Mountaineers Get Too Close to a False Ledge

In this video, we’re going to go over two stories that took place in the mountains that demonstrate how crucial it can be to stay on the trail. Unfortunately, for the people in these stories, they didn’t, and the results were horrifying. This is horrifying mountain stories part 3.

As per YouTube's new AI disclosure policy, you may see a box pop up that says "Altered or synthetic content". To give specifics on how it's used on this channel, we use it to generate some scenes where real and stock images are not available, as well as some of the AI tools in various programs to speed workflow. Otherwise, all scripts, voiceovers, video editing, etc. is done by humans.

Attributions/Special Thanks for Photographs:

Writing and research by Jay Adams

This video contains light dramatic reenactment but no actual footage or pictures of anyone being harmed or who has been harmed. The thumbnail is NOT a real image.

And a huge thank you to the Scary Interesting team of writers, editors, captioners, and everyone else who make this channel possible.

[Amidamaru]

False Ledges are no joke. When I was 12 I was out in the woods in winter with friends being a kid and we went to a cliff we often hung out around. I approached the edge and fell through a false ledge, I fell about 15 feet and didn't land well. Broke my right leg, 3 ribs and had a compression fracture in my spine.

I fully recovered after 3 years of physical therapy and over a year in a wheelchair, but have a permanent 10 degree bend in my spine.

[ProximaCentauri]

This guy really stands out when it comes to mountaineering and diving stories.

[jessetucker]

Got invited to go snowboarding with friends in the backcountry when i was in high school, but had to work my grocery store job that day. The next morning my dad woke me to tell me the two boys who had invited me ended up in an avalanche after walking out onto a cornice. They were both killed. It terrified me at the time. RIP Matt and Jesse❤

[lPhoenixGloryl]

Hey a few things to add about the Kenji and SOS story.

The first set of bone analysis was done by a nearby college/university, not by a professional autopsy group. They had enough knowledge to attempt it and waiting for the real experts was going to take a while, so I get it. Still that inexperience is likely the cause of the initial mistakes. I dont blame the students either, sounds like a really tough forensic analysis job.

Secondly, I heard from a local that a hurricane had hit (and subsided) sometime before Kenji went out for his walk. Its not unthinkable that the hurricane knocked down the wood for him to gather.

As for the voice sounding odd to the family, Kenji might've been panicked, injured, or had the wind knocked out of him from a fall before recording.

Ive thought about this from a lot of angles, but my gut tells me that for once the police are right. Sorry for any minor errors, its been years since I thought of this case. In general this should be right tho.

[John-pig]

I walked out onto a cornice in Switzerland when I was a teenager, over what would have been about a 400 foot drop onto rocks. Completely unsurvivable. I only noticed I was on a cornice when the snow covered ice I was walking on didn't quite reach the rock wall I was trying to get to, and had a shadow between it and the wall. As I approached the shadow I realised it was a gap between the ice and the rock wall, which was a drop onto the rocks underneath the glacier I was on, and looking across the face of the wall and the end of the glacier it was clear that what I was standing on curved to a ledge, and was hollow underneath, as it was melting away from the hot rock wall in summer. I basically froze still where I was, then very gently tip-toed backwards the way I'd come.
I still remember that moment when I heard the rush of water below my feet of the river from the melting glacier echoing off this vast rock wall, that coincided with the realisation that I was in serious danger.

[memento_mori]

Crazy that most of these stories have at least one individual who by some seemingly inconsequential circumstance stays behind or goes back just before disaster. One situation where not pushing limits is life saving.

[ericwallhagen]

I summited Mt. Washington in winter many years back with a guided group. It was whiteout conditions above treeline, and I would have had no business being there without a guide. At the summit, on the stairs of the observatory, were 2 young men. They asked us if we'd seen the rest of their group on our way up. We hadn't, and told them they needed to get moving, because the weather was only getting worse and it was getting late. We were staying in the observatory for the night, so had no worries of getting back down in those conditions. Woke up the next morning to learn the two of them got lost in the whiteout, and ended up on a cornice that dropped them a couple hundred feet into Tuckerman Ravine. They survived, but were busted up enough that they needed to be rescued. Sobering to think about.

[sourgummiez]

You are my favorite narrator. You dont have a weird voice or tone or try to sound so intense like a news caster and all the other stuff some people do thats annoying 😂 love how you lay these stories out for us

[cjun]

Second story sounds like there needs to be more literal digging into the cave that they found Kenji’s belongings…

[ahmednayyer]

Hi, I am from Pakistan, home to world’s most fascinating peaks.

A few things to save your life on mountains: remember all mountains have the same language, don’t think an easy mountain can’t kill you, when you are on the summit, never forget where you are, stay well within the absolute limits of the peak and the ‘general summit’. It’s a foolish thing to believe when people say you are not on the summit if you few feet/meters shy, don’t go near the edges or even try to check them if they can break and fall off.

In mountaineering, staying alright and coming back alive is the victory, not the obsession to summit.

Use your opposite hand and foot for climbing, eg your right foot and your left hand, if you are using the same side arm and leg, your body will pivot out like a hinged door and you can fall due to being off balance, mind your center of gravity. Don’t be complacent, don’t just try to casual climb even when you can, on steep grades always be ready to use the axe to stop yourself, if you have time, don’t speed climb or rush, climb like an old man to reach like a young man. On all uncertain places you must use rope safety, don’t use manual devices if you think you will forget to lock - if you are using an ice axe with the wooden handle, it should always be hickory. If you are using oxygen make sure your mask is not leaking it. When you are reaching the summit, stay clear from the people descending. When on the summit, always stay within the absolute safe limits, there is no use of going to the edges. Protect your eyes, it becomes almost impossible to come down with vision issues without assistance. When taking photographs secure yourself. Mountaineering is about being physically strong, but more so being strategic, alert and clear minded. Planning your climb, getting the right gear (buy new and test, break-in your new trekking and climbing shoes to prevent blisters) choosing the right team, right weather window, right places to camp, and the right, safer way of approach, up or down. Always retreat when you still can. The mountains will always be there to climb.

[MissBobisty]

When I worked at Crater Lake, OR I started a season early and worked at the gift shop at the rim before the lodge opened and I could work my normal job as a server. We did snow shoe rentals, and we were often left responsible reminding people to not go near edges and stay on the clearly defined trails because of snow cornices. Unfortunately, a guest of the park came in and I remember he was so excited to be visiting. He was a pilot and had taken some time off to come up and enjoy. I did the reminder I always do when he asked about how close to the edge he could get, telling him that the cornices are really deceptive and look like it’s part of the mountain so he should definitely stay away from the caldera edges and stick to the trail. He didn’t turn in his snow shoes at the end of the day before the gift shop closed so we did protocol to call NPS. My gut told me something was wrong, despite the fact that sometimes guests just took them the whole day and came back the next or left them outside the lodge. The next day someone was out near the trail and found his jacket near a hole in the snow, and we called NPS. He fell through the cornice and they weren’t able to recover his body for a couple of months until the weather cleared around June. It’s one of the situations that still haunts me to this day. I always ask myself if there were better ways to further emphasize staying away from the caldera edges.

[Kestrel]

As strange as it sounds, is it possible that a Person X built the SOS, then Kenji with his broken leg found the letters and decided to stay nearby them to increase his chances of rescue, and then those two hikers were then also found in this same area? If the news team also got stuck there, it seems like this is an area of the mountain that a lot of people get trapped in.

[MountainHighSnow]

Cornices are truly one of the most terrifying things, and often so hidden until it’s too late.

[speleokeir]

Story 2: Surely there are flight records that could confirm what helicopters were in that area around the time Kenji went missing, who booked them, etc?

A 16ft birch trunk isn't that heavy, especially if you drag it like a travois. I've done that with 30ft+ trees when I was a volunteer at a nature reserve. And I'm a slim 5'10".

And if he got the logs from up-slope then gravity would do most of the work anyway.

Nor did they necessarily need something to cut down the birch trees. They might have come down naturally, say in a storm. Or had foresters being working nearby? Did the logs show tool marks?

Perhaps the broken bones occured AFTER they got lost and made the SOS. Even if that's not the case I suspect a desperate person could drag the logs into position sat on their arse.

Whatever the truth my heart goes out the guy and his family.

[lilycantor]

Hi! Forensic anthropologist here! There's actually a lot of debate within the forensic anthro community on how to identify characteristics from bones and a lot of variation. The national database we use even know is incredibly flawed and missing a lot of different ethnic and sex data. It's highly controversial, but half the field believes ethnicity can't even be told from bones; and though there are biological sex markers on multiple bones, really the pelvis is the most reliable and without, sex is hard to tell. To me, it sounds like the examiners only had a few bones in poor condition to look at which likely led to the discrepancies. Also, I think it's important to note that human will power to live is very strong; I think Kenji likely fell, was injured but believed the SOS was his most likely salvation, built the letters but injured himself more, before dying and having his bones scavenged.

[mj_SR]

I've been a longtime viewer but that last story of the SOS mystery man is wild. I hope that get's definitively solved someday. It sounds like there's so much more to know...

[smokeynedith]

No group should be separated. If one stops to rest, all should stop together.

[nancyvillines]

I think they should go back and check the bones again with today's technology.

[thatsmykulture]

Whoever designed the Intro is a genius... the shot of trees panning ... the haunting music... its so simple... just two notes... brilliant!!!

[danielschechter]

I was snowshoeing on a trail near Nelson, British Columbia, actually called "Cornice Ridge" when my guide walked up to the edge of a cornice and suddenly disappeared over the edge! I had about a minute to contemplate the fact that I didn't know the way forward, and didn't think I could follow the trail back due to the terrain, when to my great relief my guide shouted up at me "I'm okay. I'm going down for my hiking pole and then coming back up." I knew how to use my avalanche transceiver and my probe, and of course the shovel, but I would not have been able to get down to where the guide was, if he'd been hurt and incapacitated. About five minutes later he came clambering up over the edge and we continued on. A very happy ending to a very scary occurrence. We finished the hike, and some others in the following days, without incident, but I never again went snowshoeing in the backcountry.