My fiancé, dog, and I were on a 2-night backcountry camping trip in Banff National Park in June. We were about 17 km in from the trailhead at our campsite on the second night. Oddly, we were the only ones there despite the campsite being fully booked. We decided to go to bed early around 9:30 PM since we had to hike the entire way out the next day.

We were woken up about an hour later by two guys in their early 20s yelling for help and calling it an emergency. They were part of a group of seven hiking towards this campsite via an alternative route through a mountain pass that still had thigh-deep snow. One of their group members had dislocated his knee up on the pass, and these two guys had run ahead for over an hour to get help. We decided the situation warranted the use of Search and Rescue (S&R) services, so I pulled out the ResQLink VIEW RLS and activated it in a small clearing near the campsite.

The two guys were wet, still in shorts, and did not have any food or shelter since they left everything back with their group to get help. Knowing that S&R would likely not fly out until morning light, we gave the guys some food, started a fire, gave them whatever layers we could, and let them sleep in our tent for the night. It was tight with four people and a dog in a three-person tent, but we made it work.

In the morning, we woke up to the sound of the helicopter arriving. We provided S&R with the details before they took off to find the rest of the group. Apparently, the person with the dislocated knee had managed to pop it back into place, and the group had tried to continue through the pain and into the night until 2 AM before calling it quits and setting up camp at the bottom of the pass. Rescue services airlifted the injured party member and one other group member to the hospital, while the rest of the group had to walk out.

Everyone ended up safe at the end of the day, and it was a good reminder of the importance of being prepared and knowing protocols in the backcountry—not just for yourself, but for helping others as well.