There’s a special kind of appeal to a solo adventure—being out on your own, away from everything and everyone. Unless, of course, something goes wrong and you find yourself in serious trouble. In this gripping story by our friends at The Outside Podcast, we hear from Claire Nelson, who was seeking peace and solitude in the desert but ended up badly injured, all alone, and unable to call for help. To survive, she would have to hold on to the hope that eventually someone would find her. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Out Alive from BACKPACKER

Alone and Injured in the Wild

This show is all about near-death experiences, and the lessons we hope to learn from those who made it Out Alive. Each of the stories we tell is incredible in its own right, but now and again we hear a tale of someone who seemed to survive something approaching miraculous, and we can’t help but marvel at their luck in the direst of circumstances. And it seems like these are the experiences that are so transformative that you wonder if they were actually in the wrong place at the right time.  While it’s not a universal phenomenon for all survivors by any stretch, there are those who come so close to death, that the experience acts like a level reset, a wake-up call.  It’s illogical, but also painfully relatable that for some of us, it’s only when we come face to face with dying that we remember what it’s really like to live. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A Snowy Second Chance

Many hikers and backpackers search out areas off the beaten path. There’s something alluring about visiting a trail or lake or summit that few other humans get to see. We covet peace and solitude, and we thrill at the idea of having a campsite, swimming hole, or waterfall all to ourselves. But tranquility comes at a price. Secluded beauty tends to be safeguarded by challenging terrain. And when things go wrong, it’s hard to tell the difference between solitude and desolation.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Broken & Alone

At the crux of every survival story is a pivotal decision point. The choices we make when the stakes are high can mean the difference between salvation and struggle, misery and hope, life and death. When it comes to dire situations in the backcountry, the options can be imperfect and the time in which to weigh them is often short. In today's episode, we witnessed the fast decision-making of three separate survivors, all at the heart of one historic and catastrophic flash flood on the Havasupai reservation of the Grand Canyon. The flood would permanently alter the landscape as well as the lives of those who were caught in its fury.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From Desert Paradise to Death Trap

Many survival stories include an element of helplessness. When you're far from civilization hurt, unable to move. There's little, you can do to keep yourself alive. It's helplessness that sets in when things get really, really bad, but there's another feeling, however, dim that keeps you going: hope. Though you may be unable to help yourself in the face of extreme danger there's comfort in knowing that someone out there may be looking for you. That comfort, that hope can be what allows you to survive. And if you get into trouble in a place where Search and Rescue is accessible, that hope multiplies. These highly trained volunteers save countless lives every year. No matter the terrain, no matter the weather emergency responders will answer the call of distress. They're the reason why, even when we're helpless, we're not hopeless. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We Fell Down the Mountain

Polar bears, the grand beasts of the arctic, are one of the most fearsome predators on earth. Healthy males can weigh half a ton, stand eight feet tall on their hind legs and possess enough power to get all that mass moving at 25 miles per hour. Few sites in nature will inspire the sense of panic and doom as seeing a polar bear loping across the ice headed your way. They are aggression sheathed in fur, spiked with two inch claws and armed with teeth designed to catch and hold slippery prey. As a rule, few animals survive encounters with these hyper- carnivores. Matt Dyer is that rare exception.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Arctic Nightmare: Mauled by a Polar Bear

When Jeremy Humphrey set out to find a missing hiker in July of 2020, he didn't have any training or fancy rescue gear. But he had something else, legs that could carry him for miles and miles in a day, an intimate knowledge of his local mountain range and a voice inside him telling him that he was the right man for the job. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

SAR's Secret Weapon: An Ultra-Running Volunteer

If you listen to this podcast you can probably relate to a sense of being pulled by the mountains. A feeling that John Muir put memorably when he wrote the mountains are calling and I must go." We answer the call for our own sense of adventure or to recharge our connection to nature. But some of us are called to higher, harder pursuits. These mountaineers head high with safety equipment skill, and experience. Essential equipment on the glaciated peaks of crampon country, close call country. But just as the mountains call us, they also let us know when not to go and our ability to hear and listen to that call, that can make all the difference. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Mountains Called, I Shouldn't Have Listened

Months after receiving a pacemaker, mother-of-five Stephanie Ingram was celebrating her newfound health with a solo trek of Washington's Wonderland Trail. But no matter your fitness, Mother Nature can take as much as she gives. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

At the Heart of the Matter

When there's trouble on the trail, who are you supposed to call? In this week's episode, we examine the missed chances that led to the unthinkable one spring evening on the Appalachian Trail. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tragedy on the Appalachian Trail Part 2

To be a hiker is to accept a certain amount of risk. And yet the freedom to expose ourselves to that danger is part of the draw, but, as our next story shows, you never know what – or who – is coming down the trail. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tragedy on the Appalachian Trail Part 1

In October of 2010 search and rescue volunteer Pam Bales happened across an unconscious man while on a solo hike up New Hampshire's Mt. Washington. As the weather became life-threatening, Bales struggled to help the man to safety, all the while wondering what led him up the peak in the first place. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mystery on the Mountain

Blue skies in Grand Teton National Park turn gray when a group of hikers are caught in a powerful rockslide. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Buried in a Rockslide

Yev Krasnitskiy and his three climber partners find themselves stranded without supplies while a storm prevents rescuers from reaching them. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Stranded on Mt. Rainier

On a 600 mile canoe trip, Alex Messenger encounters a grizzly while hiking alone on the Canadian tundra. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Twenty-Ninth Day

Raging rivers, hungry bears, huge avalanches—no matter how prepared you are, a walk in the woods can go from innocent to disastrous in the blink of an eye. Out Alive is a podcast series about real people who survived the unsurvivable. Each survivor takes you through what happened, from the packing mistakes to the missed signals to the plain bad luck, while experts and witnesses weigh in on how things went wrong.

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Out Alive from BACKPACKER

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