Muse

this episode is brought to you by progressive insurance insurance isn't one size fits all that's why drivers have enjoyed progressives name your price tool for years now with the name your price tool you tell them what you want to pay and they'll show you options that fit your budget so whether you're picking out your first policy or just looking for something that works better for you and your family that make it easy to see your options. Visit Progressive.com. Find a rate that works for you with the Name Your Price tool. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and Affiliates. Price and coverage match limited by state law. Now, if you're like me, you dig giving your entertainment, your information, your knowledge through sound. You're listening to the Snap Podcast right now. Well, 11 Reader is a new award-winning audio app for iOS, for Android, It's built by Eleven Labs, and I had to make my way through some dense material last week. But instead of fretting, I let Eleven Reader read it to me when I was on the train. It turned incomprehensible text into a listenable, dare I say, delightful voice. When I stepped off the train, I knew what I was talking about. And that's not all, because Eleven Reader brings over 200,000 premium audiobooks and e-books from top publishers, plus the ability to turn anything you bring, PDFs, articles, docs, into stunningly natural audio. And right now, Eleven Reader has a special offer for Snap Judgment listeners, your first two months for only $1. Download the Eleven Reader app or sign up on the web today and use promo code PODCAST at checkout to get your first two months for only $1. Eleven Reader, promo code PODCAST. Now, you may have heard the legend, the rumors of a magical place where the perfect surf break rises from the ocean. You can catch a ride for miles. Everyone wears a smile and all their children are above average. Today, for SNAP's All Systems Down Fire and Ice episode, we're going to sunny Southern California with Snap Special surf correspondent Jesse Dukes to meet a man who embodies the SoCal surf spirit better than anyone. A man who stuck around when paradise became hell on earth. Snap Judgment.

I hang out with sharks in my little 10-foot plastic kayak, And so I'm used to, like, a little bit of a danger, you know, situation. And I've surfed, you know, some of the biggest surf LA throws at you, you know, over the last 50 years.

If you've surfed at Sunset Point more than once or twice, you know Randy Wright. He's hard to miss.

Hey, how are you, buddy? I'm okay. You're doing okay? Yeah, right on, man.

He's got this long white beard, tattoos, one of a mermaid on his right arm. Usually he's bare-chested. Today he's wearing a Dodgers hat that's been scrawled all over with black Sharpie.

Are you going to go surfing with your dad? All right. Ah, that's a good thing to do. Anyway, so, yeah.

Randy lives in his truck, a red Dodge Dakota that doesn't run in the parking lot of Gladstones, which is this little seafood restaurant by the beach. You might catch him handing out wetsuits and loaner boards to newcomers or feeding his one-eyed pet seagull, Andy, or scanning the horizon with a telephoto lens, looking for sharks.

I look for great white sharks to jump out of the water here, and I photograph them, and, oh, there goes that kid again, look at that way.

Or maybe watering the gardens he's planted, succulents and flowers, around his truck, by the Gladstones restaurant, by the businesses across the street.

Everybody loves the Randall, because, you know, I do good around here. I'm going to paint, you know, do some painting.

Randy used to own this legendary skate shop in downtown Santa Monica, and before that, he was a professional surfer. But about 15 years ago, he moved here to Sunset Point.

It's a special place, and the waves aren't, for a person of my ability, the waves aren't, you know, that fabulous, you know. this is the beginner spot but it's the people that make this spot special this place is just so friendly with you know vibrant people you know fun loving people from all over los angeles and the world people stop here you know and you know they just dig the vibe here

i've been coming to sunset point for a long time but

regularly the last two years. I don't actually want to tell you where it is, but fine, it's not really a secret. It's at the corner of Sunset Boulevard and the Pacific Coast Highway. Past Will Rogers State Beach, where the coastline juts out a little bit, there's a mellow point break wide enough to accommodate dozens of surfers, and a good vibe. And right by Randy's truck is where you suit up, get your board out, clamber down to the water, or maybe just chill and watch. Good ride. Randy and I are watching a blonde-haired woman catch a wave.

She got that wave all the way from there. She was the furthest out. Yeah, it was a great ride.

She milked it.

We're down here at the Sunset Point and sitting in some chairs and we just watched Kelly get a really superb wave. She was the last surfer in the water as the flames came over the hill.

On January 7th, 2025, Randy started off his day sitting right here with his DSLR camera looking for sharks.

Yeah, it was a gorgeous, gorgeous day. You know, the wind was just, you know, texturing the waves. The spray was flying off the back of the waves. Miss Kelly went out surfing, and I could start seeing smoke, and then it was like, oh, whoa. And then, you know, people started coming down. I yelled at Kelly, Kelly, get out of the water. Kelly, get out of the water. You know, this was around noon or so. And finally she listened to me. And then people were walking where we're sitting to escape the flames. And I did not know how, you know, severe it was yet. But the clouds, the plumes of smoke were getting bigger and bigger. And I was like, oh, dude, this is real, you know, very real.

This is not a good situation. If you are in your house, you definitely have to get out. A fire official saying this windstorm is nothing like they've seen before.

Behind Randy, just up a steep hill, the fire in Pacific Palisades had exploded from about 10 acres to 200 in just an hour.

The fire was over the hill and then it just kept coming down closer and closer and it got higher than the building I'm looking at. And that building, I turn around and look real quick. How tall is that building? That's like 40 feet, 50 feet tall, five stories tall.

Sparks started wafting towards the beach. Across the street from Randy, by the 76 gas station, plants were catching on fire.

There's like 15 propane tanks that are in danger of exploding.

Randy spotted a fireman across the street, hooking up a hose to a hydrant.

I'm like, hey, help me. I got 15, you know, propane tanks. They're going to explode. And he's all like, I can't help you, you know. He told me, shut the gas pumps off and get out of here.

The fire truck peeled off down the PCH, away from Sunset Point.

There was nobody here. Nobody. Everybody left.

But Randy was not about to go anywhere.

If I had left my vehicle unattended, it would have been gone. It would have burnt, you know. My worst case scenario was I'm going to lose everything.

Randy's truck is full of camera equipment and hard drives with over a decade's worth of shark and surfer photos.

As far as fear, no, I wasn't fearful. I was just doing what needed to be done, you know. The wind was just, you know, so ferocious, you know. it was it would knock you sideways and stuff it wasn't like you know 20 miles an hour like 50 75 probably gusts up to hunsky and uh it's going nar nar and i'm the only dude here it was pretty gnarly man and the flames the i watched them cross pacificos highway they jumped over the highway you know i was surrounded by then by you know embers and sparks it was like being in star wars and here's all these, you know, these flame particles. You know, the palm trees are on fire. And I had, you know, like a spark go down my back. People were coming out of the smoke, you know, trying to escape the flames. And that's who put out the fire, the ember that was down my back.

A stranger poured some water down Randy's shirt and patted him down.

And I yelled at the guy, hey, can you come help me?

Randy was worried about those above-ground propane tanks at the 76 gas station across the street.

If they started exploding, I would have been shrapneled, you know, and, you know, possibly gravely wounded. It was nerve-wracking.

He grabbed two buckets from his truck and filled them up at a spigot behind the door.

the 76. He and the stranger began a bucket brigade, putting out the little fires igniting around the 76. Then the stranger left. And keep in mind, there's smoke billowing everywhere. There's

flames everywhere. And that's on fire. The beach is on fire. And it went all the way up towards the Getty. It burnt lifeguard station number two down. And I'm just going, OK. And meanwhile,

I'm going, what's going on with my truck? Randy ran back across the street to check on his truck, and he saw that the back of Gladstones was on fire.

That is a wooden structure. And then a yellow fire engine came out of the smoke. He waved the fire engine down. And he busted out his hose, and it was under control. So I finally came over here.

He made it to his truck where he kept his gardening equipment.

I have, you know, work glasses, you know, like, you know, to keep wood chips out of your eyes. I have three 100-foot sections of garden hose So I have the length of a football field, and I also have a sprayer, a backpack sprayer. You know, you can water plants, you can put pesticides, or you can fight fires with it. Yeah.

For the next 12 hours, that's all Randy did.

You just look at that palm tree, you see which way the wind was blowing. Yeah, I see it. And the ladder's right there. Go stand on that and put that fire out real quick.

He had water access at a spigot across the street, and he would fill up his backpack three gallons at a time and put out spot fires one by one. Did you feel like you were in any danger, either from flames or smoke inhalation or heat or losing good breathing air?

Oh, yeah, yeah, of course. I did my best, and I'm going back and forth from the 76, the Pacific West General Store, to the Vons, putting out fires on the back of the Vons.

Sometimes he'd put them out only to see them reignite moments later.

It was rather nar-nar for a while, Touch and go.

So we kept improvising.

It got so silly that I was filling up a squirt gun, you know, one of them ones that the little kids use, the pump ones. Yeah. And I was shooting down the embers as it got towards twilight, towards dusk. When I finally, you know, took a break, I would rest my eyeballs for like 15, 20 minutes, and then I'd get up and check and make sure my truck's not aflame, you know. If my truck had caught on fire and it was all the way over here, I was going to jump in the ocean.

When the morning came, the fire still had not been contained, but all the buildings at Sunset Point, they were singed, but standing. So just thinking back to all the firefighting you did that night, putting out fires, bucket brigade, spraying things down, what do you think this area would look like if you hadn't done all that?

We would have lost this whole neighborhood right here because we lost that neighborhood and that neighborhood. The Malibu village is gone, the Palisades Bowl is gone, the Tahitian Terrace is gone. All these houses right here, I'm looking right behind me, all the houses, apartment complexes are gone.

When Snap returns, Randy is in the middle of the apocalypse and no one knows where he is. Stay tuned. Do you know what's great that impacts every single thing you do, how you show up, who you are? Sleep. And for me, my legend hybrid mattress from Lisa changes the whole game because last night I got that real sleep, that good sleep, the kind of sleep, especially for folk like me that is so rare, so vital. Lisa has a lineup of beautifully crafted mattresses tailored for how you sleep. From night one, you're going to feel the difference. Premium materials, full body support. Just take the Lisa Sleep Quiz and you'll find your perfect match in less than two minutes. Go to Lisa.com for 25% off select mattresses plus get an extra $50 off with promo code SNAP. Exclusive for my listeners. That's L-E-E-S-A.com. promo code snap for 25% off select mattresses plus an extra $50 off support our show let them know we sent you after checkout lisa.com promo code snap

with money if you don't know where you are you don't know where you're going the good news is that this is where monarch comes in you can see exactly what's happening across the entirety of your financial life in one space and this alone changes the game as for me i asked monarch some very telling questions like, how much did I actually spend on DoorDash this year? Good Lord, how many video services am I subscribed to anyway? What's this sudden expense shredding my budget? Do I have a budget? But Monarch goes even further, asking where you want to be and showing you the steps for getting there. Because Monarch is like having a financial advisor in your pocket. Why guess when you can know? Write your own money story with Monarch. Use code SNAP at Monarch.com to get your first year of Monarch Core half off at just $50. That's 50% off your first year at Monarch.com with code SNAP. Welcome back to SNAP's All Systems Down. The fire and ice episode. When last we left, Randy Wright had managed to fight off the flames at Sunset Point. But now he's stranded, all by himself in a burn zone. Alone, but not forgotten. SNAP's L.A. surf correspondent and Sunset Point regular, Jesse Dukes.

During the fires, I often thought about Randy. Did he make it out in time? Where was he? And I wasn't the only one. Surfers were posting on Facebook, trying to find answers. The Pacific Coast Highway was cordoned off, choked with abandoned vehicles. But on the morning of January 8th, the day after Randy's long night, a Sunset Point regular named Andrew McDonald and his son Sebastian managed to ride bikes past the police barricade so they could check on their home.

My name is Andrew McDonald. I moved out here with my family in 2006. We were in an apartment building, basically overlooking Sunset Point. Up in the Palisades, things were still on fire. It was gray. It was like nighttime up there. Car batteries were exploding. Just things popping all over the place. So I got to our apartment building. and there's nothing but the facade, the front facade, and not even half of the front facade is there. The rest of it is just totally smoldering, on fire, gone, collapsed.

Andrew's a bookseller in downtown L.A. His apartment was full of rare books. First edition Kerouac's, signed Gabriel Garcia Marquez's, an edition of James Joyce's Ulysses, illustrated by Henri Matisse.

The feeling was just harsh, like burning emptiness. It was like, oh my God, what do we do? Who, where is there directions for this?

After a few silent minutes, Andrew and his son headed back towards the PCH, towards Sunset Point.

I'm thinking, I mean, everything's closed. The Vons, I'm surprised that the Vons didn't burn down. And then I saw Randy out there and said, oh, thank God, somebody's alive. And it was like, it's just grim.

Randy Wright was standing by his truck in the Gladstones parking lot. He was shirtless, wearing a black face mask, drinking a can of seltzer.

He looked horrendous, you know. He had, like, this mask lying on his face and, like, a total, you know, survivor walking off a battlefield. It was just such a relief to see him. Just, I was amazed that he had survived. I mean, amazed that anybody had survived this, you know? It was like, oh, my God, Randy, how did you do this? And I sat with him, you know, he comes up with the sort of quote, yeah, super gnarly and that kind of thing. Yes, this is beyond gnarly, man. And he goes, how's your place? because he knew where we lived, and he said, it's gone, and everything's gone. And he said, oh, my God. Well, I said, okay, I'm going to film, I'm going to make a video of you as a survivor of this thing. One, two, three, you're on. Hey, Randy. Randy Wright. All right. Hey, I'm still here, still jamming, still alive, helping put out fires. I put out about 40 of them yesterday, 10 this morning. Anyways. You're fucking wonderful. Hey, hey, hey, I'm so sorry that you lost.

You're so fucking wonderful, Randy.

Hey, anyways, I'll see you when I see you, brother. Yeah.

When Andrew posted this video to Instagram, it was the first proof of life we had, and people were stoked. They posted comments like, Long live Randy, legend king of Sunset Point. He helped save Gladstones. After saying goodbye, Andrew and his son walked down to the sand.

Sebastian and I sat there and, you know, kind of cried and hugged on the beach, watched the waves, listened to the fire behind us.

Nobody could come up here, you know, nobody. And then the military came, they put, you know, they put a fence around it, and I'm not going anywhere.

Only emergency personnel and first responders were allowed up the PCH.

Sheriff deputies, L.A. County sheriffs stopped by a few times, fishing wildlife. Baywatch lifeguards would stop by and check on Randy, you know. The fire department crew were giving me, you know, something to eat. The military, you know, style, you know, meals, you know, you just open them up and, you know, play with the packs and you got a little warm meal to eat.

But for the most part, especially after the fires were contained, Randy was left alone

I just lost a lot of companionship, there was nobody here It was like being the Tom Hanks in Castaway on the island There was nobody here, you could hear a pin drop There's no footprints on the sand It's like being on the moon, there's no footprints, there's only my footprints i watched the water the water the water was so clean the day before the first rain i could see the eagle grass i could see the structure of the reef it was beautiful there was nobody surfing here then the rain came the first rain came and the water the water coming out from the whole palisades the white water of the crashing waves it became black water it wasn't brown like after a normal rain, the first rain of the season, it was black.

Debris, trash, and toxic waste from around 7,000 burned buildings had washed into the ocean.

And it was like that for a couple days. It turned, you know, dark brown. And then after a few more days, it became light brown, like the color of the coffee that I like to drink. finally you know about four months later after the fire i went down to the beach there's nobody here and i'm just laying there all by myself and i said i'm gonna go skinny dipping this 62 year old man is gonna go skinny dipping so i did and then you know after like you know like a minute or so you know it started shriveling up you know in certain areas you know i was like oh i got out the water and I dried off in the sun and then I put my board shorts back on and then I walked up to where everybody has to come down the ramp area and there was a second set of footprints. I was like oh my goodness oh my goodness somebody saw the old geezer this old man with the old man beard which I haven't shaved since the fire and somebody was down here on the sand I was like whoa And I got so excited.

Good morning. It's been a long time now, but Pacific Coast Highway has finally reopened to everyone just in time for the long holiday weekend. It was supposed to officially reopen. On Memorial Day 2025, the surfers came back. I mean, it wasn't everyone. I know people who are still worried about heavy metals in the water at Sunset Point. But I've gone surfing there. So has Andrew.

we just went through this huge thing but it's like it's my baptismal bath i feel like it's a kind of a sacred spot it's our bar it's like the where you meet people and you're enjoying the the same thing but i think randy has because he's there and people stop by and talk with him i think

he's like the bartender nice bottom turn he's got speed he's got speed oh that was a nice hit you You must admit that was a good hit.

On a good day, about 40 or 50 surfers get out there.

I had, you know, like, have a dozen people see me and go, hey, you're dead. You're supposed to be dead. No, Randy's still alive. I'm a different Randy. Randy died. There was another Randy. Yeah, over by Topanga.

Another surfer close to Randy's age, also named Randy, Randy Miad, died in his home right next to Pacific Coast Highway, just a few miles up. 12 people lost their lives in the Palisades Fire at least 31 across LA Am I going to live and die here at sunset? I'm going to live and die somewhere in LA. I mean, I'm born here and raised here. And if it's at sunset, it's going to be at sunset, you know? Look at this set coming in. There's some really good surf out here right now.

A couple of months after we interviewed Randy, L.A. County told him he had to clean up his truck so the community fundraised for him and helped him buy an RV. He's still there at Sunset Point. Big thanks to Randy and to Andrew for sharing your stories with us, And thanks to the whole Sunset Point surf crew. And special love to Sonia Geis, Phil Richards, and KCRW. Big shout out to the Los Angeles Fire Department Station 23, the heroes who put out the fire on Gladstones and fought the flames at the Palisades. The original score for this piece was by Renzo Gorio. It was produced by Jesse Dukes, John Facile, and David Exame. Now, snaps all systems down, plows straight into one of the largest snowstorms in history. Stay tuned. I remember walking up to the ATM, fingers crossed, brows sweating, hoping that the fees on the fees with the fees hadn't already canceled out my paycheck. I wish I could have used Chime, fee-free banking, rated five stars by USA Today for customer service, Real humans, 24-7. They even have SpotMe, which lets you overdraft up to $200 fee-free. What? I really, really could have used that. Chime is not just smarter banking. It's the most rewarding way to bank. Join the millions who are already banking fee-free today. Head to Chime.com slash snap. That's Chime.com slash snap. It only takes a few minutes to sign up. Chime is a fintech, not a bank. Banking services for MyPay and ChimeCard provided by Chime's bank partners. Optional products and services may have fees or charges. Stated annual percentage yield and cash back for Chime Prime only. No minimum balance required. For more information on APY rates, MyPay, Spotney, and travel perks, go to Chime.com slash disclosures. It's summertime, and looking good has never been easier with Quince.

because quince makes classic essentials that naturally become everyday staples you want to wear. And for me, with this nice weather, I've been living in quince jersey polos. Let me tell you, dudes, they don't just come to some stranger and tell them they like their shirt. But people keep stopping me to tell me they like my shirt or my quince suede overcoat or my quince chore jacket. What? And it's not just clothing. Quince has become a trusted favorite for everything from home to travel to everyday essentials. Make your summer wardrobe easier. Go to Quince.com slash snap for free shipping on your order and 365 day returns. Now available in Canada too. That's Q-U-I-N-C-E dot com slash snap for free shipping and 365 day returns. Quince.com slash snap. welcome back to snap judgment the all systems down fire and ice episode my name is from washington and we recently heard a story a kind of unbelievable story about a group of guys and their bronco about surviving barely surviving a freak event of nature so we call them up i'll let producer anna sussman take it from here Hi, Roger.

Hey, Anna, how are you doing?

Good. So I had to introduce yourself.

Oh, my name is Roger Redding, and I live in East Tennessee, and have been throughout my life an avid backpacker.

Roger was headed out on a one-night camping trip with a few of his buddies. He had years of experience camping in the Tennessee hills.

And it was March in 1993. The buttercups were up in the Knoxville area, and our intention was to go out for just a single night into the mountains.

Roger and his friends, Phil, Bob, Lewis, and Steve, hopped into an all-wheel drive Bronco with some sleeping bags, tents, and one day's worth of food.

we stopped in teleco plains there was a little grocery and we kind of joked because there had been a weather report that there might be some snow coming and we really thought how pretty it would be to be off on a trail and see a little bit of snow up in the forks of the trees and it would just add to the beauty and the adventure so we headed up into the mountains to a place It's called Bob Stratton Bald. It's a southern Appalachian bald where there's no trees and a great view, a 360-degree view. You can see in every direction. They say you can almost see so far you can see tomorrow.

I'm going to let him say that one more time.

They say you can almost see so far you can see tomorrow. and we thought oh that'd be a great place to go and as we got out of the bronco there were just tiny little snowflakes that were starting to fall and it was pretty cold and we put our gloves on our backpacks and off the trail we went and as we're going up the trail wind started getting colder and colder and we finally get to the top and this great view that we were looking forward

to see and was nowhere to be seen. Because the clouds had rolled in and visibility was close to

zero. But what they could see was concerning. The snow started picking up and the flakes started getting bigger and every once in a while we see a flash of lightning. I mean I've never seen anything like that in a snowstorm and the snow did start sticking in the the branch of the trees and it started sticking to the grass.

It was Tennessee in March. The thought that there would be an actual snowstorm was not something they had much reason to even consider. They set up their camp, but when it was time to cook their dinner, all the wood was too wet to make a fire. So without much else to do, they all just climbed into their tents.

and we woke up in the middle of the night seeing these flashes of light and the wind blowing the sides of the tent one of my tent poles cracked then I crawled to the end of my sleeping bag and unzipped the tent all of a sudden this wasn't just a little snow this was something I had never experienced in my life and it fell in the end of my tent and it's like oh my gosh I've never seen this much snow and I mean there's so many thoughts going through my head I had never anticipated a blizzard of this magnitude what what are the instructions what are we supposed to do And you just can't stay in a freezer.

The snow was piled so high and was so heavy because it was spring in East Tennessee that all the tents were collapsing. And they hadn't packed any snow gear.

It's morning now. The wind was roaring, but we were chatting between us. It's like, we've got to get out of here right now. And other voices were, no, we've got to hunker down and stay. When you're in a situation like this, you've got to stay put and somebody will rescue us. So we decided as a group that we were going to pack up what gear we had, get dressed. The snow was over three and a half feet deep at this point.

Three and a half feet deep. You can do almost nothing in snow that deep. They couldn't even pack up their stuff.

There were canteens and gears in our backpack scattered about the campsite. and you couldn't see any of it we finally got our backpacks it was quite an effort and one by one we formed a line and we started trying to find our way off this bald the wind was blowing in the clouds the snow was coming so thick you could barely see but it was like to try to find our way off this ball. It's interesting. There's no reference. There's no trees. There's no blazes. There's no way to know if you're on the right path.

But the guys came to a hesitant consensus. They picked a direction and started walking.

We had to take turns being the bulldozer, the guy out front that was blazing the path into the snow. We must have walked for two hours or more before we even came to the edge of the vault. Our legs were sore. The ice, it was sticking to our mustaches, our hair. It was scary. But we had no choice but to continue. So you could kind of feel the trail under your feet because it's worn out. But you'd find when you got off the path because you trip over rocks and logs and all kinds of things. So constantly we were reaching behind us or in front of us to pull a guy out of the snow. There was this very large rock, and snow had piled up on one side and made a wall. It was 10 or 12 feet tall.

Roger and the guys realized that this rock wall formed a little bit of a shelter from the snowstorm. It was the first relief they'd found in hours.

We could crouch down behind this and get out of the wind, And it was like this amazing feeling of warmth when we were down below the top of the snow level that we were actually warm. I know we weren't, but it felt that way. And we weren't walking. We weren't aching anymore. And I remember taking some gloves off and getting a one canteen that we could get our hands on that wasn't frozen. And we passed it around and had a drink. One of the guys wanted to stay. he says i can't go on anymore it hurts too bad and we had to make him go we had to all make ourselves go even though it hurt to stand up we we had to continue on this path we were scared what what would we do if something happened to one of us there's no way that we could carry anybody out we it was everything we could to make ourselves go we had to encourage each other just despite the pain uh the anguish the doubts were we even going in the right direction one guy said no we're going in the wrong direction you know we should have stayed put i told you so and we wanted to kill him it's like no we've already made the choice we're going this way and this is the way we're going whether it's right or wrong this is the way we're going and there's this one point on the entire trail where there's a sign only only sign that exists out here and it says cherry log gap and it's just a wooden post but to us it was the most exciting thing in the world it's like we we were on the right path now we may not make it but we were on the right path our friend bob uh he was very impatient and uh probably maybe in the best shape of the bunch and big long legs and he was our bulldozer guy and all of a sudden we couldn't even see his tracks the snow was blowing so hard that that it filled in where he had even walked where's bob what happened and but the rest of us are within sight of each other and finally I remember Phil my friend Phil said there's there's the gap it's up ahead and I looked through my fingers it's like looking through clouds and fog and and I could see the outline of something and there's our Bronco it's out ahead and there's our friend Bob with a camera out and his backpack's off and he actually takes a picture of us and the snow had piled up on one side of it it's all ice covered but there's this beautiful bronco and we throw off our backpacks there's five of us and three of us pile into the the back seat and two in the front and phil has his keys and we're watching the gauges we're worried sick that you know it's gonna turn

on that there'll be any juice left in the battery but the lights come on and then we're looking at the gas gauge, and it's full, and we're all fired up. He fires this thing up. It's an eight-cylinder Bronco, and it's like being an army tank, and yes, we're going to make it out of here. He puts it in gear, and we go about three feet.

As burly as the Bronco was, it was no match for this amount of snow.

We were trapped. There was no way that we could drive out of this.

And slowly we realized we were there. There was nothing we could do about it. And then reality sets in that we had one day's worth of food, and we ate most of it last night. And honestly, we were terrified.

Wading it out in the parked Bronco, as the snow piled higher and higher around them, was their only option.

and our socks are wet our clothes are wet and we get out of the bronco we get our sleeping bags out

of our backpacks every few hours they turn on the car engine just for a few minutes to warm up

periodically on the radio we'd hear uh it was strange the radio station that should have been there wasn't and it was somebody else broadcasting on this signal and it turns out a tower had collapsed, but we would get reports of a station. Something called thunder, snow, something we're

not used to here in the South. And in fact, across most of the country can only be described as a

massive storm. Deep snow in Atlanta, Georgia, in Birmingham, and that people were trapped on interstate highways going up the East coast. The 1993 storm of the century. People were stranded

in Gatlinburg and couldn't get out. Now this bulletin just in from our newsroom, Governor Guy Hunt has now proclaimed a state of emergency, and this is a storm of historic proportion.

And it's like, oh my gosh, we're just, we're a speck out in the middle of nowhere, and nobody really knows where we are. As we're breathing, vapor out of our breasts would form on the top of the ceiling of the Bronco, and it would turn into icicles. The biggest fear that we had the biggest regret was uh that our families were probably worried about us it was frustrating to not be able to think our way out of predicament i mean we're all smart guys and it's like there's got to be a way that we can be macgyver and we can do something to get our way out of this situation but there really wasn't one guy bob uh you know he said he couldn't be stuck there and he was going to dig this path down to the down to the highway and get on his sleeping pad and slide down the mountains he was going to go for help and we had to beg bob no so stay you have to stay you're going to get injured you're going to get hurt we're we we got to be there for each other as uncomfortable as it was we were scared but we were terrified we were terrified for each other. Our fingers and toes hurt physically. There was a knock on the door and it's like, did you hear that? And it's like, we all were like, oh my gosh, somebody's here to save us. We open the door and there's a single guy there and he looks bad. He's terrified. He's all covered with snow and he's shivering and he asked to come in and i mean there's no room at the

end there was no place for this kid to go outside of the bronco and kind of no place for him to go

inside the bronco either uh i mean there's we're already packed but we got to get this guy out of the snow and and he's a young guy maybe in his teens or 20s i mean we didn't have the heart to tell him to get out. I mean, how could we explain that grown man throwing this young guy out? I get in the back with the spare tire, and we pull this guy into the Bronco, and he's terrified.

The young man was from South Carolina. He was backpacking with some friends when the storm

rolled in. He smells bad, and he's terrified, and we're listening to his story, and he began to cry. He talked about his friend that they had lost. And they looked for him and they yelled and the wind roared so bad they couldn't hear any voices and they didn't know what happened to him. So he became one of the group. And now he smelled pretty bad because, you know, he'd been backpacking for a week.

It was now Saturday night, about 36 hours since Roger and the guys had set off.

that night we had the radio on again and i remember the you know kind of reflecting off the inside of the windshield the the radio light what you would have to do again this is for people

listening perhaps on their car radios on the fm dial you what you need to do is be very aware of the tailpipe you don't want that to get filled with snow you don't want any of the exhaust the carbon monoxide gas to get back in

to the car. You can run the car a few minutes at a time to keep the heat going. And we heard more devastation out there, but we heard that definitely that the U.S. military was called in. Sunday came and the storm had stopped and it was this peaceful quietness, something special about seeing blue sky and beautiful white snow covering blanketing everything i remember being in the back of the bronco and feeling this vibration it was really a vibration in my chest and i told the guys listen listen there's there's something coming there's something out there and it got louder and louder and so we got to get out and so we all crawl our way out of this bronco and and there coming over the horizon is a helicopter. It turns out it's a National Guard helicopter.

They watched the helicopter fly around the mountain. Then it hovered over the group of bedraggled men.

They came back over and hovered, and it seemed like it was forever. It's like, well, what's going to happen next? And out of this helicopter eventually comes this red thing, and it kind of flutters in the wind and the trees, and it lands 25 or 35 yards away from the Bronco.

Roger volunteered to trudge out and find the red thing.

The snow is deeper than I am tall. And it was stuck in the limb of a tree and I was able to kind of snag this thing and pull it back in and work my way back to the Bronco. And so I get in the passenger side and here's this red thing. And it's a bandana. and it's tied in a knot and we untie the knot and it's weighted down with a pair of pliers and a folded up piece of maintenance log and I unfolded it and it had one word written on it with an exclamation point it said tomorrow and we all broke into the Annie song tomorrow tomorrow it was spontaneous it was wonderful and then the guy that was worried that we were going in the wrong direction said what if it means it's going to snow again tomorrow and we wanted to kill him all over again we didn't know what it was going to be for sure but somebody knew we were there and they told us that there was going to be a tomorrow that was the greatest word to hear i can't think of a better word to hear uh for a group of guys that were terrified out of their minds that tomorrow was going to happen and uh it was magic it's monday morning now the sun is coming up and we get out of the bronco and it's not warm it's still below freezing but the sun was shining and then around the mountain comes the big helicopter and it is putting wind out from under its rotors tree limbs are blowing sideways the the ice and the branches were snapping a couple of us got behind this big oak tree bob and i got behind this oak tree and we're we're looking between our fingers at this helicopter we're looking straight up in the gap and you see this big red cross sign under it and and uh and then there's this guy coming down on a cable and he's coming into the gap and two of us run out and he's got this thing on the end of it and it looks kind of like a boat anchor and i he said you're going home and i said when and he said now and i said what do i do put my foot on this and he said no your ass

stupid. The helicopter couldn't take them all at once. It was already loaded up with other hikers

they'd plucked off the mountain. We, two of us, Bob and I, crawl in this helicopter and the soldiers aren't talking to us and there's benches, big, big benches to carry troops and there's one backpacker. I didn't tell he's a backpacker because of how he's dressed and he's in the helicopter and i go over and he says are you out backpacking i said yeah and i said how about you and he said yeah and he says i'm i got separated from my guys and turned out this guy had had found a hollow tree and crawled inside a hollow tree and uh lost his friends and sat out the storm in the tree and then he couldn't find his friends and i said are you from south carolina and he said yeah how do you know and I told him about his friend coming and knocking on our window and I wanted to be able Tell him that your friend is alive and well. I don't think we'll ever forget that moment. But then what? They were able to get us home, and everybody did wind up getting home. It was quite an experience.

Thank you, Roger Redding, for sharing your story with Snap. That piece was edited by Nancy Lopez. The original score was by Dirk Swartsoff. It was produced by Anna Sussman. now if you missed even a moment of snaps all systems down series where everything is on the line and help is not on the way get you at once to the snap judgment podcast because some stories are best lived vicariously. That's right. Experience danger in the comfort of your living room. KQD in San Francisco is Snap Judgment's orbiting hall of justice and big news. At long last, we're opening up the curtain. Snap Plus is now available. Subscribe for bonus Snap episodes, special Snap meetups, more Snap.

Snap.

Hey, this is Snap Judgment producer John Facile. So while we were making the story about Michael Backman, the 31 year old who went back to his old high school in Portland, Oregon, I kept wondering about like what it must be like to be a kid and to realize that there's an adult in your midst who's deceiving you. And this is like happened a lot. There is like an insane number of instances of adults going back to high school.

This mom went back to school, middle school, disguised as her 13-year-old daughter.

There was a mom who wanted to test the security of her daughter's school, so she went undercover. There are grownups who have gone back just so that they can crush it on the basketball court. I found the story of this reporter, Sean Nix, a 26-year-old married San Francisco Chronicle reporter. she posed as a senior at George Washington High School for four weeks in 1992 so that she could later unveil in a series of articles the pressures on the lives of students and teachers at a time when California schools were facing brutal budget cuts. But not even most of the teachers knew that Sean was an adult. She auditioned for a play. She joined a peer counseling group. She made real friends and she went to real parties all before revealing herself four weeks later to the entire school. I got a chance to talk to Mario Trigueros, who was a senior at George Washington back then, and I wanted him to tell me what that felt like. I want to start with the

reveal. You mean when Sean revealed who she actually was? Yes. I was walking down the hall And a woman walks in who looks like Sean, but is dressed like a grown-up, wearing heels, a professional suit, like wearing a business skirt, holding her head up, her chin up, walking straight the way grown-ups walk, walking in with a photographer. And my chin just dropped on the floor. I couldn't believe it. It was shocking and kind of funny, and it reinforced hunches that a lot of us had. We were, you know, there was something weird about her.

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The union represented producers, artists, editors, and engineers are members of the National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians, Communications Workers of America, AFL-CIO, Local 51. And this is not the news. No way is this the news. In fact, you could try to fight fire with fire and discover that, except in extremely controlled circumstances, that is a very, very bad idea. And you would still not be as far away from the news as this is. But this is PRX.

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