Last year, radio brand Rocky Talkie identified four outstanding search and rescue operations from a field of 40 nominees. Now, it’s recruiting help to decide how it doles out $25,000 in awards.
Anyone involved in mountain sports knows search and rescue (SAR) teams put up with a lot — and risk a lot to do it. This year, Rocky Talkie will reward a few teams who pushed the limits the furthest to save lives.
In partnership with the American Alpine Club (AAC), Rocky Talkie will distribute $25,000 among four finalist teams for the 2021 Search and Rescue Award. Each team earned its finalist status based on a 2021 rescue that demonstrated “unbelievable skill, passion, and dedication.”
The communications brand says it needs your help to determine which team will win what. Each rescue story reverberates with mountain sense, courage, and emotion. Read each one on Rocky Talkie’s website, and then cast your vote on or before May 3, 2022.
Bonus: Your vote automatically enters you in a drawing to win free radios and an AAC membership.
AAC member benefits include emergency rescue and healthcare coverage, brand partner deals, and discounted stays at various locations within the AAC network.
On July 30, 2021, Ouray Mountain Rescue volunteers endured landslides, lightning, and 2 inches of hail to save a hiker who’d fallen 40 feet near the summit of Mount Sneffels (14,157 feet). The hiker had skidded off a verglass-coated slab, hurrying to descend ahead of the storm the rescuers ultimately faced.
By the time they reached the incapacitated patient, the temperature had hit -20 degrees F, and he was hypothermic. A severe head injury complicated matters and made him combative when he regained alertness.
On October 20, 2021, Joe Walton fell 200 feet off the 2,000-foot Red Rocks classic “Epinephrine” outside Las Vegas. Simul-climbing on easy terrain near the top of the formation, Walton had slipped on a slab and ripped out every piece of gear between him and his partner, somewhere above 1,200 feet.
The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police SAR team arrived at the wall after dark via helicopter and found the climbers there with a spotlight. Their rope had snagged on “a tiny knob of rock” on the steep cliff face and, amazingly, caught them on their way down. They’d be on a ledge 1,000 feet below if it hadn’t. A complex, technical operation ensued.
On January 28, 2021, the Tahoe Nordic SAR Team searched for a lost snowboarder amid some of the most dangerous avalanche conditions the region had ever seen. Ten feet of snow over 3 days before the rescue had loaded virtually every chute in the area to the breaking point.
The snowboarder, an off-duty California Highway Patrol officer, had taken a wrong turn at Sugar Bowl Resort and landed in deep, remote powder near closing time. When the SAR team arrived, ski patrollers doubted they could find a safe route to the snowboarder’s location.
He was stuck just a mile away from where they stood. But the only safe route there required over 5 miles of snowcat and ski travel through dangerously deep powder.
On July 19, 2021, a climber in Poudre Canyon, Colo., fell 30 feet and fractured his spine. Larimer County SAR found him after dark. The climber was responsive but immobilized on a narrow ledge surrounded by complex terrain: featureless, vertical walls and broken gullies filled with loose rock.
Paramedics secured the climber, whose broken spine had punched through the skin in some places, to a litter. SAR negotiated the delicate and dangerous job of ascending and rappelling the prohibitive cliff without launching rocks into the rescue site, the rescuers, or the patient. The job took the whole night and around 50 rescue personnel.
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While this may be one of the survival myths you may have seen on survival shows or even in movies it is not strictly speaking a good idea. This is especially the case if you are in a hot environment and already experiencing some dehydration.
Drinking urine in a hot environment will likely put undue stress on your kidneys which won’t exactly kill you but it won’t be doing you any favors either. Bottom line is do not rely on this survival tip to keep you going for too long.
While staying well nourished will certainly help you in a disaster it should really not be your first priority. There are other things to consider that can kill you quicker if you do not see to them first. Dehydration can happen a lot quicker than starving so getting a safe drinking source is certainly more important than food initially.
Another quick killer is your environment, you need to get some sort of shelter to protect you from the elements fairly quickly. This is especially true in cold environments, then a combination of shelter and warmth will become a top priority.
Even in warmer environments shade will be essential to protect you from the heat. The point is to consider the bigger picture when assessing your survival necessities and make sure you prioritize accordingly.
This one has been reiterated in pop culture and you will see it featured in a number of movies but it is a dangerous one. When a snake bites you the poison will likely also surround the wound so putting your mouth over the area will likely have nasty results for your lips and mouth.
Not to mention when sucking the poison out if any goes down your trachea this can cause havoc on your own system and instead of having one person affected by the snake bite you now have 2. By sucking on an open wound you are also likely to worsen the injury which is also not helpful. Anti venom is the only real way to treat a snake bite so seeking medical attention is the top priority.
A survival myth that has been passed down over the years is that if you find yourself in a desert you can always rely on a cactus to get some water. While a cactus is a succulent and it does store water it is not in a form that is helpful to hydrate us.
A cactus contains water but not in a pure form but in fact it is a highly alkaline, noxious fluid. Drinking cactus fluid will very likely make you sick and vomiting will lead to dehydration so your intention could in fact be reversed and you could be in a worse situation.
Assuming that what birds and animals eat will be safe for you to eat is a very bad assumption. Birds and animals have all got different digestive systems and even if they can safely consume something it does not mean that it will be the same for humans.
You may end up very sick or even dead if you select the wrong item. Unless you have some of your own botanical knowledge and you know for sure a plant is safe it is better to not assume what animals are eating are safe for you to eat.
Many people feel they have to build full shelters including walls and a roof in order to have proper shelter. This is not the case. An improperly built structure will likely be less effective at protecting you from the elements which is the most important function of a shelter.
Ensuring you put something together that protects you from the sun in the heat or exposure to the cold is the primary objective. Trying to build a fancy structure is pointless if it does not fulfill its purpose.
While rationing your food and water in an emergency situation is sensible it is not always the case if you actually need it to survive. If you are in the desert and you need that water that you are rationing to stop dehydrating then keeping it for another day is pointless.
A more sensible solution is to conserve your energy especially during the day when it is hottest and do more activity at night when it won’t take as much effort. Then you won’t need to use as much water at all.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) commemorated Easter Sunday by comparing judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s confirmation to the Supreme Court to the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
The Jewish Demonrat began his address to worshippers at A.R. Bernard’s Christian Cultural Center Megachurch in New York City during “Resurrection Sunday” service by race-baiting and railing against former President Donald Trump.
“My brothers and sisters, increasing diversity of all our federal judges has been one of my highest priorities,” Schumer said. “I’m proud to say under my leadership as majority leader, the first from New York, a majority of the new justices, judges, are people of color and two-thirds are women. These judges together with Justice Jackson are restoring balance to our judicial system that was thrown out of wack by Donald Trump and his vicious, nasty, and, sometimes even outright racists, appointed to the bench.”
Justice Ketanji’s confirmation to the Supreme Court serves as a reminder that “even in the darkest times, there are bright lights,” Schumer said. “And this month, folks, we witnessed one of the brightest that we hope is a metaphor, an indication, a good omen of more bright lights to come, the confirmation of Supreme Court Justice KBJ.”
Schumer then compared the appointment of Jackson, a judge notorious for leniency even in baby sex torture cases, to Jesus’ resurrection, declaring, “The stone has been rolled away from the tomb.”
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In 2009, Jackson, who has repeatedly argued federal sentencing guidelines for child porn are “outdated” and “too severe” to justify light sentences for child sexual predators, was nominated by President Obama to vice-chair of the US Sentencing Commission, where she weakened federal sentencing policy for child pornographers. 
