'Couple in Car Survive 300-Foot Fall Into a California Canyon'

After unbuckling their seatbelts and crawling out of the car, Ms. Fields and Mr. Zelada faced their next challenge: calling for help in a remote canyon with no cellphone reception. It was about 2 p.m., with temperatures in the 40s, Sergeant Gilbert said. At night, temperatures in the canyon drop into the 30s, he said. Mr. Zelada looked for Ms. Fields's cellphone and found it about 10 yards from their car, with the screen smashed. Even though there was no cell service, the phone had detected that there had been a crash, Ms. Fields said. Her iPhone 14 gave her a prompt to contact emergency services through a new feature called Emergency SOS via satellite. In places with no cellular or Wi-Fi coverage, the service allows users to send emergency messages via satellites hundreds of miles above the Earth, according to Apple. The phone relays the answers users give to a few short questions to an emergency call center, along with the user's location, according to Apple. Photos taken by Ms. Fields showed the aftermath of the crash. She said she remembered Mr. Zelada's telling her as the car fell: "We're OK. We're OK. We're OK." Ms. Fields said her phone had instructed her to point it toward a satellite and hold it there, which allowed her to summon help. "It was honestly strange," Ms. Fields said, adding that although she is a "very techie kind of a person," she had not known about the satellite feature.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/16/u...ne-rescue.html
I've driven this road.

They were lucky to survive the crash. I do not know how they were dressed, but being winter, I presume they had coats and scarves.
At 30°F they could survive by presumably crawling back into the vehicle. The vehicle, although damaged, could provide some shelter.

Originally Posted by Lsatenstein At 30°F they could survive by presumably crawling back into the vehicle. The vehicle, although damaged, could provide some shelter.

It was not 30°F, that was a hypothetical reference. It was "about 45 degrees" (aka 7°C), and they were rescued within 30 minutes.

Originally Posted by https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/16/us/california-national-forest-iphone-rescue.html It was about 2 p.m., with temperatures in the 40s, Sergeant Gilbert said. At night, temperatures in the canyon drop into the 30s, he said.

Originally Posted by https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-12-15/angeles-national-forest-canyon-rescue-iphone-satellite-feature He said it was about 45 degrees during the day and would have quickly fallen into the low 30s once the sun set.

Not exactly warm, but less of a big deal compared to plunging into a deep canyon and landing upside down.

I have not read the background of this incident but there are many stories I have read or seen on the news where someone was rescued for doing something stupid and basically survived just due to dumb luck.

This reminds me of a story. A marine was accidentally left in the desert from a training mission and had to walk back to the facilities and a young couple driving home for Thanksgiving that decided to take the shortcut through the mountains and got stuck in the snow in the pass. The irony is the highly trained marine died from heat stroke and yet the couple despite lacking adequate clothes, shoes or basic survival skills survived.

If you go hiking,camping or whatever outside of mobile phone coverage a lot I would invest in a personal emergency locator transmitter (ELT).

Originally Posted by michaelk I have not read the background of this incident but there are many stories I have read or seen on the news where someone was rescued for doing something stupid and basically survived just due to dumb luck. This reminds me of a story. A marine was accidentally left in the desert from a training mission and had to walk back to the facilities and a young couple driving home for Thanksgiving that decided to take the shortcut through the mountains and got stuck in the snow in the pass. The irony is the highly trained marine died from heat stroke and yet the couple despite lacking adequate clothes, shoes or basic survival skills survived. If you go hiking,camping or whatever outside of mobile phone coverage a lot I would invest in a personal emergency locator transmitter (ELT).

As the old saying goes: when its your time its your time. Personally, I would rather travel/hike/bike with this instead of an always on tracker: https://www.garmin.com/en-US/p/592606
Decent comparison article: https://www.rei.com/learn/expert-adv...r-beacons.html