{"id":32929,"date":"2025-08-19T18:15:35","date_gmt":"2025-08-19T18:15:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/oceansignal.com\/?post_type=survivor-stories&#038;p=32929"},"modified":"2025-08-22T13:14:34","modified_gmt":"2025-08-22T13:14:34","slug":"when-every-minute-counts-the-power-of-a-plb-in-the-backcountry","status":"publish","type":"survivor-stories","link":"https:\/\/oceansignal.com\/us\/survivor-stories\/when-every-minute-counts-the-power-of-a-plb-in-the-backcountry\/","title":{"rendered":"When Every Minute Counts: The Power of a PLB1 in the Backcountry"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>During a recent Bishopdale Tramping Club outing, Wendy, one of our cherished members, took a serious fall on icy terrain. As we later learned, she had broken the top of her femur. With no cell phone coverage and the injury clearly severe, we activated our Personal Locator Beacon (PLB1). Within 45 minutes, a rescue helicopter was on its way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The terrain prevented a landing, so Wendy had to be winched up through thick canopy cover. Despite the pain, she remained incredibly calm and stoic. At over 80 years old, her resilience was inspiring\u2014I found myself wondering if I\u2019d be so strong in similar circumstances, decades from now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We had earlier climbed a steep 6.5km ridge to reach our lunch spot, and Wendy slipped on the descent\u2014a known risk that day due to ice-covered rocks. Thankfully, our club was well-prepared: we regularly test our emergency devices and knew the rescueME PLB1 signal would get through.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Still, hearing the thump of the helicopter approaching was a huge relief. Thanks to preparation, teamwork, and Wendy\u2019s remarkable strength, she is now receiving the care she needs in Christchurch. What a trooper!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The terrain prevented a landing, so Wendy had to be winched up through thick canopy cover. Despite the pain, she remained incredibly calm and stoic. At over 80 years old, her resilience was inspiring<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6671,"featured_media":32913,"template":"","survivor-stories-category":[14],"survivor-stories-cause":[42],"survivor-stories-event":[76],"survivor-stories-rescue":[629],"survivor-stories-terrain":[23],"class_list":["post-32929","survivor-stories","type-survivor-stories","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","survivor-stories-category-hiking","survivor-stories-cause-medical-emergency","survivor-stories-event-challenging-terrain","survivor-stories-rescue-air-rescue-service","survivor-stories-terrain-mountain"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v25.2 (Yoast SEO v26.4) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Tramper Injured in Fall Rescued by Helicopter After PLB ActivationWhen Every Minute Counts: The Power of a PLB1 in the Backcountry - Ocean Signal<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"After a serious fall on an icy ridge, an 80-year-old tramper was airlifted to safety thanks to a fast PLB activation. Learn how preparedness and quick action enabled a successful rescue in remote terrain.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/oceansignal.com\/us\/survivor-stories\/when-every-minute-counts-the-power-of-a-plb-in-the-backcountry\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"When Every Minute Counts: The Power of a PLB1 in the Backcountry\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"After a serious fall on an icy ridge, an 80-year-old tramper was airlifted to safety thanks to a fast PLB activation. Learn how preparedness and quick action enabled a successful rescue in remote terrain.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/oceansignal.com\/us\/survivor-stories\/when-every-minute-counts-the-power-of-a-plb-in-the-backcountry\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Ocean Signal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-08-22T13:14:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/oceansignal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/ss-attachments\/IMG_7532-scaled.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/oceansignal.com\/us\/survivor-stories\/when-every-minute-counts-the-power-of-a-plb-in-the-backcountry\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/oceansignal.com\/us\/survivor-stories\/when-every-minute-counts-the-power-of-a-plb-in-the-backcountry\/\",\"name\":\"Tramper Injured in Fall Rescued by Helicopter After PLB ActivationWhen Every Minute Counts: The Power of a PLB1 in the Backcountry - Ocean Signal\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/oceansignal.com\/us\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/oceansignal.com\/us\/survivor-stories\/when-every-minute-counts-the-power-of-a-plb-in-the-backcountry\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/oceansignal.com\/us\/survivor-stories\/when-every-minute-counts-the-power-of-a-plb-in-the-backcountry\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/oceansignal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/ss-attachments\/IMG_7532-scaled.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-08-19T18:15:35+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-08-22T13:14:34+00:00\",\"description\":\"After a serious fall on an icy ridge, an 80-year-old tramper was airlifted to safety thanks to a fast PLB activation. Learn how preparedness and quick action enabled a successful rescue in remote terrain.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/oceansignal.com\/us\/survivor-stories\/when-every-minute-counts-the-power-of-a-plb-in-the-backcountry\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/oceansignal.com\/us\/survivor-stories\/when-every-minute-counts-the-power-of-a-plb-in-the-backcountry\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/oceansignal.com\/us\/survivor-stories\/when-every-minute-counts-the-power-of-a-plb-in-the-backcountry\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/oceansignal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/ss-attachments\/IMG_7532-scaled.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/oceansignal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/ss-attachments\/IMG_7532-scaled.jpeg\",\"width\":1920,\"height\":2560},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/oceansignal.com\/us\/survivor-stories\/when-every-minute-counts-the-power-of-a-plb-in-the-backcountry\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Survivor stories\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/oceansignal.com\/us\/survivor-stories\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"When Every Minute Counts: The Power of a PLB1 in the Backcountry\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/oceansignal.com\/us\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/oceansignal.com\/us\/\",\"name\":\"Ocean Signal\",\"description\":\"A leading manufacturer of EPIRBs, AIS, SARTs, Personal Locator Beacons, Man Overboard Beacon for the Marine and Outdoor Markets.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/oceansignal.com\/us\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Tramper Injured in Fall Rescued by Helicopter After PLB ActivationWhen Every Minute Counts: The Power of a PLB1 in the Backcountry - Ocean Signal","description":"After a serious fall on an icy ridge, an 80-year-old tramper was airlifted to safety thanks to a fast PLB activation. Learn how preparedness and quick action enabled a successful rescue in remote terrain.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/oceansignal.com\/us\/survivor-stories\/when-every-minute-counts-the-power-of-a-plb-in-the-backcountry\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"When Every Minute Counts: The Power of a PLB1 in the Backcountry","og_description":"After a serious fall on an icy ridge, an 80-year-old tramper was airlifted to safety thanks to a fast PLB activation. Learn how preparedness and quick action enabled a successful rescue in remote terrain.","og_url":"https:\/\/oceansignal.com\/us\/survivor-stories\/when-every-minute-counts-the-power-of-a-plb-in-the-backcountry\/","og_site_name":"Ocean Signal","article_modified_time":"2025-08-22T13:14:34+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1920,"height":2560,"url":"https:\/\/oceansignal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/ss-attachments\/IMG_7532-scaled.jpeg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/oceansignal.com\/us\/survivor-stories\/when-every-minute-counts-the-power-of-a-plb-in-the-backcountry\/","url":"https:\/\/oceansignal.com\/us\/survivor-stories\/when-every-minute-counts-the-power-of-a-plb-in-the-backcountry\/","name":"Tramper Injured in Fall Rescued by Helicopter After PLB ActivationWhen Every Minute Counts: The Power of a PLB1 in the Backcountry - Ocean Signal","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/oceansignal.com\/us\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/oceansignal.com\/us\/survivor-stories\/when-every-minute-counts-the-power-of-a-plb-in-the-backcountry\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/oceansignal.com\/us\/survivor-stories\/when-every-minute-counts-the-power-of-a-plb-in-the-backcountry\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/oceansignal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/ss-attachments\/IMG_7532-scaled.jpeg","datePublished":"2025-08-19T18:15:35+00:00","dateModified":"2025-08-22T13:14:34+00:00","description":"After a serious fall on an icy ridge, an 80-year-old tramper was airlifted to safety thanks to a fast PLB activation. Learn how preparedness and quick action enabled a successful rescue in remote terrain.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/oceansignal.com\/us\/survivor-stories\/when-every-minute-counts-the-power-of-a-plb-in-the-backcountry\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/oceansignal.com\/us\/survivor-stories\/when-every-minute-counts-the-power-of-a-plb-in-the-backcountry\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/oceansignal.com\/us\/survivor-stories\/when-every-minute-counts-the-power-of-a-plb-in-the-backcountry\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/oceansignal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/ss-attachments\/IMG_7532-scaled.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/oceansignal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/ss-attachments\/IMG_7532-scaled.jpeg","width":1920,"height":2560},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/oceansignal.com\/us\/survivor-stories\/when-every-minute-counts-the-power-of-a-plb-in-the-backcountry\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Survivor stories","item":"https:\/\/oceansignal.com\/us\/survivor-stories\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"When Every Minute Counts: The Power of a PLB1 in the Backcountry"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/oceansignal.com\/us\/#website","url":"https:\/\/oceansignal.com\/us\/","name":"Ocean Signal","description":"A leading manufacturer of EPIRBs, AIS, SARTs, Personal Locator Beacons, Man Overboard Beacon for the Marine and Outdoor Markets.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/oceansignal.com\/us\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/oceansignal.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/survivor-stories\/32929","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/oceansignal.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/survivor-stories"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/oceansignal.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/survivor-stories"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oceansignal.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6671"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oceansignal.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32913"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/oceansignal.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32929"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"survivor-stories-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oceansignal.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/survivor-stories-category?post=32929"},{"taxonomy":"survivor-stories-cause","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oceansignal.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/survivor-stories-cause?post=32929"},{"taxonomy":"survivor-stories-event","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oceansignal.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/survivor-stories-event?post=32929"},{"taxonomy":"survivor-stories-rescue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oceansignal.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/survivor-stories-rescue?post=32929"},{"taxonomy":"survivor-stories-terrain","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oceansignal.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/survivor-stories-terrain?post=32929"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}