Out Alive from BACKPACKER: Recent Episodes
Backpacker Magazine
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.
In this episode of Out Alive we dive into a summer riddled with unsettling animal encounters worldwide. From cougars and bears on American soil to Orcas causing chaos off Portugal's shores, one question lingers: Are animals growing weary of us? To shed light on these events, we invite renowned bear biologist, Dr. Tom Smith, and his former student-turned-wildlife biologist and podcast host, Wes Larson. Together, they unpack the intricacies of these animal-human confrontations, with a special emphasis on bears.
Wes is the co-host of a show all about animal encounters - listen to Tooth & Claw here. You can also follow Wes on Instagram @grizkid
In the rugged terrain of the Wind River Mountains, what begins as a routine ultramarathon training session for Gabe Joyes quickly escalates into a life-threatening ordeal. After a misstep leads him to inadvertently pierce himself with his trekking pole, Joyes finds himself isolated in a remote canyon. Now, he faces his most formidable test of endurance yet, as his wife Jenny and SAR volunteer David Englert try to reach him in time.
When we anticipate encountering bears, we come equipped with bear spray and knowledge of how to act. In avalanche terrain, we know to pack our beacon, shovel, and probe. Yet we tend to overestimate the danger of a bear attack. But when it comes to the most deadly natural hazard, heat, our readiness often wavers. Why do we consistently underestimate such a palpable threat, and what are the cognitive mechanisms at play? In this deep-dive episode, Dr. Peter Howe’s groundbreaking research reveals a startling truth. Join us as we venture into one of the hottest places on earth, Death Valley National Park. Our special guests, a climate researcher and a seasoned representative from the park, offer life-saving advice on navigating and staying safe in extreme heat conditions. The temperatures are rising, and our awareness should be, too.
The harrowing journey of two adult brothers whose passion for spelunking takes a terrifying turn. Exploring the labyrinthine depths of a remote cave, they find themselves caught in a sudden rockfall, leaving one of them severely injured.
We sit down with survival expert Jessie Krebs to explore some of the most common survival questions. Drawing upon Jessie's extensive knowledge and experience in the field, we separate fact from fiction and debunk prevalent survival myths with invaluable insights and practical guidance from an expert who knows what truly works.
In this episode of Out Alive, we share a harrowing tale of survival, resilience, and tragedy on Mount Rainier. Four climbers set out to conquer the mountain, only to face disaster on their descent when a dramatic fall results in catastrophic injuries, leaving them stranded on its icy slopes.
Join renowned survivalist, SERE instructor, and former "Alone" contestant, Jessie Krebs as she shares her wealth of knowledge and expertise on the crucial framework you need to know when it comes to packing for any trip. Drawing from her extensive experience in extreme survival situations, Jessie unveils the essential items and strategies that can make all the difference between a successful adventure and a perilous ordeal.
In this episode of the Out Alive podcast as we delve into the awe-inspiring story of polar explorer Eric Larsen, who has fearlessly navigated treacherous icy terrains, but faced an entirely different kind of challenge when he confronted cancer head-on. Follow Eric's polar adventures, train, or go on a trip with him. Out Alive is made possible by the members of Outside+
When Svati Narula agreed to spend a season as part of a communications team at Mt. Everest basecamp she thought there would be a buffer between hers and the perils of Everest’s high slopes. But she would find there was no safe distance from the worst disaster in Mt. Everest’s history.
Peter Agricola was mountain biking near his home in Norfolk, Massachusetts when he went over the handlebars on a downhill and landed chest-first on a fallen log. As he sat up he saw that he was bleeding profusely, soaking his shirt. He had impaled himself in the chest by a branch.
When a rafter was stung by a scorpion, she assumed she’d be fine. Then she lost her ability to see or speak clearly. It was the beginning of a nightmare that nobody in her group of experienced adventurers saw coming. After all, there aren’t supposed to be deadly scorpions in the United States. But as her condition grew more frightening, they began to believe they had a serious emergency on their hands. In this episode, a collaboration with the Outside podcast, we investigate how a standard backcountry incident turned into a medical and scientific mystery.
Will Toor and Mariella Colvin were on a summer climb in Rocky Mountain National Park. While their outdoor pursuits on a typical day would earn them respect from outdoor enthusiasts half their age, this past July, they had to find out exactly how strong they actually are.
According to Florida Fish and Wildlife, there are about 10 unprovoked alligator attacks on humans every year. That puts your chances of being attacked by an alligator at one in 3.2 million, It may seem that alligators are easily enough avoided. But if, like Jeffrey Heim, your work is outside on the slow rivers of Florida, encountering an alligator is just another day at the office.
For more than two weeks in 2018, the entire world was gripped by nonstop news coverage of the effort to rescue 12 boys and their coach from deep inside Tham Luang Nang Non cave in Northern Thailand where they were trapped by rising flood water. In this special episode of Out Alive, we'll hear in-depth from two of the most influential divers from this unprecedented rescue, and how their pursuit of an unusual and dangerous hobby made them some of the only people anywhere who would have a chance to save the lives of the boys and their coach.
This season of Out Alive is brought to you by Stillhouse, the official spirit of adventure. Stillhouse makes award-winning bourbon, vodka, and whiskeys that come in unbreakable 100% stainless steel cans… because the good times go where glass can’t follow. Learn more at stillhouse.com
We've learned a lot since we first started Out Alive, and the lessons have surprised us. Certainly, we've been indoctrinated to always tell someone where we're going and when to expect us, and as editors of Backpacker, we know all about the ten essentials. But the lesson we keep coming back to is that sharing--storytelling--is healing. Dr. Alison Roy is a licensed clinical psychologist and trauma expert--she knows a thing or two about long-term mental recovery from a professional standpoint. But after she and her family encountered a traumatic event while on a hike in January of 2020, they got a whole new perspective on healing. This season of Out Alive is brought to you by Stillhouse, the official spirit of adventure. Stillhouse makes award-winning bourbon, vodka, and whiskeys that come in unbreakable 100% stainless steel cans… because the good times go where glass can’t follow. Learn more at stillhouse.com
To a lone hiker, the woods teem with threats. There are wild animals, of course, and exposure to the elements. There are the looming risks of dehydration, starvation, and the terror that comes with the fall of darkness. But for some, worse than the fear of the woods themselves are the ruthless fabrications of one's own mind, especially in stressful situations. Inner demons can be as powerful as a stroke of lightning or a sudden blizzard. In this story, we explore what happens when the biggest obstacle to survival, and only hope, is oneself.
This season of Out Alive is brought to you by Stillhouse, the official spirit of adventure. Stillhouse makes award-winning bourbon, vodka, and whiskeys that come in unbreakable 100% stainless steel cans… because the good times go where glass can’t follow. Learn more at stillhouse.com
Part 2: In every story we tell on this show, there is an element of the miraculous, someone who defies the odds and lives through a seemingly impossible situation in the wild, but we don't all see miracles the same way. For some, a miracle is falling off a cliff and being lucky enough to get caught by the branches of a welcoming tree. Or, running from a raging forest fire when, just in time, a rainstorm saves the day. But for others, miracles, aren't about luck or random natural occurrences. They are acts of divine providence. For Mary Grimm, coming so close to death in the mountains and making it back was exactly that. This season of Out Alive is brought to you by Stillhouse, the official spirit of adventure. Stillhouse makes award-winning bourbon, vodka, and whiskeys that come in unbreakable 100% stainless steel cans… because the good times go where glass can’t follow. Learn more at stillhouse.com
In every story we tell on this show, there is an element of the miraculous, someone who defies the odds and lives through a seemingly impossible situation in the wild, but we don't all see miracles the same way. For some, a miracle is falling off a cliff and being lucky enough to get caught by the branches of a welcoming tree. Or, running from a raging forest fire when, just in time, a rainstorm saves the day. But for others, miracles, aren't about luck or random natural occurrences. They are acts of divine providence. For Mary Grimm, coming so close to death in the mountains and making it back was exactly that. This season of Out Alive is brought to you by Stillhouse, the official spirit of adventure. Stillhouse makes award-winning bourbon, vodka, and whiskeys that come in unbreakable 100% stainless steel cans… because the good times go where glass can’t follow. Learn more at stillhouse.com
Sydnie Uetmoto and David McMahon were young pilots in Hawaii making their way through advanced levels of flight training when they got a call to crew a short flight together in a four-seater plane. But what should have been a routine route between two islands turned into every aviator’s worst nightmare.
This season of Out Alive is brought to you by Stillhouse, the official spirit of adventure. Stillhouse makes award-winning bourbon, vodka, and whiskeys that come in unbreakable 100% stainless steel cans… because the good times go where glass can’t follow. Learn more at stillhouse.com
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
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
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.
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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.
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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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
In 1999, Malcolm Daly fell 200 feet while climbing a remote Alaskan peak. He spent the next two nights stranded and alone on an ice ledge. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Ryan Osmun, 35, took a wrong step while hiking in Zion National Park in February, and became trapped in quicksand. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
In our season finale, hear from experts to learn what's happening inside your brain during a survival scenario, what you can do to beat the odds, and how a former BACKPACKER editor nearly succumbed to the greatest threat out there—ourselves. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Stacy Liedle and her team continue to fight for their lives on the Emmons Glacier. With a storm fast approaching, the SAR team rushes to get everyone down safely—and then, tragedy strikes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
For Stacy Liedle and her team, reaching the summit of Washington's Mt. Rainier was the accomplishment of a lifetime. But a fall while descending the Emmons Glacier leaves the four climbers severely injured and in need of a rescue—before a winter storm strands them on the mountain. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Gregg Hein spent 6 days in Kings Canyon National Park alone after suffering a brutal open leg fracture. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
An afternoon hike very nearly turned deadly when Scott Vuncannon was bit by a rattlesnake in the North Carolina backcountry without cell reception. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Todd Orr was out for a morning hike in Madison Valley near Ennis, Montana when he encountered a sow grizzly and her cubs. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Alone and distraught, a canyoneer fights to survive. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Pro skier Amie Engerbretson is buried in an avalanche just outside Alta Ski Area in Utah, and has to rely on her companions to rescue her. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices