5 Photos Were Never Supposed to Be Found

In February of 2020, a block of ancient ice surrendered a secret. As the Polish Glacier on Argentina’s Mount Aconcagua receded, it spat out a battered camera, still marked in blue tape with the name Janet Johnson and her Denver address. Inside, the film had survived nearly fifty years. And when the 24 images were developed, they revealed something chilling: a cheerful, composed Janet posing with fellow climbers just hours before she died—her face unmarked, her eyes clear. It was more than a time capsule. It was a clue. Janet Johnson had joined John Cooper and six other Americans in January 1973 to attempt the Polish Route, one of the mountain’s most treacherous climbs. The group, organized by Oregon’s Mazamas climbing club, was eclectic: a lawyer, a psychiatrist, a dairy farmer, a police officer, a college student, the teacher, and the NASA engineer. They set out with high spirits, but by the time they reached 20,000 feet, illness and fraying tempers had split the party in half. Only four pressed higher into the thin air...