When Mr. Ballen was telling Missing 411 stories, one case more baffling then all the others. Involved a survey team, walking together tied to a rope a certain distance apart. According to the story one team member just checked on his team mate, when he called out to him again, NOTHING. The only evidence left was his boots, and contents of his pocket. David Paulides surmises the only way for that if he was upside down. Pulled up to the air.
I've watched a lot of these now and had started to think it's amazing how all of these occur as soon as someone decides to go ahead of everyone else, or splits off in some way. The moment they are alone they just cease to exist. Then this video came along. Can't have shit in the woods.
@@RealSkelzore a lot of these are either western major parks or the hilly Appalachian mountains and let me tell you as a man who lives basically right in the appalachians, me and the boys are smoking in a VERY tight circle now on our trails 😂
Reality: your chances of going missing in a US national park is statistically hugely LESS than your risk of going missing in a nice suburb or even the safest cities. There are roughly 100 people missing in US parks each year (average over 20 years). among the 23 million visitors in just 2021, so 99.99999999% chance you will be fine, with no rope.
@@greggrywatch9373I kinda want to know how his footsteps vanished. I grew up on a farm in Minnesota, and when you’re out hiking in deep snow, you usually have one person in front breaking a path for everybody else. It’s easier to step in the footsteps of the person ahead of you, and unless you’re all wearing boots with drastically different treads or have drastically different sized feet, you can’t really tell how many there were. Unless there was evidence of the last person having trouble keeping up, like indents in the snow from him falling over or tripping. My guess would be that he wanted to take a break in the ice cave, then found a crevice by accident. It’s the only logical answer.
This might actually be a genuine 411, so difficult to come up with any sensible explanation. Just the fact there were no footprints leading away, how is that possible if he'd suddenly changed course? Why on earth unclip without any warning? Unless there's something we haven't been told then this is super bizarre. Great video, thank you
Biggest question is, how well they were able to track these footprints. He might have just turn back, and with wind it could be enough to leave tracks that were looking just like 2/3 people going up. then, it's just enough to wander couple of meters of the track, fell into the snow, and you are gone. as to why he left his stuff, maybe some heart disease caused him to feel tired and disoriented?
The two climbers killed him elsewhere by accident or intentionally. They then climbed the mountain without him but with the extra pack. Dropped the pack. Told their story. Done. Choosing to climb that day of all days is sketchy. But it was the exact conditions for their story to be sort of plausible.
After listening to a ton of these disappearance stories I think there is something that happens to people in the wilderness that is some of trance that makes them act totally irrationally and never make it back to civilization. Not just hypothermia or anything like that but some unknown type of mental state that causes them to do the exact opposite of what would get them back to safety.
My theory: this dude had done that climb plenty of times before and probably some without letting others know and stashed supplies in that cave. On the fateful day he ghosts from his buddies, ditches the pack he was carrying on that trip outside the cave to put on his stashed pack and then went on his way. It's not hard to vanish when people are looking for the you they think they know.
Then again, how come they couldn't find any footprint. As far as I understand the story, there are his footprints leading up the route - and then they just stop. How the heck does he move in any direction (or is being moved by an external force) without any tracks in the snow
@@radonsmith4386 That's sort of the hole in some of the ghosting theories. It's pretty hard to hide footprints in snow from rescuers. Only thing that would make sense is if the friends were in on it. Let the guy take longer to cover his tracks before reporting him missing.
it sounds like the most likely scenario is suicide, some people want to die with their boots on as they say. ironic, we're the most intellectual animal on this planet and we make the most irrational decisions.
If indeed his friends played a role in his disappearance, I would assume that they staged that he was ever even with them. I'm sure law enforcement would be intelligent enough to look into that. Did anybody see him with his friends absolutely going on to the mountain.
@@electrickoolaid3544 the only footprints mentioned, starting at the backpack going up the line a few hundred feet before ending. That is in direct line where the other two had already climbed through, and descended supposedly to look for him. . It is not mentioned if there were any clear footprints below where the backpack was found. I'm just saying the whole scene appears staged.
I think the biggest thing to keep in mind when trying to puzzle this one out revolves around the lack of footprints. The issue is that if his friends checked for him, as well as going all the way up the mountain and back down, then they would have been the only ones to verify the lack of footprints. As their checking would leave their own footprints, which would be largely indistinguishable from Lewis's. Both to themselves and more importantly to park rangers. Whether that means they killed him, he died in an accident they covered up for whatever reason, or if they made a mistake in identifying tracks is up for debate.
Any reasonably experienced tracker can distinguish between different sets of prints. Different shoe sizes, tread, weight distribution, moving gait (how fast they were walking), length of stride, angle of the feet as they walk, time frame of the print itself, among others. You can get a ton of information from just one print. Any Ranger worth his salt would be able to discern between Lewis’ prints and his friends. If there are no prints, a Ranger would look at the friends’ prints to see how they walked (i.e. were they walking close together, as though they were carrying something , like a body? Are there drag marks behind them? Etc.) It would be incredibly hard to kill someone and dump them somewhere without leaving any sort of trace in a snow covered area like that.
Having grown up in the mountains (French/Swiss Alps) the only really odd part of this story is the unclipping. Given the weather described in the video as white-out conditions and high winds, plus what sounds like unstable summer snow and ice, it would be very easy to miss footing or get blown over, or set off a small avalanche. Within seconds they could have been carried some distance or into a crevasse, where they just wouldn't have been visible.
I think one pretty notable detail should be that this so-called snow cave if it was just that is not a normal cave like in Rock hence the descriptor in front of the word cave of snow, literally just a cavity within the snow that is only there until it either caves in or the snow melts so it's not like something that could house a body for any kind of prolonged period of time
One thing a lot of people forget is this mountain is an active volcano. Rangers only know about the crevasses and cracks that they know about, and it's not unusual for new cracks or crevasses to open up that weren't there previously as the land shifts when magma (or steam heated by magma) rises in a volcano, and those cracks may also shut again when a surge dies down. Snow can easily hide and quickly fill cracks. He might have just been especially unlucky and walked onto exactly the wrong spot of a small snow-camouflaged crack, to fall straight down and become tightly wedged between two rock faces, and unhooked himself in a panic when he fell, hoping he wouldn't pull his friends down with him. Incapacitation and death from cold and shock would come swiftly, especially if there was cold water, slush or ice in there. He might have already gone into shock by the time his friends realized he was missing. If he was really wedged he might have passed out and died in minutes, unable to move his chest or belly enough to breathe. His body could then have wound up crushed flat if the land shifted back, or mud and ice could fill a small crevasse in a single season so nobody would ever find him. Blowing snow would also quickly cover the hole immediately after, and no one would be any wiser unless they stepped on basically the exact same spot. Did anyone check the seismic records around that time for earthquakes, altitude changes, bulges or shifts in that area of the mountain? (It wouldn't have to have been the same day... several months would be enough for a new crack to form that none of the rangers knew about). Most of the Cascade volcanoes were pretty well seismically monitored especially since Mt St Helens, so if the mountain was restless there should be a record of it. They were also pretty close to the top. If he wasn't feeling 100%, I guess it's possible he might have found the backpack extra heavy or stifling and put it down, intending to pick it up again on the return.
This^ I have climbed a lot, and sometimes things don’t happen when you want them to. He probably had to sh**t (emergency). He would have unclipped, thrown his pack off and rushed to find a spot inside the cave. A snow bridge broke, and he fell into a large crack, snow sloughed and covered the crack. Why not yell I’m going to take a sh**t? No time, and climbers do weird things.
That's a good point but I bet they searched that area pretty thoroughly where his tracks stopped and if there wasn't enough snowfall to cover up his footprints I doubt there'd be enough to cover a crack. There is bound to be some type of evidence for that I feel like.
On a 2 day solo backpacking trip in a place that few go to because it is far off the trails but I've been frequenting for decades... I grew up in the forest and I am known to be extremely good at land navigation and get made fun of for raiding squirrel nests (when you eat nuts for a living you will always gather the best nuts). While walking along a ridge top at night, the soil gave way, I slid almost 30 yards down a near vertical slope before striking a tree and coming to rest. Had I broken my leg, I would have had miles away from even a likelihood of someone seeing me , and that ignores that I would have run out of water and had been fighting dehydration to crawl back. Things happen, that doesn't mean it is supernatural in nature.
Thank you for including some of the iIndigenous history of the areas that you discuss! I really appreciate that! A friend of mine from Montana passed away in an avalanche on Rainier with a couple of her friends about 10 years ago. 💔
Thank you for pointing out the mistakes and/or blatant lies thst other have done . Not naming names but missing 411. Ha!. I just don’t understand if he’s lying to sell books and clicks or what.
@@mandalorianmama he creates facts , Leaves some out. Whatever it takes to sell those books and get likes. He’s really for the amateurs wjen it comes to missing 411
I've got news for you.... Dave Paulidas was the first to dig up and research most of the disappearances hundreds of boobtubers copy from. Thats because he's a professional investigator. All you millennial boobsters do is google and regurgitate.
I don’t think that lack of motive should necessarily be a factor to rule out his friends. People have killed others just for making them mad. Or there could be a secret motive like the trio had some sort of love triangle situation going on that resulted in the death of one.
@@theultimatereductionist7592 The point being that Eric was never actually on the mountain. The mountain scenario is the cover-up. Perhaps the friends murdered him for whatever reason and concocted his going missing on the mountain to hide the real location of his remains. The question is there a witness outside of the two friends that put Eric on Rainier.
@@pickupsticks8578the fact that he police investigated and said they found no foul play makes it seem extremely likely that he was on the mountain with them, the very first thing they would have done if they thought there was a chance he was murdered is both get alibis from people who could confirm the story up to the point the three of them were alone, and his two friends would be the only ones considered as suspects so they would have had an extreme amount of scrutiny
I feel sorry for his family. It must be terrible for a member of your family to go missing, never to be heard of again. It's a strange case, but perhaps foul play is the answer.
Yeah murder doesn't make sense mostly because of the story they told. If they killed him then they would have said something like "He fell." or "He scouted up ahead of us and then we couldn't find him." or even "The last we saw of him he said he decided to head back." Also you'd think if they killed him they wouldn't have been so quick to get a search going. This is a very strange case, almost like he just vanished from existence mid climb. If he died up there then it isn't super shocking that they never found his body considering the conditions, but the fact that no one has found it all these years later is pretty odd. Randomly leaving stuff behind does seem to happen a decent amount in these Missing 411 cases, as does him being near a cave.
Yea... those two things are actually profile points my friend! Meaning those two things are actually hallmarks/indications that it might be a real deal 411 case hence why they all have things like water, granite, bad weather, dogs won't track, etc... and on and on and on. Profile points that we're pretty sure the FBI actually already knows about
@@kingkrypto7729 So snow caves aren't rock caves, they are a hollow in ice made by wind or snowmelt, great fun to explore, but easy to get trapped in if something collapses. Additionally many killers have lead the search for their victim, it's incredibly common.
If they killed him before the climb, then we have no idea when it happened and how long they'd had before they 'got help'. If his body was nowhere near there, why would they even worry about the search? And they'd want to call ASAP to look like concerned friends
@@bloodyneptune agree plus people are assuming that these guys want to purposely put themselves in situations of negligence or are amazing planners on excuses. They probably explored to route before their came up with a somewhat convincing tale for the situation and stuck with the one told if they did kill him. Again these guys probably weren't some great masterminds and just wanted to get rid of their friend.
I flew from Seattle to Salt Lake a few years back and the pilots flew low and slow over of Mt. Rainier and it was such an incredible experience to see the cone of the Volcano from that birds eye perspective. Actually that entire flight was quite beautiful.
Most climbing carabiners have several steps to open them: you have to unscrew a little metal piece, then unclip it. This is a true 411 case, since nobody knows how someone disappears without doing the needed steps to unclip oneself.
Best guess? He saw something and figured it would be a quick look so he unclipped himself. He set his backpack down to know where he left the rope and took a few steps off and fell into a snowdrift or ice cleft.
I am only just getting into these vids as of today 2nd of Jan 2022. Or for these American mates happy new year and enjoy your hangover on the 1st of Jan. But I have noticed here in Victoria there is becoming more of these cases occurring too. Thankfully, our have better outcomes, but S.E.S mates say heaps aren't shown on media where they're missing without a trace or bodies a kilometres away. So timing of this is uncanny, we were talking about Victorians going missing and some of Indigenous Elders have told me about these happenings to but a whole group of 6 people disappeared almost 4 years back but no media coverage nor publication was done, as it was a whole family that vanished at Strathbogie Rangers.
I briefly volunteered for SAR in the area near Rainier, and we have a lot people who just go MIA on and around the mountain. People love going missing in these forests.
Is there any outside sources that prove he really was even on the mountain? Seems like a great way to cover up a crime, or help him disappear. Knowing he's no where near the mountain go for a climb and then call in that he "disappeared"
For me, the question that needs to be answered here is whether anyone saw all three of them together at Mount Rainier? Did anyone else actually see Eric Lewis with his two friends? The reason to ask is simply this. If no one other than his two friends can verify that Eric Lewis was actually there on the mountain, then we don't know that Eric Lewis was actually on the mountain. He could have been killed by his companions and the body disposed of before the hike, potentially nowhere near Mount Rainier at all. The two friends then hike up the mountain with Eric's gear and stage the entire scenario. So what ends up happening is a massive search for a missing hiker that isn't even on Mount Rainier. Unless someone saw all three of the hikers together on the mountain, for all we know Eric could be buried in someones backyard. The only thing that might indicate a third person would be a third set of footprints. If that is the case then we have to question whether that third set of footprints are legitimate, or were they somehow faked? Faking a set of footprints doesn't seem likely, but let's face it; if he wasn't there then it will look as if he just disappeared without a trace.
I'm fascinated by reports of timeslips. There are quite a few seemingly reputable reports throughout history. More recently, I've heard stories of people in the US walking through woods and suddenly the scene changes and they're in a completely unfamiliar place. There are also some fascinating ones reported from the UK & Europe. I imagine cell phones wouldn't work there!
Just to put some perspective here, Mount Rainier is one of the most peaceful place I’ve ever been, I climbed the mountain when I was 10 years old. It’s a pretty safe area
The searchers believed Eric may have dug the snow cave for shelter or a place to rest briefly after he lost contact with his companions. It wasn’t an actual cave.
On a bed of saint Helen's ash between Tahoma's lahar arms. But the legalized price gouging, fracking in pierce county, and fake real estate market, cops filmed on location kick backs and reinvestment, and state employees involved in human trafficking, and the state patrol doing investigations, but not into state employees means the paradise hell hole ... Tilt the gordia plate and rinse us off... Oh wait. It was over insured property, and buildings that should have been condemned (Seattle children's hospital and Tacoma rescue mission (HIPPA violating narcotics trafficking institution, blaming the homeless for churches running prostitution and protection rackets with "law enforcement"). Piece county is still a bought and paid for Fox stage election tampering, attorney general, and and sheriff's department.
Either he stashed supplies and disappeared on his own or it was a set up. Are there witnesses who even saw him go up the mountain? There was no one else hiking that day due to the weather and why take that bad route in bad weather at all? Seems shady.
I think the clip was broken and he was swooped up by a Roc. Being high in the sky he fought tooth and nail but couldn't win, the struggle causing his backpack to fall back into the mountain. At least I am not saying it was Bigfoot or a Yeti.
The Kautz glacier route is named after my great x4 grandpa August Kautz. If you read the Kautz Glacier Wikipedia it says that he "is sometimes credited for the first ascent of Mt. Rainer on July 16,1857" He was also a Major General in the Union during the Civil War, appointed by Lincoln and Andrew Johnson. He helped catch Robert E Lee, and later served on the trial board investigating the conspirators involved Lincolns assassination. He retired in 1892, and died in 1895 in Seattle, WA. He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery. Cool stuff! One day I will hike his route.
Man, your videos are SO interesting, absolutely love the content you make its nothing but bangers. Your video style and cadence is so unique and captivating. Anyways, fan behavior done, keep doing you 👍
No tracks is a major issue. They find the back pack - no tracks to or from. Snow cave - no tracks. Climbing the mountain three sets of tracks until there are only two sets of tracks. So one set just stops. No sign of someone stomping back and forth, or walking around, of even Just standing in place with feet braced. The guy just evaporated between one step and the next? Weird AF.
While I know the photo of the footprints you put in there was not actually from the scene of the 'crime', is it possible the footprints were misread? There would have been 3 sets of prints going up--Eric's and both his friends. It's easy enough to understand there were no footprints going back down the mountain when they went to check on him, or in any of the presumably virgin snow areas off the trail they were on, but after the 2 friends went back to check on him and found him gone, they then had to backtrack down which would've created additional sets of prints. So then there were at least 5 sets of footprints, 3 going up, 2 back down. Wouldn't that have made things considerably harder for rangers and searchers coming up later to really take stock of what had happened? Am I missing something there?
I know JR Storms and i've climbed with him, JR is a solid guy and climber. JR told me what happened and basically Eric wanted to cross a dangerous feature between them and camp. JR wanted to go over the feature. Eric unclipped out of his own disapproval and tried to cross the feature where he still is. It's that simple. Anyone that comes to the alpine is in grave danger and not finding bodies in the alpine isn't a mystery.
Always good when a missing 411 video starts with your home mountain. This one is going to hit close to home. Edit: also your second pronunciation of “salish” was correct. Think like “sailboat”.
There are a lot of cracks and crevices and the scary part is, grown people can fit in holes you'd never believe they could when positioned just right. And sure, rescuers looked for tracks and signs but many places they were looking it was quite awhile after he'd gone missing- and visibility was low and snow blowing around. I believe a lot of people who "vanish" are actually in the earth they were last seen around. Same with the mountains. And people are looking for known signs that someone has been there or evidence of a specific thing happening but the thing to remember is that everything doesn't happen the exact same way and sometimes precious little sign is left behind.
I have hiking in Rainier National Park so many times, since we lived in the area for over 20 years . But it is heavily forested, and not to be taken lightly,. We used to hike Skookum Flats, trying to reach Skookum Falls. It took four attempts, since, the first three times we turned on the wrong trail. We found beautiful areas, just not what we were looking for. If you want go hiking in the Pacific Northwest, be prepared.
Maybe it's like a gate to the otherworld kind of thing, like the conditions were just right in that particular spot at that particular moment and he slipped through the veil, dropping his backpack in the process
If he did want to disappear then he picked the perfect time and place for it. As for coving his tracks in ice and snow if it’s hard packed then he might not leave much trace. But the place where it occurred means that the majority of searching would be done up the mountain letting him work down.
My dad's middle name is Rainier. Probably because we live in Washington State. Edit: AND my sister summited the mountain when she was eleven! She's a star athlete and I am SO proud of her!!!
My question is what kind of carabineer did he use? Was it a locking carabineer or just a gate style? Ive had carabineers come loose and come off on me in the past. And thats why the boyscouts always taught to use two. As they say. "a carabineer is a mechanical device known to fail".
As a former climber you can't unclip yourself when you have weight s sitting on the carabiner. He had to for at least a moment have taken his weight off to unclip. And depending on what kind of carabiner he was using that could also help the mystery. If he had a two stage or three stage carabiner he would have had to undo it however if he had a quick action carabiner it could have just opened up as he was being lifted or moved around. This is why we weren't allowed to use quick action carabiners when I used to climb and work at Heights.
I do love your videos. The stories present wonderful enigmas that beg to be solved. And solved, they one day will be, and our stories will seem as silly as those of the fae stealing away children (whom were in reality killed by humans).
Love this channel- am a new listener! Also, your last name is the same as my families last name, and you’re from Pennsylvania? Ours was too! Maybe we are distance cousins lol. Thanks for the content !
This does give me an idea for a story in which the "missing" climber has previously placed supplies in the cave, left his known gear behind to make it look like he has suffered an accident. Would need to do some research on how he would get out without leaving tracks, but still seems like a good starting place for something.
Maybe he never went with his friends. But if you're gonna off someone and try to come up with a story about them disappearing, why come up with a story this bizarre?
I think he had a heart attack, unclipped, slid down mountain, lost his pack in the slide, fell into crevice and hasn't been found yet. People's dead bodies being hard to find is nothing new.
My dad climbed rainier after several attempts were foiled by weather. On a couple of those climbs he called out in a snow cave near disappointment cleaver, (which gets its name due to it being the point where many climbs on that rout are forced to turn around due to weather, timing, etc.) So a snow cave being on the mountain isn't odd at all.
My computer science teacher climbed Mount Rainier all the time. Used it to practice for Everest. He nearly died trying to summit Everest. He never summitted, but he did walk away. And congrats on the good pronciation of the Native American names. You can always tell if someone is actually from the Pacific Northwest or not.
Don’t glaciers get these small cracks and crevices on them? Especially when the start to heat up? Could he have fallen into a small one and either not be visible or have gotten covered up by snow? None of the explains what could lead up to this though.
I live in the middle of nowhere in a nook between two mountains. The missing 411 phenomenon scares the shit out of me (Our goats and sheep go missing without a trace)
I'm thinking that the harness catastrophically failed or that he was clipped in wrong and slid right down into a crevasse that wasn't thoroughly searched. Either that or it was a murder or suicide. Hard to say without a body...
Real talk answer: What you get when you send three men and a rope up a mountain can just be nothing. Nobody comes back. Mountain climbing is dangerous, it kills a lot of people. Mountain climbing on an active volcano is just asking for it. It is Not Safe.
I know, late to the party. Something else that may have happened. Both hypothermia and altitude sickness can cause severe confusion. In a confused state, he could have unclipped and dropped his pack attempting to get to the cave, thinking they were slowing him down, for what ever reason he felt he had to get there.
Isn't part of the mystery surrounding these cases the fact that entities such as the forest service, other authorities, as well as the _media,_ in many cases are all serving up inaccuracies and untruths about various aspects of these cases? You can call it conspiratorial thinking, but I was under the impression that Mr Palides gets involved on a personal level with the people actually involved with, and surrounding these cases? So if your sources (who I assume to be various media outlets) are reporting certain details to be at odds with what Dave has reported (i.e. whether the rope was cut, etc.), who should we believe? Food for thought.
I listen to a lot of mountaineering disaster stories on here. Everything from Denali to the 8,000 meter peaks. Given the conditions described, it definitely doesn't add up. Most likely would be a crevice or crevasse that is just too deep to see the bottom. But then why no footprints? Definitely a head scratcher
Could he, wanting to go off and start a new life, have hiked up there prior, cached a backpack filled with everything he'd need, then on this trip just unhook himself and ... find some way of getting away without leaving prints?
You’re telling me I can’t avoid a missing 411 outcome by connecting everyone with a rope? This is troubling
When Mr. Ballen was telling Missing 411 stories, one case more baffling then all the others. Involved a survey team, walking together tied to a rope a certain distance apart. According to the story one team member just checked on his team mate, when he called out to him again, NOTHING.
The only evidence left was his boots, and contents of his pocket. David Paulides surmises the only way for that if he was upside down. Pulled up to the air.
Use more ropes!
I've watched a lot of these now and had started to think it's amazing how all of these occur as soon as someone decides to go ahead of everyone else, or splits off in some way. The moment they are alone they just cease to exist.
Then this video came along. Can't have shit in the woods.
@@RealSkelzore a lot of these are either western major parks or the hilly Appalachian mountains and let me tell you as a man who lives basically right in the appalachians, me and the boys are smoking in a VERY tight circle now on our trails 😂
Reality: your chances of going missing in a US national park is statistically hugely LESS than your risk of going missing in a nice suburb or even the safest cities. There are roughly 100 people missing in US parks each year (average over 20 years). among the 23 million visitors in just 2021, so 99.99999999% chance you will be fine, with no rope.
he was picked up by one of the giant eagles from lord of the rings
Fly, you fools!
Lol
Or beamed up by the starship enterprise.
No for real though 😭probably the same bird that got jim mcgrogan
@@DinoTamer-22 pretty sure both of these theories are wrong and he actually just clicked his heels together while saying "there's no place like home"
I'm absolutely naming my next DnD character Hazard Stevens
Don Storm Jr and Trevor Lane….everybody in this story has an epic name built for legend!
Tom Payne
I know someone named Bodie Danger
Disappointment Cleaver is great location or weapon name xD
@weenbaby That's the best name I've ever heard! There's actually an abandoned gold mining town in California called Bodie.
Important question: do we have independent verification he was even on the mountain? They may have killed him before even climbing up
You are a dark fellow
His footprints were there and then suddenly vanished.
@@greggrywatch9373I kinda want to know how his footsteps vanished. I grew up on a farm in Minnesota, and when you’re out hiking in deep snow, you usually have one person in front breaking a path for everybody else. It’s easier to step in the footsteps of the person ahead of you, and unless you’re all wearing boots with drastically different treads or have drastically different sized feet, you can’t really tell how many there were. Unless there was evidence of the last person having trouble keeping up, like indents in the snow from him falling over or tripping. My guess would be that he wanted to take a break in the ice cave, then found a crevice by accident. It’s the only logical answer.
@@derekmcmanus8615how’s he dark
@@winry2357it's explained in the video they climbing up the mountain one behind the other with Eric leading.
The fact that this video isn’t just a 20min catalog of the Deeds and Adventures of Hazard Stevens is pretty devastating to me.
Lol
This might actually be a genuine 411, so difficult to come up with any sensible explanation. Just the fact there were no footprints leading away, how is that possible if he'd suddenly changed course? Why on earth unclip without any warning? Unless there's something we haven't been told then this is super bizarre. Great video, thank you
Biggest question is, how well they were able to track these footprints. He might have just turn back, and with wind it could be enough to leave tracks that were looking just like 2/3 people going up. then, it's just enough to wander couple of meters of the track, fell into the snow, and you are gone. as to why he left his stuff, maybe some heart disease caused him to feel tired and disoriented?
@@lordbaysel3135 doubt all of what you said
The two climbers killed him elsewhere by accident or intentionally. They then climbed the mountain without him but with the extra pack. Dropped the pack. Told their story. Done. Choosing to climb that day of all days is sketchy. But it was the exact conditions for their story to be sort of plausible.
Or these ppl didn't like him.
@@marklewandowski8474 Makes sense. But how about the footprints?
After listening to a ton of these disappearance stories I think there is something that happens to people in the wilderness that is some of trance that makes them act totally irrationally and never make it back to civilization. Not just hypothermia or anything like that but some unknown type of mental state that causes them to do the exact opposite of what would get them back to safety.
My theory: this dude had done that climb plenty of times before and probably some without letting others know and stashed supplies in that cave. On the fateful day he ghosts from his buddies, ditches the pack he was carrying on that trip outside the cave to put on his stashed pack and then went on his way.
It's not hard to vanish when people are looking for the you they think they know.
Yeah its either that or Eric had to Really disappear and these were two Real Friends, like real Mensch and helped him make up a cover story.
Then again, how come they couldn't find any footprint. As far as I understand the story, there are his footprints leading up the route - and then they just stop. How the heck does he move in any direction (or is being moved by an external force) without any tracks in the snow
@@radonsmith4386 That's sort of the hole in some of the ghosting theories. It's pretty hard to hide footprints in snow from rescuers. Only thing that would make sense is if the friends were in on it. Let the guy take longer to cover his tracks before reporting him missing.
it sounds like the most likely scenario is suicide, some people want to die with their boots on as they say. ironic, we're the most intellectual animal on this planet and we make the most irrational decisions.
@dimitrilitovsk2372 Backwards down a mountain is infeasible.
If indeed his friends played a role in his disappearance, I would assume that they staged that he was ever even with them. I'm sure law enforcement would be intelligent enough to look into that. Did anybody see him with his friends absolutely going on to the mountain.
"I'm sure law enforcement would be intelligent enough to look into that."
oh, sweet summer child...
@MW-te5fv the others got him
They could see his footprints 10:15
@@electrickoolaid3544 the only footprints mentioned, starting at the backpack going up the line a few hundred feet before ending. That is in direct line where the other two had already climbed through, and descended supposedly to look for him. . It is not mentioned if there were any clear footprints below where the backpack was found. I'm just saying the whole scene appears staged.
@@bearwithmenow5498yea he was murdered, wonder if his "friends " were involved in any shady deals
I think the biggest thing to keep in mind when trying to puzzle this one out revolves around the lack of footprints. The issue is that if his friends checked for him, as well as going all the way up the mountain and back down, then they would have been the only ones to verify the lack of footprints. As their checking would leave their own footprints, which would be largely indistinguishable from Lewis's. Both to themselves and more importantly to park rangers. Whether that means they killed him, he died in an accident they covered up for whatever reason, or if they made a mistake in identifying tracks is up for debate.
Any reasonably experienced tracker can distinguish between different sets of prints. Different shoe sizes, tread, weight distribution, moving gait (how fast they were walking), length of stride, angle of the feet as they walk, time frame of the print itself, among others. You can get a ton of information from just one print. Any Ranger worth his salt would be able to discern between Lewis’ prints and his friends. If there are no prints, a Ranger would look at the friends’ prints to see how they walked (i.e. were they walking close together, as though they were carrying something , like a body? Are there drag marks behind them? Etc.) It would be incredibly hard to kill someone and dump them somewhere without leaving any sort of trace in a snow covered area like that.
Having grown up in the mountains (French/Swiss Alps) the only really odd part of this story is the unclipping. Given the weather described in the video as white-out conditions and high winds, plus what sounds like unstable summer snow and ice, it would be very easy to miss footing or get blown over, or set off a small avalanche. Within seconds they could have been carried some distance or into a crevasse, where they just wouldn't have been visible.
a sasquatch could've taken him too
I think one pretty notable detail should be that this so-called snow cave if it was just that is not a normal cave like in Rock hence the descriptor in front of the word cave of snow, literally just a cavity within the snow that is only there until it either caves in or the snow melts so it's not like something that could house a body for any kind of prolonged period of time
One thing a lot of people forget is this mountain is an active volcano. Rangers only know about the crevasses and cracks that they know about, and it's not unusual for new cracks or crevasses to open up that weren't there previously as the land shifts when magma (or steam heated by magma) rises in a volcano, and those cracks may also shut again when a surge dies down. Snow can easily hide and quickly fill cracks. He might have just been especially unlucky and walked onto exactly the wrong spot of a small snow-camouflaged crack, to fall straight down and become tightly wedged between two rock faces, and unhooked himself in a panic when he fell, hoping he wouldn't pull his friends down with him. Incapacitation and death from cold and shock would come swiftly, especially if there was cold water, slush or ice in there. He might have already gone into shock by the time his friends realized he was missing. If he was really wedged he might have passed out and died in minutes, unable to move his chest or belly enough to breathe. His body could then have wound up crushed flat if the land shifted back, or mud and ice could fill a small crevasse in a single season so nobody would ever find him. Blowing snow would also quickly cover the hole immediately after, and no one would be any wiser unless they stepped on basically the exact same spot. Did anyone check the seismic records around that time for earthquakes, altitude changes, bulges or shifts in that area of the mountain? (It wouldn't have to have been the same day... several months would be enough for a new crack to form that none of the rangers knew about). Most of the Cascade volcanoes were pretty well seismically monitored especially since Mt St Helens, so if the mountain was restless there should be a record of it.
They were also pretty close to the top. If he wasn't feeling 100%, I guess it's possible he might have found the backpack extra heavy or stifling and put it down, intending to pick it up again on the return.
This^
I have climbed a lot, and sometimes things don’t happen when you want them to. He probably had to sh**t (emergency). He would have unclipped, thrown his pack off and rushed to find a spot inside the cave. A snow bridge broke, and he fell into a large crack, snow sloughed and covered the crack. Why not yell I’m going to take a sh**t? No time, and climbers do weird things.
@@stevemccorkel5004 why weren't there any footprints to show that he moved away?
@@Xarxes_ There were footprints, they just stopped at an odd point. 6:22
That's a good point but I bet they searched that area pretty thoroughly where his tracks stopped and if there wasn't enough snowfall to cover up his footprints I doubt there'd be enough to cover a crack. There is bound to be some type of evidence for that I feel like.
@@wowokayfine5899 that’s exactly what he said
My son is at Ranier almost every weekend, your killin me with these Ranier videos Aidan! 😅😅😅❤
On a 2 day solo backpacking trip in a place that few go to because it is far off the trails but I've been frequenting for decades... I grew up in the forest and I am known to be extremely good at land navigation and get made fun of for raiding squirrel nests (when you eat nuts for a living you will always gather the best nuts). While walking along a ridge top at night, the soil gave way, I slid almost 30 yards down a near vertical slope before striking a tree and coming to rest. Had I broken my leg, I would have had miles away from even a likelihood of someone seeing me , and that ignores that I would have run out of water and had been fighting dehydration to crawl back. Things happen, that doesn't mean it is supernatural in nature.
Thank you for including some of the iIndigenous history of the areas that you discuss! I really appreciate that! A friend of mine from Montana passed away in an avalanche on Rainier with a couple of her friends about 10 years ago. 💔
We're called Native Americans. Not "indigenous". That was created by the same type of ppl who use terms like "Latin X" or "BIPOC" 🙄.
Trying hard to sound PC but just comes off as pretentious.
@@trawlins396deal with it
Thank you for pointing out the mistakes and/or blatant lies thst other have done . Not naming names but missing 411. Ha!. I just don’t understand if he’s lying to sell books and clicks or what.
Or he's just lazy and doesn't fully research and vet before putting it out
@@mandalorianmama no it’s pretty well established that dave makes thinks much more mysterious to sell books
@@mandalorianmama he creates facts ,
Leaves some out. Whatever it takes to sell those books and get likes.
He’s really for the amateurs wjen it comes to missing 411
I've got news for you.... Dave Paulidas was the first to dig up and research most of the disappearances hundreds of boobtubers copy from.
Thats because he's a professional investigator. All you millennial boobsters do is google and regurgitate.
I don’t think that lack of motive should necessarily be a factor to rule out his friends. People have killed others just for making them mad. Or there could be a secret motive like the trio had some sort of love triangle situation going on that resulted in the death of one.
You gave ZERO explanation for the TOTAL lack of footprints or obvious dragging of a dead body in the snow.
@@theultimatereductionist7592 The point being that Eric was never actually on the mountain. The mountain scenario is the cover-up. Perhaps the friends murdered him for whatever reason and concocted his going missing on the mountain to hide the real location of his remains. The question is there a witness outside of the two friends that put Eric on Rainier.
@@pickupsticks8578the fact that he police investigated and said they found no foul play makes it seem extremely likely that he was on the mountain with them, the very first thing they would have done if they thought there was a chance he was murdered is both get alibis from people who could confirm the story up to the point the three of them were alone, and his two friends would be the only ones considered as suspects so they would have had an extreme amount of scrutiny
@@anhhh5838 Yep. That's what I thought. They would have dug into the stories of his friends who validated he was there. And they were ruled out.
I feel sorry for his family. It must be terrible for a member of your family to go missing, never to be heard of again. It's a strange case, but perhaps foul play is the answer.
2 men. That was a slow burn that gave me that internal rolling snort that I enjoy ever so much. Well done sir
Yeah murder doesn't make sense mostly because of the story they told. If they killed him then they would have said something like "He fell." or "He scouted up ahead of us and then we couldn't find him." or even "The last we saw of him he said he decided to head back." Also you'd think if they killed him they wouldn't have been so quick to get a search going. This is a very strange case, almost like he just vanished from existence mid climb. If he died up there then it isn't super shocking that they never found his body considering the conditions, but the fact that no one has found it all these years later is pretty odd. Randomly leaving stuff behind does seem to happen a decent amount in these Missing 411 cases, as does him being near a cave.
Yea... those two things are actually profile points my friend! Meaning those two things are actually hallmarks/indications that it might be a real deal 411 case hence why they all have things like water, granite, bad weather, dogs won't track, etc... and on and on and on. Profile points that we're pretty sure the FBI actually already knows about
@@kingkrypto7729 So snow caves aren't rock caves, they are a hollow in ice made by wind or snowmelt, great fun to explore, but easy to get trapped in if something collapses. Additionally many killers have lead the search for their victim, it's incredibly common.
If they killed him before the climb, then we have no idea when it happened and how long they'd had before they 'got help'. If his body was nowhere near there, why would they even worry about the search? And they'd want to call ASAP to look like concerned friends
@@bloodyneptune agree plus people are assuming that these guys want to purposely put themselves in situations of negligence or are amazing planners on excuses. They probably explored to route before their came up with a somewhat convincing tale for the situation and stuck with the one told if they did kill him. Again these guys probably weren't some great masterminds and just wanted to get rid of their friend.
@@victory8928 Doubtful. This one of a very few 411 cases that definitely leans towards something at work that is hard to comprehend.
I flew from Seattle to Salt Lake a few years back and the pilots flew low and slow over of Mt. Rainier and it was such an incredible experience to see the cone of the Volcano from that birds eye perspective. Actually that entire flight was quite beautiful.
Wow what a strange case. I wonder if his last few yards of footprints looked frantic or just normal
Seatle local here. Your pronoucations of all the native terms are spot on! Fantastic job!
Most climbing carabiners have several steps to open them: you have to unscrew a little metal piece, then unclip it. This is a true 411 case, since nobody knows how someone disappears without doing the needed steps to unclip oneself.
Best guess? He saw something and figured it would be a quick look so he unclipped himself. He set his backpack down to know where he left the rope and took a few steps off and fell into a snowdrift or ice cleft.
What do you get when you have a new lore Lodge video to watch when you wake up on Sunday morning in Australia? A bloody excited 34 year old bloke 😎
I am only just getting into these vids as of today 2nd of Jan 2022. Or for these American mates happy new year and enjoy your hangover on the 1st of Jan.
But I have noticed here in Victoria there is becoming more of these cases occurring too. Thankfully, our have better outcomes, but S.E.S mates say heaps aren't shown on media where they're missing without a trace or bodies a kilometres away. So timing of this is uncanny, we were talking about Victorians going missing and some of Indigenous Elders have told me about these happenings to but a whole group of 6 people disappeared almost 4 years back but no media coverage nor publication was done, as it was a whole family that vanished at Strathbogie Rangers.
@@aconti351 would love to hear more Australian stories, if you know of any channels that upload that kind of thing I'd be interested to check them out
31yo Aussie here!!! 🫡
I briefly volunteered for SAR in the area near Rainier, and we have a lot people who just go MIA on and around the mountain. People love going missing in these forests.
Fun fact I actually got lost on mountain Rainer for about 5 hours 👍
Is there any outside sources that prove he really was even on the mountain?
Seems like a great way to cover up a crime, or help him disappear. Knowing he's no where near the mountain go for a climb and then call in that he "disappeared"
For me, the question that needs to be answered here is whether anyone saw all three of them together at Mount Rainier? Did anyone else actually see Eric Lewis with his two friends?
The reason to ask is simply this. If no one other than his two friends can verify that Eric Lewis was actually there on the mountain, then we don't know that Eric Lewis was actually on the mountain. He could have been killed by his companions and the body disposed of before the hike, potentially nowhere near Mount Rainier at all. The two friends then hike up the mountain with Eric's gear and stage the entire scenario. So what ends up happening is a massive search for a missing hiker that isn't even on Mount Rainier.
Unless someone saw all three of the hikers together on the mountain, for all we know Eric could be buried in someones backyard. The only thing that might indicate a third person would be a third set of footprints. If that is the case then we have to question whether that third set of footprints are legitimate, or were they somehow faked? Faking a set of footprints doesn't seem likely, but let's face it; if he wasn't there then it will look as if he just disappeared without a trace.
The simplest explanation is that he was never there. 🧐
A lot of these 411 stories make me think about no clipping out of reality into the backrooms.
Meh, backrooms is from the mind of a teenager, nothimg remotely real about them.
@@Insidious_Rage (sarcastic) oh no i had no idea a RUclips video about disappearing into a pocket dimension haunted by mosters was made up. Silly me.
I felt like I had to put sarcastic in parentheses because i was quite certain you would take that comment seriously as well.
@@horseface31 dude that statement does not come off as a joke at ALL
@@Insidious_Rage its not a joke. The video reminds me of the premise of a fictional concept. Are you simple?
I'm fascinated by reports of timeslips. There are quite a few seemingly reputable reports throughout history. More recently, I've heard stories of people in the US walking through woods and suddenly the scene changes and they're in a completely unfamiliar place. There are also some fascinating ones reported from the UK & Europe. I imagine cell phones wouldn't work there!
Just to put some perspective here, Mount Rainier is one of the most peaceful place I’ve ever been, I climbed the mountain when I was 10 years old. It’s a pretty safe area
That’s cuz you didn’t climb during Mountain Alligator season
@@JoshuaAndres You idiot, alligators don't live on mountain's. Crocodiles do.
The searchers believed Eric may have dug the snow cave for shelter or a place to rest briefly after he lost contact with his companions. It wasn’t an actual cave.
Growing up with Tahoma in my back yard was a blessing. I love being able to see an active volcano from my house!
On a bed of saint Helen's ash between Tahoma's lahar arms. But the legalized price gouging, fracking in pierce county, and fake real estate market, cops filmed on location kick backs and reinvestment, and state employees involved in human trafficking, and the state patrol doing investigations, but not into state employees means the paradise hell hole ... Tilt the gordia plate and rinse us off... Oh wait. It was over insured property, and buildings that should have been condemned (Seattle children's hospital and Tacoma rescue mission (HIPPA violating narcotics trafficking institution, blaming the homeless for churches running prostitution and protection rackets with "law enforcement"). Piece county is still a bought and paid for Fox stage election tampering, attorney general, and and sheriff's department.
Either he stashed supplies and disappeared on his own or it was a set up. Are there witnesses who even saw him go up the mountain? There was no one else hiking that day due to the weather and why take that bad route in bad weather at all? Seems shady.
Perhaps Eric was caught in and moved by a crust avalanche.
I love hearing about Pacific Northwestern history from a channel like this. Thank you
I think the clip was broken and he was swooped up by a Roc. Being high in the sky he fought tooth and nail but couldn't win, the struggle causing his backpack to fall back into the mountain.
At least I am not saying it was Bigfoot or a Yeti.
The Kautz glacier route is named after my great x4 grandpa August Kautz. If you read the Kautz Glacier Wikipedia it says that he "is sometimes credited for the first ascent of Mt. Rainer on July 16,1857"
He was also a Major General in the Union during the Civil War, appointed by Lincoln and Andrew Johnson. He helped catch Robert E Lee, and later served on the trial board investigating the conspirators involved Lincolns assassination.
He retired in 1892, and died in 1895 in Seattle, WA. He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery. Cool stuff! One day I will hike his route.
What an incredible job you all did on this case! Thank you for all of the hard work and time you put into this, it really shows❤
Man, your videos are SO interesting, absolutely love the content you make its nothing but bangers. Your video style and cadence is so unique and captivating. Anyways, fan behavior done, keep doing you 👍
No tracks is a major issue.
They find the back pack - no tracks to or from.
Snow cave - no tracks.
Climbing the mountain three sets of tracks until there are only two sets of tracks.
So one set just stops.
No sign of someone stomping back and forth, or walking around, of even Just standing in place with feet braced.
The guy just evaporated between one step and the next?
Weird AF.
I love the UP. Half of my relatives are from up there and it is just such a chill place.
I have been binge watching this channel. Great content but honestly thank you for the metal intro song. Classic.
While I know the photo of the footprints you put in there was not actually from the scene of the 'crime', is it possible the footprints were misread? There would have been 3 sets of prints going up--Eric's and both his friends. It's easy enough to understand there were no footprints going back down the mountain when they went to check on him, or in any of the presumably virgin snow areas off the trail they were on, but after the 2 friends went back to check on him and found him gone, they then had to backtrack down which would've created additional sets of prints. So then there were at least 5 sets of footprints, 3 going up, 2 back down. Wouldn't that have made things considerably harder for rangers and searchers coming up later to really take stock of what had happened? Am I missing something there?
There is an ABC news journalist that just "disappeared" recently that is well worth investigating!!!
When you said that you only get two men when three men and a rope go up a mountain my dumbass was like “wait what happened to the mountain?”
I hiked Rainier for my 30th. One of the most amazing experiences of my life.
David P seems to have left out quite a bit of things in his stories..Thanks for actually doing the research.
Or adds things that didnt happen.
I know JR Storms and i've climbed with him, JR is a solid guy and climber. JR told me what happened and basically Eric wanted to cross a dangerous feature between them and camp. JR wanted to go over the feature. Eric unclipped out of his own disapproval and tried to cross the feature where he still is. It's that simple. Anyone that comes to the alpine is in grave danger and not finding bodies in the alpine isn't a mystery.
Well that pretty well sums it up doesn’t it
@user-xy6wu3xg2c he told the NPS right away, and he isn't held at fault by anyone in the know.
Your style and delivery are quite good.
Always good when a missing 411 video starts with your home mountain. This one is going to hit close to home.
Edit: also your second pronunciation of “salish” was correct. Think like “sailboat”.
"Without fact checking" The most common occurrence in these stories.
Is there independent confirmation he was on the mountain? That those are his tracks?
@regi grenski maybe he did something horrible they knew about it and don't wanna let anyone knew. Maybe he was a rapist or a pedo
There are a lot of cracks and crevices and the scary part is, grown people can fit in holes you'd never believe they could when positioned just right. And sure, rescuers looked for tracks and signs but many places they were looking it was quite awhile after he'd gone missing- and visibility was low and snow blowing around. I believe a lot of people who "vanish" are actually in the earth they were last seen around. Same with the mountains. And people are looking for known signs that someone has been there or evidence of a specific thing happening but the thing to remember is that everything doesn't happen the exact same way and sometimes precious little sign is left behind.
You got Salish right the second time (Sae-lish) , overall though your pronunciation of the names here is awesome!
I have hiking in Rainier National Park so many times, since we lived in the area for over 20 years . But it is heavily forested, and not to be taken lightly,. We used to hike Skookum Flats, trying to reach Skookum Falls. It took four attempts, since, the first three times we turned on the wrong trail. We found beautiful areas, just not what we were looking for. If you want go hiking in the Pacific Northwest, be prepared.
Maybe it's like a gate to the otherworld kind of thing, like the conditions were just right in that particular spot at that particular moment and he slipped through the veil, dropping his backpack in the process
If he did want to disappear then he picked the perfect time and place for it. As for coving his tracks in ice and snow if it’s hard packed then he might not leave much trace. But the place where it occurred means that the majority of searching would be done up the mountain letting him work down.
Dude flew off the mountain with a parachute. Whoosh!
My dad's middle name is Rainier. Probably because we live in Washington State.
Edit: AND my sister summited the mountain when she was eleven! She's a star athlete and I am SO proud of her!!!
My question is what kind of carabineer did he use? Was it a locking carabineer or just a gate style?
Ive had carabineers come loose and come off on me in the past. And thats why the boyscouts always taught to use two. As they say. "a carabineer is a mechanical device known to fail".
As a former climber you can't unclip yourself when you have weight s sitting on the carabiner. He had to for at least a moment have taken his weight off to unclip. And depending on what kind of carabiner he was using that could also help the mystery. If he had a two stage or three stage carabiner he would have had to undo it however if he had a quick action carabiner it could have just opened up as he was being lifted or moved around. This is why we weren't allowed to use quick action carabiners when I used to climb and work at Heights.
I do love your videos. The stories present wonderful enigmas that beg to be solved. And solved, they one day will be, and our stories will seem as silly as those of the fae stealing away children (whom were in reality killed by humans).
Love this channel- am a new listener! Also, your last name is the same as my families last name, and you’re from Pennsylvania? Ours was too! Maybe we are distance cousins lol. Thanks for the content !
This does give me an idea for a story in which the "missing" climber has previously placed supplies in the cave, left his known gear behind to make it look like he has suffered an accident. Would need to do some research on how he would get out without leaving tracks, but still seems like a good starting place for something.
Maybe he never went with his friends. But if you're gonna off someone and try to come up with a story about them disappearing, why come up with a story this bizarre?
I think he had a heart attack, unclipped, slid down mountain, lost his pack in the slide, fell into crevice and hasn't been found yet. People's dead bodies being hard to find is nothing new.
I climbed Rainier and I'm so glad I did it before I found this channel.
This man straight up despawned.
yeah, there were plenty of winds there. quite possible his tracks got covered by snow blown over them. winds can rage in small sections
you pronounced Yakima and Nisqually correctly 😭 bless
My dad climbed rainier after several attempts were foiled by weather. On a couple of those climbs he called out in a snow cave near disappointment cleaver, (which gets its name due to it being the point where many climbs on that rout are forced to turn around due to weather, timing, etc.) So a snow cave being on the mountain isn't odd at all.
have been really enjoying the lore lodge lately, sending y’all love and support 🫶🏻
My computer science teacher climbed Mount Rainier all the time. Used it to practice for Everest. He nearly died trying to summit Everest. He never summitted, but he did walk away. And congrats on the good pronciation of the Native American names. You can always tell if someone is actually from the Pacific Northwest or not.
Maybe he had a glider flight suit in his backpack and that's why the footprints disappear, because he glided back down to the base of Rainier
Maybe he did call to his friends for help, but they didn't hear him, so he did what he felt he had to to survive.
Don’t glaciers get these small cracks and crevices on them? Especially when the start to heat up? Could he have fallen into a small one and either not be visible or have gotten covered up by snow?
None of the explains what could lead up to this though.
Our Sasquatch population has been a little aggressive since the 1870s, on behalf of Washington State I apologize
More or less cool before that.....
Washington. What did you do?!
I live in the middle of nowhere in a nook between two mountains. The missing 411 phenomenon scares the shit out of me (Our goats and sheep go missing without a trace)
😨
Most underrated channel
I'm thinking that the harness catastrophically failed or that he was clipped in wrong and slid right down into a crevasse that wasn't thoroughly searched. Either that or it was a murder or suicide. Hard to say without a body...
Real talk answer: What you get when you send three men and a rope up a mountain can just be nothing.
Nobody comes back. Mountain climbing is dangerous, it kills a lot of people. Mountain climbing on an active volcano is just asking for it. It is Not Safe.
I've always thought that Eric Lewis was NEVER even on that mountain..or this is a very,very strange event 🤨
I grew up in the area and you nailed the tricky pronunciations! I loved watching this and seeing your explanation of a story i’ve heard many times.
You tell these stories very well. Your young yet you sound very mature. Keep up the storytelling! 5stars!
Spiders are tricky like that. Their pull is subtle
actually solid job pronouncing the names of places
Around 1600 climbers attempt to summit Rainier every year, about half manage it. While it is a pretty mountain, it is deceptively difficult to climb.
Yoooo lets go, time to go get missing 411'd by the mountain i see out my window every morning!
I know, late to the party. Something else that may have happened. Both hypothermia and altitude sickness can cause severe confusion. In a confused state, he could have unclipped and dropped his pack attempting to get to the cave, thinking they were slowing him down, for what ever reason he felt he had to get there.
Got kicked into an extra dimensional portal and was reborn here 45 years before the event as Josh Brolin!?
Isn't part of the mystery surrounding these cases the fact that entities such as the forest service, other authorities, as well as the _media,_ in many cases are all serving up inaccuracies and untruths about various aspects of these cases? You can call it conspiratorial thinking, but I was under the impression that Mr Palides gets involved on a personal level with the people actually involved with, and surrounding these cases? So if your sources (who I assume to be various media outlets) are reporting certain details to be at odds with what Dave has reported (i.e. whether the rope was cut, etc.), who should we believe? Food for thought.
Eric Lewis was picked up by an enormous, giant-sized eagle; a Thunderbird - obviously ;-)
I listen to a lot of mountaineering disaster stories on here. Everything from Denali to the 8,000 meter peaks. Given the conditions described, it definitely doesn't add up. Most likely would be a crevice or crevasse that is just too deep to see the bottom. But then why no footprints? Definitely a head scratcher
what’s with all these mountains being named after ancient mythology and ancient cities etc
Could he, wanting to go off and start a new life, have hiked up there prior, cached a backpack filled with everything he'd need, then on this trip just unhook himself and ... find some way of getting away without leaving prints?