What compels some of us toward adventure?

Why do some people seem to want to seek out danger, while others, like myself, would rather just hear about it?

How could it be that of seven experienced adventurers, only one survives?

Welcome to Strange and Unexplained with me, Daisy Egan. I don't know how many

times I got to tell you not to go outside. It's dangerous out there. And the more extreme the climate,

the more danger you may encounter as you venture further in, the less likely you are to see me.

This week's story brings us to the base of one of Earth's oldest mountain ranges, nestled

in a particularly wet and precipitous region of sub-arctic Russia.

Pack your bags with only what you can carry on foot.

And if you have space, some patience and

understanding for my pronunciations to come. I'm not Russian, despite my impressive accent work on

this very podcast. On we go. On August 10, 1993, a group of kayakers were making their way down the Schnejnea River along the foot of the Kamar-Dibon Mountains in southern Siberia,

when they spotted a girl on the bank frantically waving her arms to get attention.

They made their way to the shore where one of the kayakers, Alexander Kovitnitsky,

would later say the girl, quote, threw herself at one of our participants and cried

on her chest for a long time. She was incoherently telling us that people had died and how

scared she was, end quote. The girl was 17-year-old Valentina Valia Utachenko.

The kayakers took Valle to a rescue station where, after being given some food, blankets,

a half a mug of vodka, and some system regulation, she recounted the harrowing tale of how she

came to be alone on the shore of the

river that day.

Valle had been part of a group of experienced hikers traversing the Retransleotor Summit,

...