Ep 49 - Life and Death with Charlie Sassara and Jack Tackle (LIVE!) - Charlie Sassara

the Sharp End Podcast

Sports

4.8 • 1K Ratings

🗓️ 1 February 2020

⏱️ 65 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this special live-audience recording of the Sharp End, Alaska climbing legend Charlie Sassara recalls an epic survival story and rescue from 2002. Sassara's climbing partner, Jack Tackle, was clobbered by rockfall, knocked unconscious, and broke his back high on the unclimbed north face of Mt. Augusta. Tackle regained consciousness and together they determined there was only one course of action: Sassara had to leave his partner tied to a tiny ledge, rappel off the mountain, and try to get help. Survival was far from assured...for either man. This heartfelt episode was recorded in front of a large audience at Alaska Mountaineering and Hiking in Anchorage in late December, at an event put on by the Alaska Section of the American Alpine Club. There's a Q&A session with the audience at the end. A note for listeners: The audio from this live recording has various stage and audience noise as well as occasional profanity. The Sharp End is presented by Mammut, with additional sponsorship for this episode from Kavu. This podcast is produced by the American Alpine Club.

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is brought to you by the American Alpine Club and sponsored by Mamut Protecting you while protecting the environment.
0:14.4	Mamoot is not only focused on integrating leading safety technology into every
0:18.5	product so you can confidently push your boundaries but also committed to continuing to preserve what is worth preserving and to improve what is not yet perfect.
0:27.0	This episode is also supported by Kavu.
0:32.0	I'm Ashley, the creator and host of the show and I'm super stoked about this episode.
0:39.1	This episode was recorded live on the evening of December 27th, 2019 at Alaska
0:45.3	mountaineering and hiking in Anchorage, Alaska. Please note that there is some
0:49.9	spirited language that I opted to not edit out. This was the second ever live
0:55.8	recording that I've ever done and we were honored with an impressive turnout.
0:59.8	I got to sit with Charlie Cissera as he recounted a trip he took with Jack Tackle in 2002.
1:07.0	The two of them decided to climb Mount Augusta, which is a 14,000 foot peak that straddles the US and Canadian borders.
1:15.0	The south side of the mountain lies in Alaska and the north side belongs to Canada.
1:20.0	So I hope you enjoy.
1:36.0	We had an adventurous family and it really, the soul of it was my grandmother who would make up these stories. When I was a little kid who had a little hobby horse and we had a map of the world
1:40.6	and she would stand next to the map and then throw a dart against it and then I would have
1:46.0	my little hobby horse and she would tell a story of where the dart would be and see these adventures
1:50.9	around the world and so it was their inspiration that really got me thinking about beyond where we
1:57.9	live. So we grew up in Big Lake and in Anchorage and had this wonderful life of kids before, you know, we would, we would go from Rogers Park to
2:11.3	flat top on our motorcycles and our snow machines before we were in
2:17.3	sixth grade.
2:18.3	We just went.
2:20.3	We were little hoodlums with our adventures.
	...

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