Allison Stegner is a paleontologist, and currently is an intern for the Bureau of Land Management surveying the Bears Ears National Monument for fossils. As a paleontologist and ecologist, Allison works in remote parts of Utah and has relied on SPOT since 2013. "I frequently use the check-in/OK button while working in the field and have found that the coordinates are consistently more accurate than the Garmin Oregon I use for my research. The Garmin has a lot of trouble with cliffs and since I work in Utah, I am frequently near cliffs."
Recently, Allison was surveying an area littered with dangerous slopes and sandstone blocks. As she stepped off a large, 300 pound block, it began to slide and in a matter of seconds, trapped and crushed her foot against another large rock. Finding herself literally caught between a rock and a hard place, she tried to break free and move the boulder, but realized she was trapped. After much thought, she activated the S.O.S. on her SPOT device. "I was in excruciating pain and couldn’t sit or rest because of the way I was trapped. I kept thinking, I am out of sight and in a remote area. How is anyone going to find me?"
Corinne Corson works for the US Forest Service and is an avid hiker, roaming the hills of Northern California in her spare time. Often hiking on her own, Corinne purchased her SPOT Gen3 in 2014 when she began hiking through more remote areas with her trusty four-legged companion Tucker.
On May 29, while off duty on a holiday, Corinne and Tucker set out on a new trail that she had never hiked before. With her paper map, some food supplies and emergency blanket, Corinne headed out for a quick eight mile hike. Prior to her adventure, Corinne made sure to let a close friend familiar with the area know where she was going just in case.
Bob Bordasch has been backpacking for nearly 55 years and blogging about his trips as a way to remember them for the past nine years. In April 2017, Robert and a friend set off to hike from Kanab Point to Kanab Creek in the Grand Canyon.
After several hours of hiking, he started experiencing pains in his mid-back, close to his kidneys. The farther he hiked, the more pain he felt. The only way he was able to find relief was by stopping every hundred yards or so to bend over. Another hour later and the pain had become debilitating, both in his back and his gut.
I have been climbing for 26 years and guiding for 23. Although I have responded to many accidents over the years, I’ve never had anything serious happen to me.
Barry Blanchard, one of my climbing heroes, famously wrote in an email to a group of friends, “It finally happened.” He had broken the golden rule of ice climbing - He took a leader fall.
I have lived by the leader must not fall rule my entire ice climbing career and in fact I still remember the time I took a fall on top rope in 1996 -a much safer way to climb when the rope is above you- and vowed to never ever fall on top rope again. I thought about it all the time and really started to believe that I might just make it through my career, and be able to retire from ice climbing without taking a leader fall.
Connor Gallager, from Columbus, Ohio, was excited about his first solo hike in Colorado on the Maroon Bells Four Pass Loop. He chose the 26.6 mile hike as his first solo hike but was sure to have all of the gear he need including a SPOT Gen3.
The first day of Connor’s hike proved to be a bit colder than he expected and he encountered some bear droppings along the way which he was not very excited about. He had hiked approximately 11 miles before setting up his tent for the night at 11,000’.
