Signal Where Snow Shouldn't Be: The Trekking Pole in the Ledge

Signal Where Snow Shouldn't Be: The Trekking Pole in the Ledge

An avalanche beacon was pinging in willow-thick, snowless terrain 1,400 vertical feet below the nearest mapped snowfield - a working signal that should not have been there. A trekking pole manufactured no later than 2006 was later found wedged in a limestone ledge where no human presence had been documented all season; how did it get there and who used it to survive for two days?

In this episode, we follow the sequence of events from the day Brenda Dalton signed into the Aldric trailhead to the moment search teams shifted course after a helicopter spotted a single ski track; we lay out the physical evidence and the unanswered questions that drove rescuers into the east drainage. What does the impossible location of a transmitting beacon and a lone trekking pole tell us about what happened on that mountain?

Person: Brenda Dalton Age: 38 Location: Arder Creek / Aldric backcountry Date: May 7-10 (search from May 9-10) Item: Trekking pole manufactured no later than 2006

- Brenda Dalton signed into the Aldric Trailhead log at approximately 6:40 AM on May 7 and did not sign out. - The beacon signal was transmitting in willows along Arder Creek, 1,400 vertical feet below the nearest mapped snowfield. - Search and rescue was notified at 9:00 PM on the night Dalton failed to exit; an initial eight-person ground team deployed before midnight. - A wind event on May 4 loaded leeward aspects and created moderate-to-considerable avalanche danger in northeast couloirs according to beacon specialist Tom Reilly. - A helicopter search on May 9 identified a single ski track descending toward the Arder (east) drainage at about 8,200 feet, prompting ground teams to reroute on May 10.

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