Trapped at 23,900 Feet: Doug Scott’s Descent With Two Broken Legs | E 266

Doug Scott broke both his legs 23,900 feet above sea level on one of the world's most technically demanding mountains. No rescue team was waiting. No helicopter stood by. For eight days, Scott and his climbing partner Chris Bonington faced a descent that should have killed them—navigating crevasses, rappelling with broken legs, surviving a five-day storm with no food and wet sleeping bags in the death zone. But the real question isn't how they survived the mountain. It's what each person on that team did at every moment when survival seemed impossible. This is the story of how humans respond when everything goes catastrophically wrong.

00:00 Welcome to The Crux

01:50 Meet the Climbers

03:24 Why the Ogre Matters

04:47 Expedition Setup and Early Injury

07:35 Final Summit Push

11:44 The Fall and Broken Legs

15:56 Night on the Ledge

19:49 Crawling Descent and Regroup

23:08 Stormbound Survival

28:26 Base Camp Abandoned

30:37 Mo Runs for Rescue