SPOT to the Rescue for Adventure Buddies on Biennial Water Adventure

Jim Adkins, a pilot and avid hunter, purchased his SPOT Gen3 for hunting season so that his family could track him. Two weeks later, Jim had to use his SPOT for the one thing he hoped he would never have to. Jim was elk hunting with his son in Eastern Oregon when his son suffered an accidental gunshot wound. 

For emergency and intensive care unit nurse Cody Grant, the snowmobile trek to the Norns Range that he and four experienced snowmobiler riders embarked upon in March 2017, would be at least his 20th visit to the area. Located in southeastern B.C., this spot is a favorite for outdoor enthusiasts and adventurers, from snowmobilers to back country skiers.
 

Alex Giesbrecht is an experienced back country skier, who is a member of a ski patrol at a local resort near Golden, in the southeastern area of B.C. He also conducts avalanche safety training courses for a variety of user groups. On March 30th 2017, Alex and a group of 12 experienced skiers headed out for a day of back country skiing. The group used snowmobiles to climb to the top, designating one member of each pair to take the snowmobile down – the rest would ski down. On one run, Alex lost control and ran into a tree, fracturing 12 ribs and puncturing a lung, along with other serious impact injuries

Early in the morning of March 10th, 2016, Adam Noah, a hunter from Baker Lake, Nunavut, headed out on his snowmobile for a day of caribou hunting. By the middle of the afternoon, when he was in a remote area about 45 kilometers east of Baker Lake, his snowmobile broke down. The temperature in that area was -40° Celsius.

Cam Villeneuve is a recreational pilot from the Thompson Valley Sport Aircraft Club in Kamloops, BC who loves to fly year-round. He has even installed skis on his small aircraft so that he can "land everywhere, on land, on hill sides and on lakes."

In the mid-afternoon of February 1st, 2016, Villeneuve was returning to Blair Fields Airport, wrapping up a 45-minute flight. It was a beautiful sunny day and he was having fun landing and taking off from frozen lakes on the south side of Kamloops. On his approach to the landing strip, at a distance of about 3 miles, the aircraft "became very unstable and hard to control" says Villeneuve. "All of a sudden I was looking straight down at the ground from about 400 feet."

Joe Hiscock and his son were looking forward to one of their regular hunting trips to their cabin outside of Burgeo, a rural town situated on the south coast of Newfoundland. Located well off the beaten track with no accessible roads for the last 35 kilometers, the only way in and out of the property is by private helicopter. Snowmobiles are also used in winter months. Since the cabin is in a remote area beyond the reach of both cellular and traditional GSM networks, Joe relies on his SPOT Satellite Messenger to keep in touch with family during his hunting trips. “I use SPOT all year around to stay in touch with my family, to let them know where I am and what I am doing. It’s fantastic.”

On March 15, 2014 Jamie Waine trekked to Bull Creek Hill in Alberta's Kananaskis Country with her boyfriend, his dad and a group of avid geocacher and hikers. Having reached the top of the lookout, the trio were four kilometres from the bottom of Bull Creek Hill when Jamie slipped on some rocks and broke her ankle.