The Frozen Glove: How a Perfectly Prepared Man Vanished for 72 Hours

The Frozen Glove: How a Perfectly Prepared Man Vanished for 72 Hours A mountain runner found a glove frozen solid at 4,200 feet on a 51°F May morning with no nearby ice - and the man it belonged to survived 72 hours alone on a ridge despite a broken ankle and every sensible precaution. How did a prepared climber with trip plans, a laminated decision card, and years of high-altitude experience vanish from searchers who looked in the wrong place? In this episode, we tell the sequence of events from the summit notes at 12,400 feet to the discovery of the frozen glove, covering the choices Dean Adams made after his fall, what he carried and left behind, and how two words in his trip plan redirected search efforts - could those words be the reason helicopters never saw him? Person: Dean Adams Date: May 10 (fall) and May 14 (glove found) Location: Mount Velder; glove at 4,200 feet on Kettner Creek fire road Age: 38 years old Occupation: Civil-structural engineer - He reached the 12,400-foot summit at approximately 1:17 p.m. on May 10 and noted "Winds calm. Visibility unlimited." - At about 3:40 p.m. on the northeast ridge near 11,600 feet he fell and slid 12 to 15 feet, fracturing his lateral malleolus. - He descended bearing weight on the broken ankle for roughly four hours to the western treeline at about 10,100 feet, arriving just before dark. - He had carried a laminated turnaround decision card and always filed trip plans, but had not purchased a satellite communicator he had considered. - On May 14 at 6:20 a.m. Tracy Young found a frozen glove on a culvert marker at 4,200 feet while running the Kettner Creek fire road; the morning temperature was 51°F and there was no ice nearby. Tired of ads? Listen to this podcast and 200+ more ad-free on OBOMEDIA. Try it free for 7 days, cancel anytime: https://obomedia.com/en/gratis?ref=desc-7194395 © 2026 Created by an independent creator of the OBOMEDIA Network. All rights reserved. This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the property of their respective creator, who is solely responsible for them, and are distributed by the OBOMEDIA Network on platforms such as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and Pocket Casts. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without the creator's prior written permission is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: [email protected].