The CRUX: True Survival Stories

In June 2024, 34-year-old Lukas McClish set out for a three-hour hike near his California hometown and vanished for 10 days in the burn-scarred Santa Cruz Mountains, surviving on creek water drunk from his boot and wild berries while a mountain lion stalked him through the wilderness. This is the story of how an experienced hiker got lost less than a mile from home, the massive search that followed, and the simple survival strategy that kept him alive when rescue seemed impossible.

Five people died instantly when the experimental Titan submersible imploded during a 2023 dive to the Titanic wreck—a tragedy that experts warned about for years but was ignored by OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush in his pursuit of innovation over safety.

On January 25, 2018, French climber Élisabeth Revol and Polish mountaineer Tomasz Mackiewicz reached the summit of Nanga Parbat—the "Killer Mountain"—completing only the second winter ascent of the world's ninth-highest peak. But their triumph instantly turned to nightmare when Tomasz developed snow blindness, severe frostbite, and life-threatening altitude sickness on the descent. A story of physical limits, mental fortitude, heartbreaking choices, and the extraordinary lengths people will go to save a stranger's life in the world's most hostile environment.

When the fishing vessel La Conte sank in the worst storm to hit Alaska in decades, five men were left floating in 90-foot seas without a life raft—and three Coast Guard helicopter crews risked everything to pull off one of the most dangerous rescues in maritime history. This is the story of six hours in freezing water, impossible choices, and the thin line between who lived and who died on January 30th, 1998.

In this Disaster Strikes segment, host Julie Henningsen examines the controversial story of Christopher McCandless, who died alone in an abandoned Alaskan bus in 1992 while attempting to live off the land. Inspired by her recent trip to Alaska—including visits to the replica Magic Bus and the actual bus 142 under restoration—Julie explores McCandless's privileged background, his radical rejection of materialism, and the fatal mistakes that led to his death at age 24. The episode also covers the dangerous "McCandless pilgrim" phenomenon that has claimed additional lives and asks: Was he a heroic idealist or a reckless cautionary tale? A reminder that courage without preparation can be deadly.