Speaking to the nation’s top-ranked climbing athletes, past climbing and bouldering champions, and sports associations, The Daily Beast sought clues to the identity of any climber who might have participated in such a test. Not a single person in the tight-knit community of world-class climbers had heard a single word about any border wall experiment.

“We live in strange times,” said Marc Norman, CEO of USA Climbing, the sport’s national governing body. “I am not aware of any of our athletes being contracted to do such work. Ironically, I have heard rumors of climbers being contracted by zoos to test animal enclosures, but that is about all.”

Spokespeople and executives at the country’s oldest and largest climbing and mountaineering groups, including the American Alpine Club, Mazamas, the Appalachian Mountain Club, and the Alpine Institute, were similarly at a loss.