The Photo That Proved Someone Walked Where No One Could

The Photo That Proved Someone Walked Where No One Could

A sealed yellow waterproof camera was found wedged against a boulder on November 14, 2019, its memory card holding one photograph that should not have been possible: a woman standing on the Crow's Step, a place buried under 12-15 feet of snow and inaccessible without technical gear. How did that image of Gail Powell, timestamped 2:47 PM, end up on a camera lost months earlier?

In this episode, we tell the sequence of events from the camera’s loss in July to its discovery in November and the strange photograph that followed; we follow the people who handled the camera and the precise details that make the photo so difficult to explain. What does the photo itself reveal about where and when someone walked?

Person: Gail Powell Date: November 14, 2019 Location: Crow's Step, Ridgeback Loop, Elkhorn Range Age: 32 Discoverer: Fitch (dog) and Susan Nelson

- The camera contained 41 photographs, 40 ordinary and 1 anomalous image. - The anomalous image (photo 40) shows Gail Powell in a red fleece and gray wool hat, timestamped 2:47 PM. - The Ridgeback Loop is about 2.5 miles from the nearest trailhead and the upper drainage is buried under 12-15 feet of snow by November. - The Crow's Step is unreachable without technical climbing equipment from mid-October through May due to a cornice sealing the approach. - The yellow waterproof camera had been clipped to Gail’s pack in July and was later lost by Tom Brierly during a descent; it was found sealed and dry wedged in a notch at the base of a flat boulder.

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