Expedition Disasters

What went wrong, and how did the survivors manage to make it back alive? This Deadly Expeditions tale transports listeners back in time to discover how one of the deadliest days on Mount Everest unfolded.

In 2006 freelance photojournalist and amateur climber Nick van der Leek wrote a five page analysis of the 1996 Everest disaster titled MOUNTAIN MADNESS, and published in HEARTLAND magazine. His distillation was described at the time by THE CLIMB co-author, Weston DeWalt, as ‘the clearest exposition of the 1996 disaster I have ever seen’. Now, nine years later, having honed his penmanship within the rigors and deceits of the True Crime genre, Nick van der Leek is taking on the Everest narrative once more but with a fresh approach. Compared to his 2006 article, NEVEREST is a much larger ...

Antarctic explorer Ernest Shackleton tried and failed to cross the coldest and windiest continent on Earth.

By the end of the 1996 season - the deadliest in the history of Mount Everest - 13 climbers in all had perished. If it wasn’t the weather, and if it wasn't just the presence of journalists, what else fatally compromised Rob Hall's team, the Adventure Consultants? Were they really on a winning wicket when things "suddenly" went south on summit day, or was something else insidiously eating at the team's ability to perform all along? If so, what was it? What was the actual psychology that drove a record number of strong, brave men – and a Japanese woman – to certain death? On May 10 two ...

The story of the world's largest, longest, and best-financed scientific expedition of all time, triumphantly successful, gruesomely tragic, and never before fully told. The immense 18th-century scientific journey, variously known as the Second Kamchatka Expedition or the Great Northern Expedition, from St. Petersburg across Siberia to the coast of North America, involved over 3,000 people and cost Peter the Great over one-sixth of his empire's annual revenue. 

Why do we step past the warning sign? What drives us into the heart of danger? This gripping collection of dark non-fiction explores the chilling true stories of those who crossed the line—and never came back. Journey to the world's most lethal and forbidden locations: a radioactive ghost city, a canyon that drowns its victims in minutes, a patch of desert that swallows families whole, and a remote island where the vipers are masters. These harrowing accounts chronicle: The chilling, unsolved mystery of the Dyatlov Pass hikers. The final, terrifying audio from a man lost forever in the ...

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER A harrowing, moving memoir of the 1972 plane crash that left its survivors stranded on a glacier in the Andes—and one man’s quest to lead them all home “In straightforward, staggeringly honest prose, Nando Parrado tells us what it took—and what it...

The ocean was never empty. It was waiting. For forty-three elite passengers, the maiden voyage of the Aurelia was supposed to be the ultimate luxury experience: a front-row seat to the Mariana Trench from behind three inches of aerospace-grade polymer. For marine systems engineer Nora Caldwell, it was a rushed safety inspection she never should have signed off on. At one thousand meters down, the champagne is still pouring when the first impact hits. It isn’t a structural failure. It isn’t a seismic event. Something massive, ancient, and perfectly adapted to the crushing blackness has ...

A gripping and wholly original account of the epic human tragedy that was the great Klondike Gold Rush of 1897-98. One hundred thousand men and women rushed heedlessly north to make their fortunes; very few did, but many thousands of them died in the attempt. In 1897, the United States was mired...

The first tremor cracked the rock. The second unleashed hell. Park Ranger Ryan Voss knows the inner gorge better than anyone. When a massive fault line collapses deep below the tourist trails, he leads a desperate rescue mission into the newly opened depths. They expect to find trapped hikers. They find a sealed ecosystem that has evolved in complete darkness for sixty six million years. Now Ryan and a handful of survivors are trapped inside a glowing subterranean labyrinth. They are out of water and running out of ammunition. Something colossal is hunting them through the caverns. It is ...

Featuring original interviews with Everest mountain guides and climbers, this is “a fast-moving, nuanced account of the peak’s transformation from the ultimate mountaineering challenge into a booming business opportunity” (Joshua Hammer, New York Times bestselling author). Anyone who has...

The unsolved mysteries of George Mallory, Sandy Irvine, and their legendary 1924 Everest expedition. This program includes an audio-exclusive bonus conversation between the authors. There is no mystery more compelling in the history of mountaineering than the disappearance of George Mallory and...

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER A harrowing, moving memoir of the 1972 plane crash that left its survivors stranded on a glacier in the Andes—and one man’s quest to lead them all home “In straightforward, staggeringly honest prose, Nando Parrado tells us what it took—and what it...

Dangerous, deadly, and disastrous. From frozen Arctic seas to collapsing mountain trails and mosquito-choked jungles, this book explores real expeditions where confidence arrived long before understanding. These are true stories of explorers, surveyors, soldiers, and scientists who set out with careful plans - only to discover that terrain, weather, disease, and distance had plans of their own. This is not a book about heroic triumphs. It’s about what actually happened when expeditions met environments that refused to cooperate. Inside, you’ll find: Real expeditions that stalled, failed...

Rife with captivating details of survival in an icy wilderness, this reimagining of the famous 1910 expedition to the South Pole, told in Cherry's voice, is an unforgettable tale of courage and camaraderie.

Lost Empire is the second phenomenal FARGO Adventure from international bestseller, Clive Cussler. Some treasures are best left buried . . . Scuba diving off the Tanzanian coast, husband-and-wife treasure-hunting team, Sam and Remi Fargo discover a huge ship's bell, covered in cryptic carvings...

The goal of this article is to change you into a well-equipped and fully stocked jack of all trades who is good with his hands and has specific skill sets that would be essential in survival situations. These skills include carpentry, steelworks, masonry, basic survival, hand to hand combat, practical shooting, and hunting skills among others. You might not have all the above mentioned skills sets. It will not be realistic to make you believe that you can be an expert in these skills in 14 days.