Kate Matrosova was a highly experienced hiker from Southern Siberia, Russia. She came to America on a student visa and successfully graduated with a masters degree in Financial Engineering. Though she worked for many firms on Wall Street, she also had a passion for the outdoors. She had a passion for climbing big mountains such as Kilimanjaro and McKinley, and was an active marathon runner. At 32 years old, she hiked the Presidential Mountain Range of the White Mountains in New Hampshire carrying light gear for a day hike. Unfortunately, she never made it out alive. The weather conditions reached -85F and 141 MPH winds. Rescue teams attempted to reach her after she activated her communications device, but to no avail. Kate Matrosova was discovered a day later.
Ty Gagne is the CEO of Primex, a public entity risk pool based in New Hampshire, and is also a certified wilderness first responder. He wrote the book Where You’ll Find Me about Kate’s experiences and those who were a part of her recovery. In this podcast, he discusses his own personal involvement in the outdoors, his perspective on Kate’s case, and how he wrote the book.
International Wildlife Crime Stoppers
Here’s What We Discuss:
- The book Where You Will Find Me
- Ty and Wayne’s experience with hiking
- The easy mistakes of hiking
- The beginning of Kate’s story
- The White Mountains
- Challenges of winter hiking
- The conditions of Kate’s hike
- Her plan and the issues around it
- Kate’s drive to succeed
- The group that got her out
- The issue with personal location devices
- Ty’s interviews with on-scene wardens
- The drive of law enforcement and how to keep them safe
- Mental health of volunteers and law enforcement
- The changes at altitude
- Retracing Kate’s story for a book
- The good out of a tragedy