dog A H L E okay, how old is he is forty nine okay, and roughly how much as you way two ten, two hundred ten tons and the body have for gear with you have a puppy so dear um.

Attractions, kay, see you. You're pretty good shape in terms of your supplies and stuff, correct? I some food and water in some warm weather gear.

okay. And how many people are in your party right now? Just just to just you and James, yeah okay. So what's going to happen now is um we're going to be mobilizing a rescue for you um is going to be a helicopter that can be any air and you're gonna a recons of the site where you are and then come up with a rescue plan for getting you extracted from where you are.

I just to get an idea what you're wearing for clothing, what you have on for clothing, and what color is IT got a blue fleet and Brown ten he've got like a orange shirt and dark. Okay, now are you you're two to three pitches up on the interface, but if you got ten alleges yet, you know, yeah, I were well below the first leg. You're below the first ledge.

Okay, sorry. good. okay. We're we're going to put a full effort into the rescue right now. So i'm going to be hanging up with you in first time.

If you have anything else, you can call us back and I maybe calling you, okay, okay, thank you. okay. You welcome. You see shortly.

And so they I don't know who I talk to at first, but they transfer me to somebody at the national park and then make, transferred me to the actual surge in rescue, thought who we're going to do the rescue. They like rangers at the rangers.

My name is Michael, and I do a bunch of seasonal work in the national parks. And I got a job working at as a janny late ranger for grantee to national park about eight years ago.

Now let's go back to that morning of August twenty first. When this call came in, what were you doing when you first heard that we were having a problem on the northeast? And what were you your initial thoughts? We there was .

about maybe seven or eight of us. I remember a kind of a mix of seasonal and permanent ranger staff at the rescue cash. Look in metals. And our plan for the day was to do a helicopter based training, a short hall training, which was, uh, very lucky as IT turned out that all those resources were there. Waiting call came in.

You're literally ready at the helicopter stand around the helicopter, ready. Reduce some training with the helicopter.

Yeah, it's funny how that happens. So I could just been a few of those examples this summer, very similar. So IT, it's ironic how sometimes that happens, but we do a lot of training and very thankful for our program to be able to set aside resources and time to stay up on.

These are skills. One of the duties that most of us have is being a star, certain rescue coordinator for the day, which is the twenty four hour shift. And you're basically the person who takes a call and organizes the rescue.

If you've done any work within that field of rescue, uh, you call the incident commander the icc. The guy by the name of john politics was training to be a star coordinator. And so he and I were put together.

I've been taken that role for three or four seasons now, and johns been around for thirty plus years. More as a parameter in the park. But he's kind of joined our group in with one of us these days.

So he was training and I was overseeing and the phone ring at the rescue cash and we saw john disappear. He was probably his third or forth day shadowing someone who was start coordinated for a few years. And when that happens, you you disappear into A A room, but there's windows.

When we are all like watching to see this is something about to happen. And somebody walked in and took a look over shoulder. And salty is scribble down north ACE of the grand. And if i'm remembering, right, I think what caught as I was unconscious ten minutes, possible head injury, some of the stuff was just scribed on a little piece paper. So that guy came out and announced, ed, everyone, that we had something going on that we were gonna divert from our training.

My name is and Chris, I am a gene timing ranger in grantee's on national park. That route is you know in famous in north american climbing and mountains ing and certainly the tetons is a early historic uh no face route that has always held a certain or a see you know it's it's big, it's seat, it's potentially dangerous.

And then our team has had a couple missions on the york face uh, over the years, most famously, I want to say one thousand nine hundred sixty seven, but don't call mail man, uh mission that took two or three days to yet a climate uh load down the face. They were pretty higher. So you know, everybody, when we heard the call for a rescue in the north face of the grand tea T E, A everybodies years parked up, and everybody kind of pause and was by o, it's game time.

Much as I hate to leave you on a Cliff hanger, the amount of material we have with this episode is just too long for single episodes. So he split into two, and the other half will be coming up in a week and if you like this part of the epsom so far, you're gona love what comes up in a week.

Are going to be talking about the rescue recovery as well as interviews with uh, some very important people in my life, including my wife kv including W G I staff and uh so make sure you tune in next week to hear the rest of this story. At this point, as you know, i'm unconscious basically, well, not unconscious, but asking the same question over and over again, sitting on a ledge hoping while Christian was hoping anyway that the cake was coming for me and indeed they did come. And it's pretty awesome story. So tuning next week to hear about that. In the meantime, thank you for supporting our sponsors or response or for this APP.

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So in IT too, I going to send IT everybody. Thank you. For those of you, leave me a five star review and telling your friends about the podcast.

That really helps. A great deal. No recent one came in that said, strong recovery, five stars.

Doctor dolen know that I we are hoping for a speedy, stronger recovery for you. The whole White on investor platforms changed so many lives for the Better. Are grateful for you and your team. Be well and stay courage. Well, thank you very much for that.

I actually didn't see this until we were recording this episode a couple of months later, but we do appreciate your kind words as well as all of the emails ah i've received in the last couple of months, which is many, many emails. Wishing me A A rapid recovery. Thank you so much for all of those, and thank you for the five star reviews.

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M. Message, but you're helping your friend, right? We are answering questions that lots of you have in these episodes. Know somebody with questions are these concerns.

Just send them a link to that episode is a great way to share what you're learning and all this good stuff with with people like you can really benefit. All right? We will see next week where you get here the rest of the story.

Until then, keep your head up, shoulders back. You've got this. We can help see next time.

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