A wrongful death lawsuit following the Everesting challenge death at Snow King Mountain in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, is making explosive allegations about what event organizers knew — and failed to do. The widow of a Connecticut investment banker Slava Leykind, who died after participating in a grueling endurance challenge at Snow King Mountain last year, has filed a wrongful death lawsuit on May 28, alleging that his death was preventable and the result of catastrophic medical and organizational failures.
Amy Leykind is suing 29029 LLC, its co-founders Jesse Itzler and Mark Hodulich, and the event’s contracted medical provider Heed Health LLC over the death of her husband, Slava Leykind, 43, who collapsed during the 29029 Everesting Challenge in June 2025 and died days later in hospital. Filed in Fulton County State Court in Georgia, where 29029 is based, the lawsuit claims the organizers failed to properly respond to clear medical warning signs during the event and ignored known risks associated with endurance dehydration and electrolyte imbalance. “Slava’s death was not a random, tragic accident,” the complaint states. “His death directly, foreseeably, and preventably resulted from a catastrophic breakdown in planning and care.”
About the 29029 Everesting Challenge
The 29029 Everesting challenge is an endurance event in which participants repeatedly hike a ski mountain until they accumulate 29,029 vertical feet — the equivalent elevation of Mount Everest — within roughly 36 hours. At Snow King Mountain, that meant climbing 1,571 vertical feet 19 times, with a gondola returning participants to the base after each ascent.
Registration cost $5,995 and included accommodation, nutrition support, hydration stations, recovery services, and a training program. The 2025 sold-out event drew 277 participants.
The Timeline of the Events
According to the lawsuit, Leykind began the challenge at 6:00 a.m. on June 27, 2025. By midday, after six climbs, he was already experiencing fatigue, brain fog, dizziness, and gastrointestinal distress. He visited the event’s medical tent operated by Heed Health and was advised to rest and drink fluids.
His condition did not improve. By mid-afternoon, he returned to the medical tent again, where the complaint alleges he was once more told to hydrate and rest — without vital signs being taken or sodium levels checked. He also reportedly asked for medical staff to come to his hotel room but was told treatment could only occur at the tent.
Later that evening, he briefly returned to the course and was given fluids and a 500ml saline drip. The lawsuit later alleges that Heed Health claimed Leykind had refused to go to the emergency room — a claim the complaint directly contests. “In fact, Heed Health’s own after-the-fact records admit that there was no signed refusal, as there was for other participants who refused treatment,” the lawsuit states.
Around 11:20 p.m., he was found unresponsive in his hotel room. Paramedics were called and performed CPR before transporting him to St. John’s Medical Center, approximately one mile away. A CT scan showed severe brain swelling consistent with acute hyponatremia. Leykind never regained consciousness and was pronounced dead on July 2, 2025.
What the Lawsuit Alleges
The lawsuit identifies hyponatremia — dangerously low blood sodium levels caused by fluid imbalance — as the cause of death. According to medical analysis provided by Dr. Anwar Osborne, associate professor of emergency medicine at Emory University School of Medicine, endurance exercise can trigger the release of antidiuretic hormone (ADH), which reduces the body’s ability to excrete excess water. Combined with continued fluid intake, this progressively dilutes sodium levels in the bloodstream.
The lawsuit argues that repeated instructions to drink water, along with the IV saline drip, worsened Leykind’s condition rather than improved it — each intervention further diluting his already dangerously low sodium levels. “In layman’s terms, Slava’s brain had swelled so much that it cut off its own oxygen supply, irrevocably damaging the areas of the brain responsible for controlling his breathing,” the complaint states.
Dr. Osborne concluded that medical staff “grossly deviated from the applicable standard of care” and that earlier intervention would more likely than not have prevented the fatal brain injury. “Had the standard of care been met, it is more likely than not that Slava would have had a materially improved outcome, including the prevention of the hypoxic-ischemic brain injury that ultimately proved fatal,” he wrote.
The complaint’s most damaging allegation is not that event leadership was ignorant of the risks — it is that they knew them well. Co-founder Mark Hodulich is a veteran endurance athlete who ran cross-country at Auburn University and has completed multiple 100-mile trail runs, ultramarathons and Ironman events. He has spoken publicly about the specific dangers of hydration imbalance in long-distance racing. “Either over hydrating or not having enough electrolyte” is one of his “big fears” while running, he once said. “You have to be mindful of having the right balance between sodium and water. Things can go wrong in the body if you’re really not watching what you’re doing.”
Co-founder Jesse Itzler — entrepreneur, author, former co-owner of the Atlanta Hawks and husband of Spanx founder Sara Blakely — has completed over 50 marathons and multiple 100-mile races. He also serves as “chief hydration officer” for Redmond Life, the parent company of Real Salt and Re-Lyte electrolyte products. Redmond’s own website explicitly warns that “drinking more than your kidneys can handle can trigger a condition called hyponatremia, where your sodium levels get dangerously low” and that “people with hyponatremia can develop muscle cramps, muscle weakness, nausea, vomiting, lethargy, headaches, confusion, seizures, and even die.”
Despite this institutional knowledge, the lawsuit claims event medical protocols did not require formal screening for hyponatremia even when participants presented with classic symptoms. It also alleges that assurances of “trained medical staff” on site did not match the level of care provided — with Heed Health CEO Brian Stern himself stating the contractor was “brought in very late to supplement some coverage.”
Who Was Slava Leykind
Slava Leykind was born in 1982 in Minsk, then part of the Soviet Union, and emigrated to the United States with his family in 1988. He studied at the University of Michigan and spent nearly two decades in investment banking at CG Sawaya Partners, where he rose to become a senior partner and co-head of U.S. consumer investment banking. He lived in Westport, Connecticut with his wife Amy and their three children, aged six, 10, and 13 at the time of his death.
His obituary described him as deeply dedicated to his family, noting that while his professional success was significant, his role as a husband and father was his greatest pride. “Despite his significant professional success at a young age, Slava’s role as a husband and father was his greatest achievement, passion and pride,” it read.
The Case Moving Forward
None of the defendants have yet responded in court filings. Mark Hodulich issued a statement on behalf of 29029 that did not address the lawsuit’s specific allegations. “Anytime something happens to one of our own, our 29029 community is there to support each other,” he said. “Our condolences will continue to be with the Leykind family and as always, our focus and commitment remains on the health and safety of our participants through coaching programs, preparation resources, frontline safety protocols, onsite medical services, and more.”
Heed Health has not publicly commented.
Snow King Mountain Resort is not named as a defendant.
The case is being closely watched across the endurance racing world. If the allegations are proven, it could establish significant new legal precedent around mandatory hyponatremia screening protocols at high-intensity events — and raise broader questions about the medical oversight standards that event organizers are required to maintain when participants push well beyond their normal physiological limits.