On September 11, 2009, expert outdoorsman Rick Stephens was airlifted from the Coast Mountain Range of Northern British Columbia after sending his GPS location coordinates using his SPOT Satellite Personal Tracker following a serious accident.

On September 11, 2009, Stephens and his hunting partner Trent Bossence were 7 days into a 12 day hunting trip, 55 miles from the closest town of Dease Lake and four miles from their base camp, when his hunting knife slipped and badly cut his leg just below the knee, severing a tendon.

“Night was nearing and there was no way we could make it out for help on our own,” he explained. “We tried to treat my injury and prepare for what we thought would be a long cold night on the mountain. But I happened to have a SPOT Satellite Personal Tracker so Trent was able to instantly send a 9-1-1 message and our GPS location coordinates.” The SPOT Satellite Personal Tracker™ is a personal safety device which enables users to communicate via satellite technology from remote locations around the globe and initiate check-in and emergency response calls independently of cellular networks. 

Within minutes of pressing the 9-1-1 button, an employee from the GEOS Emergency Response Center called Stephens’ wife Joy to notify her of the emergency signal and to gather vital information on his travel plans. Within 2 ½ hours of the signal being sent, the rescue team located Stephens and his partner and airlifted them off the mountain.

Stephens’ wife credits SPOT with saving his life. “If we didn’t have the SPOT messenger, we would be telling you a very different story,” she said. “Rick and Trent were not due to be picked up from for another five days, in which time any number of circumstances could have claimed his life.”

Read full story in the Kitimat Northern Sentinel.