Fallen on Mount Whitney | 1

Against The Odds

Wondery

Cassie De Pecol, History, Society & Culture, Dolby, Mike Corey, Dolby Atmos, Atmos

4.7 • 7.2K Ratings

🗓️ 1 April 2025

⏱️ 53 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In April of 1982, Jean Muenchrath and her boyfriend had nearly completed a 230-mile cross-country ski trip through California’s Sierra Nevada Mountains. On the final day of their journey, they planned to hike the highest peak in the lower 48 states: Mount Whitney. But on the summit, the pair was engulfed in a blizzard and lightning storm. On this special episode of Against the Odds, Jean Muenchrath narrates the story of the fall that nearly claimed her life and her epic battle for survival.

To learn more about this story, check out Jean's book: If I Live Until Morning: A True Story of Adventure, Tragedy, and Transformation

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Wondery Plus subscribers can listen to Against the Odds early and ad-free right now.
0:05.6	Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts.
0:15.0	From Wondery, I'm Cassie to Peckle, and this is against the odds.
0:29.7	Colorado native, Jean Munchrath spent nearly 40 years working as a ranger for the National Park Service.
0:36.7	Her love of the outdoors and the mountains
0:38.7	has taken her across the snowy peaks of the Rockies and Sierra Nevada and even to the Himalayas.
0:45.7	It's been her passion as long as she can remember. So I grew up in Denver, Colorado, and I always
0:53.8	had snow in my life.
0:55.5	I remember catching snowflakes in my mouth with an utter sense of wonder
0:59.4	and building a big hill of snow in the backyard and trying to use it as a little ski hill.
1:05.8	Since before she was big enough to strap on a pair of skis, Gene had the bug.
1:15.9	At Christmas time, I would go to the kitchen and get sheets of wax paper and put them under my bare feet and go sliding around the carpet.
1:19.6	As soon as I could get boots that would fit my small feet, I was often running to the slopes
1:24.1	with my father and my older sister.
1:26.1	Those are probably some of the best childhood memories I
1:28.4	have. I remember the night before I'd go skiing, and I didn't sleep at all because I was so
1:33.3	excited because there was nothing more I loved. As she grew into adulthood, the mountains became a
1:39.5	source of strength. The mountains have always been soul food for me. They just inspire me to want to be my best
1:46.8	self and my strongest self as if I want to emulate them. They truly uplift my spirit. But at just 22 years
1:54.5	old, Jean's devotion to skiing the wilderness would be tested more than she could have imagined.
2:00.7	Jean and her boyfriend Ken had nearly completed a weeks-long backcountry ski trip
2:05.4	through California's Sierra Nevada Mountains when things took a turn for the worse.
	...

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