I was hiking my way up a backcountry creek when I had a small slip and banged my kneecap on a rock, instantly dislocating my kneecap. As my weight came down on my leg it immediately gave way beneath me and folded. It could not have happened in a worse spot. I had reached the top of a 4-meter dry waterfall, in a steep and unforgiving section of terrain with no easy way around it.

As I attempted to catch myself, I dislocated my thumb and fell several meters onto solid rock below. In a matter of seconds, what had started as a minor slip had escalated into a serious situation, leaving me injured and unable to move through the terrain on my own.

Realizing I was in a remote location with no practical way to self-rescue, I activated my ACR personal locator beacon to call for help.

After a few hours, paramedics and SES crews reached me, but the terrain was too steep and technical to carry me out safely. Given the conditions and my injuries, the only viable option was an aerial extraction, and I was ultimately winched out by the Westpac rescue helicopter.

Looking back, it was a stark reminder of how quickly things can go wrong in remote environments, even from something as simple as a slip, and how difficult it can be to self-rescue once the situation escalates.