A 53-year-old mountaineer’s life was saved thanks to the satellite messaging feature on his iPhone, after he was injured and stranded during a descent from Snowmass Mountain in Colorado.
After using a glissading technique—a controlled slide on snow—to descend, the climber injured his wrist and could no longer move. With no cellular or Wi-Fi service available in the remote location, he managed to send a distress message via satellite to a family member using his iPhone. That message was relayed to Mountain Rescue Aspen and the Pitkin County Sheriff’s Office, who swiftly launched a rescue operation involving 17 trained volunteers.
The rescue team emphasized the importance of having a reliable emergency communication device in the wilderness. In this case, Apple’s Emergency SOS via Satellite—available on iPhone 14 and later—proved crucial. The feature allows users to connect directly with satellites, bypassing cell towers, and send short messages by pointing their phone toward the sky and answering guided prompts to relay critical info.
This rescue underlines how such advanced safety technology can significantly reduce response time in life-threatening situations. However, it’s worth noting that Apple’s satellite messaging service is currently only available in select countries like the US, UK, Japan, and Italy—not yet available in India.
