Rescued: An Outdoor Podcast for Hikers and Adventurers

LISTEN to part 1 first
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The things we love to do in nature can lead us to explore and discover places not just close to home, but to some very remote and uncharted places around the world.
In this special double episode of Rescued, we hear from 3 friends, all highly skilled and experienced canyoners, as they find themselves in the embrace of Taiwan’s small and dedicated canyoning and rescue community, after a life-threatening fall during a multiday expedition.
If you ever needed a reminder of the value of regular, high-quality wilderness first aid training and the importance of being able to rely on the people you adventure with - this is it.
This isn't a straightforward pack n’ send case of helicopter, paramedics and hospital. Their reliance on each other, their skills and a solid sense of humour is put to the test throughout this 2 day ordeal.
Key learnings from this episode:
The importance of having the right skills, training and experience for the environments
The ability to make fair self-assessments of the above
Planning is key to better outcomes
Research multiple contingency plans, if your exit from a canyon doesn’t work, are there alternatives you can see on satellite imagery? Plan refuge and camp spots
Being able to rely completely on your adventure buddies if something goes wrong. Q: Can you say this about strangers you connect with on MeetUps or similar?)
Value of research, local knowledge and connections
Huge thanks to the incredible and supportive local canyoning community of Taiwan
Being smart about choosing your emergency contacts and setting up a What’sApp group - briefing them all properly with plans, contingencies and giving them permission to act as your advocates if something happens
The essential recert and muscle memory of quality wilderness first aid training
Benefits of choosing to study Wilderness or RAFA over simple Senior First Aid
Brainstorm and practice of roping and rescue problems at home and in easier environments before being confident to execute them in challenging ones
Good open, inclusive and frank communication in and around a patient
How humour can help with stressful situations
Everyone knowing their job and getting it done
How party size can change outcomes in an incident
Importance of essential survival skills eg: fire making, knowing priorities for survival
Stove, lighters and Nalgenes as essential canyon equipment
Making sure your first aid kit is up-to-date (when was the last time you made sure you had enough panadol and ibuprofen?)
Bright clothes, bothy bag, emergency blankets to draw attention
Knowing how to prepare for helicopters and downwash
Aussie registered PLBs activated overseas are received by AMSA in Canberra
There's a bunch of different ways you could help support the work of this pod:
Leave a review on your platform of choice
Leave a donation towards the costs
Visit my sponsors at Paddypallin.com.au
Buy my book - "How to Navigate - the art of traditional map and compass navigation in an Australian context."
Check out my Navigation Courses

The things we love to do in nature can lead us to explore and discover places not just close to home, but to some very remote and uncharted places around the world.
These activities, like bushwalking/hiking, climbing or canyoning, give us opportunities to step outside the typical tourist or visitor experience, not only opening our eyes to cultures different to our own, but on a deeper level, the chance to connect with the local outdoor community through our shared love of wild places.
In this special double episode of Rescued, we hear from 3 friends, all highly skilled and experienced canyoners, as they find themselves in the embrace of Taiwan’s small and dedicated canyoning and rescue community, after a life-threatening fall during a multiday expedition.
If you ever needed a reminder of the value of regular, high-quality wilderness first aid training and the importance of being able to rely on the people you adventure with - this is it.
This isn't a straightforward pack n’ send case of helicopter, paramedics and hospital. Their reliance on each other, their skills and a solid sense of humour is put to the test throughout this 2 day ordeal.
Key learnings from this episode:
The importance of having the right skills, training and experience for the environments
The ability to make fair self-assessments of the above
Planning is key to better outcomes
Research multiple contingency plans, if your exit from a canyon doesn’t work, are there alternatives you can see on satellite imagery? Plan refuge and camp spots
Being able to rely completely on your adventure buddies if something goes wrong. Q: Can you say this about strangers you connect with on MeetUps or similar?)
Value of research, local knowledge and connections
Huge thanks to the incredible and supportive local canyoning community of Taiwan
Being smart about choosing your emergency contacts and setting up a What’sApp group - briefing them all properly with plans, contingencies and giving them permission to act as your advocates if something happens
The essential recert and muscle memory of quality wilderness first aid training
Benefits of choosing to study Wilderness or RAFA over simple Senior First Aid
Brainstorm and practice of roping and rescue problems at home and in easier environments before being confident to execute them in challenging ones
Good open, inclusive and frank communication in and around a patient
How humour can help with stressful situations
Everyone knowing their job and getting it done
How party size can change outcomes in an incident
Importance of essential survival skills eg: fire making, knowing priorities for survival
Stove, lighters and Nalgenes as essential canyon equipment
Making sure your first aid kit is up-to-date (when was the last time you made sure you had enough panadol and ibuprofen?)
Bright clothes, bothy bag, emergency blankets to draw attention
Knowing how to prepare for helicopters and downwash
Aussie registered PLBs activated overseas are received by AMSA in Canberra
There's a bunch of different ways you could help support the work of this pod:
Leave a review on your platform of choice
Leave a donation towards the costs
Visit my sponsors at Paddypallin.com.au
Buy my book - "How to Navigate - the art of traditional map and compass navigation in an Australian context."
Check out my Navigation Courses

How many decisions do you reckon you’ve made today?
It's probably the conscious ones that come to mind. Do I wear the red shirt or blue top? 1 coffee or 6.
Believe it or not, The Harvard Business Review states that adults can make around 35,000 decisions each day and many of those happen automatically and simultaneously.
When we head out into the wild places we love, or find ourselves in environments with a higher level of risk, some of these decisions (conscious or otherwise) can have some pretty intense consequences.
Today, I’m joined by Hugh Ward, co-owner of the Blue Mountains Climbing School, to learn about an easy tool that we can use every day, to help us make better decisions, smarter choices and have better adventures.
He talks us through the established acronym F.A.C.E.T.S, developed by Ian Mcammon, based upon the work of Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tsversky. It was designed to highlight common deficiencies in our decision making (Heuristic Traps) and to offer a tool to temper the choices we make in high consequence environments.
Excitingly, he then steps us through a NEW acronym, A.C.C.E.S.S. that he has developed with Climbing School co-owner and wife, Bridie Campbell, that works better with Australian outdoor environments. You can read more and DOWNLOAD their handy pocket guide here.
Resources
Article on the Climbing School blog

It was the ABC News that first alerted the outdoors community to Macca's big wall fall near Blackheath in the Blue Mountains of New South Wales. With over 30 years climbing under his belt, including many first ascents and stories, some of which are the stuff of legend, he is one of the Blue Mountains climbing community's most well-known characters.
Five years on from the accident, he joins me today with Sergeant Dal Atkinson, the team leader of Blue Mountains Police Rescue Squad, to speak about what happened and what the challenges of location, access, and weather made this one of the longest and most difficult cliff rescues in New South Wales.
https://youtu.be/IVtaK-v99jM

Dr Paul Luckin is an authority on human survivability. He’s a medical advisor to the Police Search and Rescue teams and the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (that’s AMSA), providing time-frames for human survival during Search and Rescue operations.
In part 2 of my conversation with Paul, we look deeper into demographics and practicalities of surviving in the wild. What should people do if in that situation and ask what can be done to help get these messages across.