White Hot Hate Introduces: Dirtbag Climber from Uncover

September 15, 2025·35 min·3 clips

Who was Jesse James, the dirtbag climber found dead in a burned-out SUV in Squamish?

A CBC feed turns sideways. After an Ideas promo, Stephen Chua introduces Dirtbag Climber, the story of Jesse James, who was found dead in Squamish, British Columbia, in June 2017. His death is still unsolved. Chua describes Jesse as a climber, a murder victim, and a man with false identities and a hidden past. Friends can only describe him in pieces. In Squamish climbing forums and Facebook groups, Jesse posted about the sport and pushed for more representation of minorities. Jackie remembers him asking why sponsorship rosters and ambassador lists were so white, especially when companies talked about diversity. Joe Wong saw that too. Jesse could be warm on the rock and blunt about hypocrisy in climbing culture. Then he would close up again. Asked what he did for work, he dodged it and said he already had money. His biography kept shifting. He said he came from New York, moved for climbing, played tennis at a semi-pro or high-level amateur level, played chess, invested, and did not need a job. Then there was the book. Joe says Jesse sent him a link to Psychology of Seduction, listed under Jesse James on Amazon. Around young male climbers, dating was already common chatter, but the book makes the picture stranger. Nothing clicks neatly into place. Jesse comes through as principled, friendly, and hard to know. The excerpt leaves that unease alone and points listeners to the next part of Dirtbag Climber, with his public convictions and private evasions still sitting side by side.

As heard by us

A careful true-crime setup that turns an unsolved death into a portrait of a deeply elusive man.

Dirtbag Climber turns Jesse James's death in Squamish into a tight, uneasy portrait of a man who kept slipping through fixed identities and leaving contradictions behind.

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

You want a Squamish death mystery that widens into a stranger-than-fiction life story.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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