Real Survival Stories: "One Misstep: The 1500ft Fall"

Podcast: Real Survival Stories
Host: John Hopkins
Guest: Ryan Montoya
Date: October 15, 2025

Episode Overview

In this gripping episode, host John Hopkins introduces the harrowing real-life survival story of Ryan Montoya, a 23-year-old solo climber whose quest for spiritual fulfillment leads to a near-fatal accident on Colorado’s Pyramid Peak. After a brutal 1,500-foot fall during a solo ascent, Ryan faces not only crushed bones and frigid wilderness, but also a profound reckoning with his motivations and perspective on life. The episode explores not just the physical ordeal, but the emotional and psychological journey that comes with brushing death and emerging forever changed.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Setting the Scene

• [00:33] The episode opens on March 5th, 2017, late morning, on Pyramid Peak. The weather’s turning, with biting wind and impending snow, an ominous prelude for Ryan Montoya’s climb.
  • “A strong wind swirls around the west face, scattering snow across the rocks. Distant dark clouds inch ever closer. A storm is on its way.” – Host (00:33)

2. Ryan’s Motivation and Background

• Ryan shares his early love of the outdoors fostered during family trips to Yosemite and how climbing became both a social anchor and a spiritual substitute during his tumultuous teenage years.
  • “We would set up these kind of mock survival nights where we try to take as little as possible out into the woods…it actually taught me a thing or two about spending a miserable night in the outdoors.” – Ryan (07:47)
  • Connection to Faith: After a crisis in his Christian faith, Ryan turned to climbing for a sense of meaning and control.
  • “It provided that spiritual experience I was looking for.” – Ryan (08:59)

3. Preparing for the Climb

• Solo Approach: Ryan discusses his draw to solo mountaineering, viewing it as the “truest” form of climbing in Colorado.
  • “Solo fourteenering or solo mountain climbing…that’s the one time in Colorado you might find yourself completely alone on a mountain.” – Ryan (10:23)
• Risk as Escape: Candid reflection on his willingness to accept risk due to a sense of emptiness elsewhere in life.
  • “That level of risk I was taking in the mountains felt acceptable to me.” – Ryan (14:20)

4. The Ascent—and Disaster

• Challenges of Pyramid Peak: Noted for loose, blocky rock and avalanche hazard, Ryan progresses carefully but is fatigued.
  • “The main challenge of Pyramid Peak is the rock quality. It's extremely loose, blocky.” – Ryan (15:35)
• Critical Decision Point: With worsening weather, he weighs turning back; stubbornness wins out.
  • “Stubbornness, I guess, prevailed…I don’t necessarily think I made the wrong decision to keep going, but it was at that point just kind of a personal decision to press on through.” – Ryan (17:13)
• The Fall: A misstep near the summit triggers an uncontrollable, violent tumble—over 1,500 feet down the face of the mountain.
  • “I must have misstepped. Maybe a rock crumbled and fell, but it happened so fast.” – Ryan (03:11/18:54)
  • “I remember just thinking, oh, okay, now I’m dead.” – Ryan (03:42/19:59/20:46)
  • “I lost count how many times I went over like a cliff…then I would hit the snow again and continue on.” – Ryan (19:59)

5. Immediate Aftermath & Self-Rescue

• [23:24] Miraculously, Ryan survives with a fractured pelvis, dislocated elbow (which he resets himself—twice!), and frostbite.
  • “I grabbed my arm and started moving it…‘pop,’ just went right back into place. The relief was instantaneous.” – Ryan (23:55)
• Equipment Damage: His phone is smashed—no way to call for help. The realization of total self-reliance.
• Psychological Impact: Anger and regret surface as he confronts mortality and loneliness.
  • “I just remember yelling out in anger…It was almost like a rehash of when I had my falling out with my faith, where all of a sudden I realized, oh, this thing I had committed myself to suddenly felt hollow all in one instant.” – Ryan (25:31)

6. Survival Strategies & Endurance

• Improvisation: Uses his shovel as a sled to descend further down the mountain, hopping and crawling when needed.
  • “I got my shovel out and I sat on it, kind of like a little sled….it's very slow. I'm sitting on bare metal, my crotch is freezing…” – Ryan (28:19)
• Sheltering: Digs a snow cave for insulation. Uses survival tactics learned during his earlier “mock survival nights.”
• Thirst and Exposure: Struggles with freezing water and thirst (licks condensation from backpack).
  • “The inside of Ryan's backpack has developed some condensation. Desperate, he licks the tiny water droplets…” – Host (36:20)

7. Mental Resilience and Agency

• Debate: Stay or Move? Trapped by injury, he weighs staying put versus trying to hike out, fearing rescue will search the wrong side.
  • “Are my odds best if I stay put or if I somehow muster up the will to walk? So I kind of had this all day. Back and forth.” – Ryan (33:43)
• Body’s Will to Survive: Despite crippling pain, suddenly finds capacity to walk—calls it “the strangest thing.”
  • “I stood up…I could walk, and there really wasn't too much hesitation after that.” – Ryan (34:20)
• Enduring Second Night: Digs a “horrible vertical hole” for shelter; water freezes, thirst deepens, but he perseveres.

8. Breakthrough and Rescue

• [37:57] Warmer weather brings hope and energy; he resumes the trek through the valley toward the road.
• Sign of Hope: Stamps SOS in the snow, tries to signal overhead plane, but ultimately decides walking out trumps staying put.
  • “The more things you can do, the better you'll feel. You feel like you actually have some agency in your own survival.” – Ryan (38:39)
• Frostbite: Discovers gray fingers, realizes another night would cost him his hand.
  • “I can't spend another night out here. I might lose, you know, some digits.” – Ryan (40:10)
• Seeing the Trail Sign: Spotting a “TRAIL” sign reinvigorates his morale, confirming he's on the right path.
  • “It was a sign. It was like a literal sign. You're on the right way…Such validation that I was not just wandering off…” – Ryan (41:13)

9. Moment of Rescue

• [42:40] Collapses near the road, shouts for help to passing fat-tire bikers who recognize the missing climber.
  • “I see some Fat Tire bikers heading up the road. …I’m yelling up to them…They knew somebody was missing out there.” – Ryan (42:40)
  • “They jumped off their bikes, they ran down, they held me up the hill, they sat me down. They were feeding me everything they had. One of them’s like, I’m going to get Search and Rescue right now.” – Ryan (43:53)

10. Reunion, Recovery, and Reflection

• [44:44] Emotional call home; hospital assessment stuns doctors—he should not have survived such a fall.
  • “I was just taken with emotion. I. I was overjoyed to speak with them.” – Ryan (44:44)
• Recovery: Pelvis and elbow heal, frostbite costs only the tip of one finger. No PTSD, but the introspection lingers.
  • “I never had any sort of ptsd, no residual fear or anything from the experience. …But afterwards, I realized this needs to change. I really…can’t do this again. It’s not fair to everyone else.” – Ryan (45:54)
• New Outlook on Climbing and Life: Moves away from solo climbing, connects more with others; the story redefines him.
  • “It revealed a very private part of my life…To have that just thrown up for the whole world to see and then talk about and then like, kind of celebrate, was just so bizarre and backwards from how I saw it.” – Ryan (47:18)
  • “I thought [climbing] could fill in parts of my life that were missing. And this accident was my first step in realizing that it couldn’t… I’m never going to stop climbing, but it’s far from everything.” – Ryan (48:11)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Climbing’s Deeper Meaning:
  “I think it provided that spiritual experience I was looking for.” – Ryan Montoya (08:59)

• During the Fall:
  “I remember just thinking, oh, okay, now I’m dead.” – Ryan Montoya (03:42/19:59/20:46)

• Realization at Rock Bottom:
  “All of a sudden I realized, oh, this thing I had committed myself to suddenly felt hollow all in one instant.” – Ryan Montoya (25:31)

• On Surviving the Impossible:
  “I never would have thought I could have walked with a broken pelvis. No way. But the body finds a way…it's got to survive.” – Ryan Montoya (48:11)

• On Family:
  “I was overjoyed to speak with them…that just kind of speaks to how detached I was from my family, from my community at the time, that…didn’t cross my mind, so. Just overjoyed, though, to have them be there.” – Ryan Montoya (44:44)

• Transformational Reflection:
  “I thought [climbing] could fill in parts of my life that were missing. And this accident was my first step in realizing that it couldn’t.” – Ryan Montoya (48:11)

• Perspective on Luck and the Will to Live:
  “Undeniable just how much luck played into all of this. And then the final thing…is just that primal will to survive.” – Ryan Montoya (49:23)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• [00:33] – Setting: Early morning on Pyramid Peak
• [07:47] – Ryan’s formative “mock” survival nights
• [10:23] – Drive for solo mountaineering & risk
• [17:13] – Decision to continue toward the summit despite warnings
• [18:54] – The fall: misstep and consequences
• [23:55] – Resetting his own dislocated elbow after fall
• [25:31] – Realization of vulnerability and anger at himself
• [28:19] – Using shovel as a sled to descend
• [34:20] – Unexpected return of physical ability; decision to walk out
• [38:39] – Attempts to signal for rescue vs. focus on self-rescue
• [41:13] – Seeing the trail sign, new hope
• [42:40] – Encounter and rescue by bikers
• [44:44] – Emotional reunion via phone with family
• [45:54] – Recovery and enduring changes in life philosophy
• [48:11] – Reflections on what climbing means after the experience

Final Reflection

Ryan Montoya’s survival on Pyramid Peak is a story of sheer physical grit, improvisation, and the kind of introspection only possible in the face of mortality. The episode doesn’t just recount a miraculous escape from the jaws of death, but explores how extreme adversity lays bare the fundamental needs for connection, meaning, and belonging. Far beyond the 1,500-foot fall, it’s a transformation from isolation to community, from self-reliance to accepting help—and a lasting testament to the human spirit's resilience.

If you only listen to one survival story this year, make it this one.