mountain climbing
Lost Nuclear Legacy: The CIA's Missing Plutonium Device in the Himalayas - A 60-Year Environmental Concern
Dec 15, 2025 04:54 pm CST
In 1965, during the Cold War, the CIA and Indian climbers attempted to place a nuclear-powered surveillance device on Nanda Devi to monitor Chinese missile tests. When a blizzard forced the team to abandon the plutonium-containing SNAP-19C generator on the mountain, it created an environmental crisis that remains unresolved six decades later. The device, containing nearly a third of the plutonium used in the Nagasaki bomb, disappeared in an avalanche and continues to pose potential contamination risks to the Ganges River watershed.
Tragic Death of Elite Climber Balin Miller: 23-Year-Old Alaskan Falls From El Capitan During Solo Climb
Oct 03, 2025 09:31 pm CST
Renowned 23-year-old climber Balin Miller tragically died after falling from Yosemite's El Capitan while lead rope soloing the challenging Sea of Dreams route. Known as "Orange Tent Guy" and celebrated for his first solo ascent of Mount McKinley's Slovak Direct, Miller was an accomplished alpinist who had recently completed impressive climbs in Patagonia and the Canadian Rockies. The accident occurred during a livestream, marking the third fatality in Yosemite this summer.