An ultra trail running acquaintance of mine was doing the Big Foot 200, a 200 mile trail run in the vicinity of Mt St Helens in the Cascade Mountains. Zero cell coverage and super rugged terrain. 7 miles from the previous aid station, and 12 miles from the next, 165 miles into the race, he started having a medical emergency. After accepting that help would take too long, he pulled out the inReach mini and pushed the SOS. Before that, he was able to communicate with his wife, but it was clear there was no way to get help in time any other way. Long story short, a BlackHawk with the US Army Air Ambulance out of Yakima was called in and pulled him out on a long line as there was no safe place to land. It all had a happy ending, in no small part to him having the iR mini with him.
I had personally just done a 50k trail race that circumnavigated Mt St Helens just a week earlier, using my inReach mini to allow my wife and friends to follow me.
I already was a believer in the device, but this just cemented it.
