Emergency Beacons
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The $300 PhiPAL brick sends a distress signal—even without cell service—to your emergency contacts if you crash
Long used as a way to help emergency responders find people buried in avalanches, Recco technology is coming to summer gear
Owners instructed to return their beacons to company’s headquarters for repair
19 essentials designed to keep you alive
Guess what? The grid is expanding and we predict in the next five years, you won't be able to unplug—even in the backcountry.
GPS locator SPOT launched in 2007—and has already notched 3,000 rescues
The outdoors can be deadly if you're unprepared. But these gear items will help you make it home alive—even if everything else goes wrong.
It makes no difference to Mother Nature whether you’re a few hundred feet outside the resort boundary or deep in the backcountry. At a minimum, if you plan to ski any uncontrolled slope, you need four things: a buddy, a beacon (worn over your midlayer, not stuffed in your pack), a shovel, and a probe.
I'm going to Nepal to trek the Annapurna Circuit and would like to send a message home letting family know I'm okay. Will the Spot or ACR personal locator beacons work, and, if so, which do you recommend? Steve Apple Valley, CA
Ever wonder how it feels to get attacked by a shark? Spend seven weeks lost in the jungle? Get buried by multiple avalanches? Brace yourself for 10 of the hairiest survival stories ever told—and the life-saving tips you can learn from them.