Out Alive from Backpacker

In addition to our regular episodes, we're thrilled to introduce a brand new monthly series called Survival Shorts. These episodes take a deeper dive into the world of survival, with expert advice, fascinating inquiries, and conversations with rescue professionals. These Survival Shorts episodes promise to be informative, thought-provoking, and engaging, offering listeners a deeper understanding of the challenges and complexities of survival in the backcountry.

In this episode, we're sitting down with Jeff, a Search and Rescue dog trainer and handler to chat about the world of canine search and rescue. He'll share his personal experiences working alongside his dog, Kismet, and give us a glimpse into the unique bond that develops between a handler and their furry companion.

We'll be diving into the nitty-gritty of the rigorous training process for SAR dogs and learning all about the specialized skills and abilities that make them such an important part of search and rescue operations. We'll be talking about everything from tracking scents to navigating tricky terrain – it's all in a day's work for these highly trained pups!

 A climber in the right place at the right time leads a daring rescue of a BASE jumper stranded high on a cliff.

After Karissa Akin’s brother died tragically, she turned to the outdoors for healing. But as she explains in this episode of Outside’s new podcast, The Daily Rally, it took a near-fatal mountain biking accident for her to finally move forward again.

The Daily Rally is a new weekday podcast featuring short stories of resilience in the face of big challenges and unexpected adventures. You can follow The Daily Rally on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you like to listen, and nominate someone to be featured on the show here.

A pair of hunters wearing camouflage become lost for six days in Alaska. Help is tantalizingly close but just out of reach, as rescuers are unable to see them. 

When Charlie Finlayson was just 13 and alone with his dad David deep in the backcountry, his father suffered a horrific injury. But Charlie, despite being forced to make decisions way beyond his age and experience, never doubted that his father could survive and that he could help him. Thanks to unwavering faith, Charlie and David pulled off the impossible.

Jeremy Evans takes us through a first-hand account of the catastrophic injuries he sustained after being mauled by a grizzly bear three times while deep in the Canadian backcountry.

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.