The Doomed Wilcox Expedition

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Episode 30: The Doomed Wilcox Expedition

George Mallory once said, “I climb mountains because they are there.” Mallory died climbing Mt. Everest in 1924, and his body wasn’t found for 75 years. George Mallory represents both the passion and the danger for those who climb mountains.

On July 18, 1967, a catastrophic snowstorm pummeled Alaska’s Mt. Denali, killing seven of the twelve young men in the Wilcox Expedition attempting to reach the summit. This is still the worst climbing disaster ever to occur in the United States. We will never know what happened at the top of Mt. Denali. Experts can only guess the fate of those seven unlucky climbers.

Sources

My primary source for this newsletter was Denali’s Howl by Andy Hall. If you want to learn more about this tragic event, I highly recommend this book.

Hall, Andy. 2014. Denali’s Howl. Plume, the Penguin Group. New York, NY.

Manley, Kelley McMillan. 7-2017. Disaster on Denali. 5280.com/ Magazine https://www.5280.com/2017/06/disaster-on-denali/

Duke, Kevin. 3-28-2012. Finishing the climb: Babcock finally tells his story of Denali tragedy. Gvnews.com. https://www.gvnews.com/sports/finishing-the-climb-babcock-finally-tells-his-story-of-denali-tragedy/article_d158684c-78f7-11e1-871e-0019bb2963f4.html

Worrall, Simon. 7-2014. The Denali climb that became one of the deadliest. National Geographic. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/article/140720-mountain-climbing-denali-mount-mckinley-alaska-national-parks

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