Fire & Ice - All Systems Down

Summary

Snap Judgment: "Fire & Ice – All Systems Down" (July 23, 2026)

Podcast: Snap Judgment
Episode Theme: Grit, community, and survival during disasters – from wildfires in Southern California to a historic Appalachian blizzard.
Host: Glynn Washington, Snap Team & PRX
Featured Guests: Randy Wright, Jesse Dukes, Andrew McDonald, Roger Redding

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Overview

This episode of Snap Judgment takes listeners into the heart of two extraordinary disasters—first, the terrifying Pacific Palisades wildfire in Los Angeles, as lived by legendary surfer and longtime Sunset Point local Randy Wright; and second, the legendary "storm of the century" blizzard in the Tennessee Appalachians, recounted by outdoorsman Roger Redding and friends. Through electrifying storytelling, the episode captures chaos, loss, resilience, and the meaning of community when all systems go down.

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Part 1: "Fire" – Randy Wright and the Pacific Palisades Wildfire

Introduction to Randy and Sunset Point

• [02:32] Randy Wright is a legendary figure at Sunset Point, a friendly, beginner-friendly surf break in LA.
• Known for his white beard, tattoos, and welcoming attitude—often handing out gear to newcomers.
• [03:16] Lives out of his red Dodge Dakota by Gladstones restaurant, gardens local business exteriors, and is Sunset Point’s unofficial guardian and photographer.

"Everybody loves the Randall because, you know, I do good around here." — Randy Wright [03:57]

• Jesse Dukes (reporter/regular) describes the special community vibe at Sunset, despite the waves not being world-class.

The Fire’s Outbreak

• [05:32] On January 7, 2025, while watching for sharks, Randy notices smoke and tries to alert surfer Kelly to get out of the water.
• The Palisades fire exploded to 200 acres in just one hour, quickly threatening Gladstones and the surrounding area.

"It was like being in Star Wars... these flame particles... palm trees are on fire. And I had, you know, like a spark go down my back." — Randy [08:13]

• Fire crews evacuate; Randy stays, determined to save his belongings (photos, hard drives) and protect the surf spot.

Randy the Solo Firefighter

• [09:43] Fears propane tanks exploding at a nearby gas station; tries to alert fire crews but is told to evacuate.
• Starts his own firefighting—bucket brigade with a stranger, then alone:
  • Filling backpack sprayer and hoses at a spigot,
  • Putting out spot fires with anything, even a squirt gun.

"It got so silly that I was filling up a squirt gun... shooting down the embers." — Randy [11:45]

• Kept working through the night, checking constantly that his truck wasn't burning.
• Ready to jump in the ocean if trapped.

The Aftermath

• [12:17] By morning, much around Sunset Point was damaged but not destroyed—thanks in large part to Randy’s actions.

"We would have lost this whole neighborhood right here." — Randy [12:40]

• Malibu Village, Palisades Bowl, Tahitian Terrace were lost, but Gladstones and bystanders' homes and shops remained.

---

"Where’s Randy?" – Isolation and Community Loss

The Search for Randy Post-Fire

• [16:29] Surfers and the local community were desperate for news of Randy—PCH closed, uncertainty everywhere.
• Andrew McDonald and his son Sebastian bike in past police barricades.

"Thank God somebody's alive. It's just grim." — Andrew McDonald [18:25]

• Emotional meeting: Andrew films a survivor video with/for Randy, posts it online. A wave of relief and celebratory comments follow.

"Hey, I'm still here, still jamming, still alive, helping put out fires." — Randy [19:36]
"Long live Randy, legend, king of Sunset Point." — Community reactions [19:53]

Sunset Point in the Weeks After

• Randy is left alone in a barren zone. Only emergency crews come by; he receives military-style meals and minimal company.

"It was like being Tom Hanks in Castaway... There's only my footprints." — Randy [21:12]

• Toxic runoff makes the ocean black, then brown, then finally returns to a lighter color.
• Memorable Moment: Randy celebrates his solitude with a skinny dip—then finds someone has seen him:

  "This old man with the old man beard, which I haven't shaved since the fire... I got so excited." — Randy [23:22]

Return of the Community

• [23:31] PCH reopens by Memorial Day 2025. Surfers gradually return—some wary of pollution, others embracing the beach as a sacred communal space.
• Andrew likens Randy to the “bartender” of Sunset, central to the surf community vibe.

"I had half a dozen people see me and go, 'Hey, you're dead! You’re supposed to be dead.' No—Randy’s still alive." — Randy [24:19]

• The fire took a heavy toll: 12 deaths in the Palisades, 31 in L.A. overall.
• Randy stays:

  "Am I gonna live and die here at sunset? I’m gonna live and die somewhere in LA... If it's at sunset, it's going to be at sunset." — Randy [24:50]

Epilogue

• [25:29] Community fundraises for Randy to buy an RV after officials press him to move his truck.
• He remains an anchor at Sunset Point.

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Part 2: "Ice" – Roger Redding & the Blizzard of ’93

Setting the Scene

• [29:53] Roger Redding (Tennessee native, avid backpacker) and four friends head for a one-night camping trip in March 1993.
• Lighthearted about a weather report for snow — the group romanticizes a little snowfall atop Bob Stratton Bald, a treeless Appalachian peak.

"They say you can almost see so far, you can see tomorrow." — Roger [31:19]

The Storm Hits

• As they reach the top, whiteout conditions set in. Lightning in a snowstorm.

"I’d never experienced anything like that in my life." — Roger [32:48]

• Tents collapse overnight; by morning, over 3.5 feet of heavy, wet snow.
• Decision point: hunker down or try to hike out? They pick a direction and slog ahead, "bulldozing" through the snow.

Anguish, Doubt, and the Way Out

• [36:14] They take shelter behind a rock wall.

• Debate and desperation:

  “We had to encourage each other, despite the pain, the anguish, the doubts. Were we even going in the right direction?” — Roger [36:14]

• Joy on seeing the trail sign (Cherry Log Gap) and, through the mist, the outline of their Bronco.

• But the vehicle is trapped by the snow.

Inside the Bronco: Survival and Rescue

• [39:47] One day's food is nearly gone.
• Tune into strange radio warnings about "thunder snow" and caution about carbon monoxide from running the car engine.
• A lost young hiker from South Carolina, separated from his group, stumbles in and is taken in by Roger and friends.
• Emotional reflections and group solidarity after 36+ hours stuck.

"We were scared, but we were terrified. We were terrified for each other." — Roger [42:47]

• National Guard helicopters eventually spot them, drop a red bandana message:

  “Tomorrow.” — [46:17]

• Elation and delirium—singing “Tomorrow” from Annie, joking about what it could mean.

• Helicopter airlifts begin (in stages) the following day. Roger meets the friend of their rescued hiker on board.

“He said, ‘You’re going home.’ And I said... 'Now?' And he said, ‘What do I do, put my foot on this?’ And he said, 'No, your ass, stupid.'” — Roger [48:54]

• All are eventually saved—a story of improvisation, frustration, and warmth in the coldest, darkest moments.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “It was like being in Star Wars... these flame particles... palm trees are on fire.” – Randy Wright [08:13]
• “We would have lost this whole neighborhood right here.” – Randy Wright [12:40]
• “It was like being Tom Hanks in Castaway...” – Randy Wright on isolation after the fire [21:12]
• “They say you can almost see so far, you can see tomorrow.” – Roger Redding [31:21]
• “Tomorrow.” – The National Guard rescue message after days stranded [46:20]
• “You’re going home.” / “Now?” / “What do I do, put my foot on this?” / “No, your ass, stupid.” – Roger Redding & rescuer [48:54]

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Timestamps – Key Segments

• [02:32] Introduction to Randy, Sunset Point, and the tight-knit surf community
• [05:32] Outbreak of the Pacific Palisades fire, Randy’s emergency firefighting
• [12:17] Aftermath: damage assessment, Randy contemplates what was saved and lost
• [16:29] Community efforts to locate Randy; reunion with Andrew McDonald
• [21:12] Isolation at Sunset Point, the environmental aftermath
• [23:31] Reopening of PCH, return of the surfers, Randy’s ongoing centrality
• [29:53] Introduction to Roger Redding’s Appalachian blizzard odyssey
• [32:48] The reality of the storm sets in—survival journey begins
• [39:47] Trapped in the Bronco, group dynamics, taking in a lost hiker
• [46:20] The “Tomorrow” message—hope and anticipation
• [48:54] Helicopter rescue, reunion, and conclusion

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Tone and Takeaways

• The episode is raw, cinematic, and celebratory about grit and mutual aid in catastrophe.
• Both segments are told with a knack for drama, humor, and vivid detail—balancing the gravity of loss with moments of light and connection.
• The community, whether among surfers or hikers, proves resourceful and bonded through shared trial.

A compelling listen for those interested in real human drama, unlikely heroism, and the resilience of community when 'all systems are down.'

Transcript

[A]

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[B]

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,

[C]

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

[B]

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

[C]

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.

[B]

Are you gonna go surfing with your dad?

[D]

All right.

[B]

Ah, that's a good thing to do.

[C]

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 loanerboards to newcomers, or feeding his one eyed pet, seagull Andy, or scanning the horizon with a telephoto lens, looking for sharks.

[B]

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 wave.

[C]

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

[B]

Everybody loves the Randall because, you know, I do good around here. I'm gonna paint.

[C]

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.

[B]

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.

[C]

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.

[B]

I caught that wave all the way from there. She was the furthest out.

[C]

Yeah, it was a great ride. She milked it.

[B]

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

[C]

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

[B]

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. Ms. Kelly went out surfing, and I could start seeing smoke. And then it's 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 noonish 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 it's like, oh, dude, this is real, you know, very real.

[C]

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.

[B]

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. Turn around and look real quick. How tall is that building? That's like 40ft, 50ft tall, five stories tall.

[C]

Sparks started wafting towards the beach across the street from randy. By the 76 gas station, plants were catching on fire.

[B]

There's like, 15 propane tanks that are endangered, Danger of exploding.

[C]

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

[B]

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

[C]

The fire truck peeled off down the pch away from sunset point.

[B]

There was nobody here, Nobody. Everybody left.

[C]

But Randy was not about to go anywhere.

[B]

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 gonna lose everything.

[C]

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

[B]

As far as fear, nah, I wasn't. 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. It was like 50, 75 probably gusts up to hunsky and it's going narnar and I'm the only dude here. It was pretty gnarly, man. And the flames, I watched them cross pacific coast 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.

[C]

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

[B]

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

[C]

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

[B]

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

[C]

He grabbed two buckets from his truck and filled them up at a spigot behind the 76. He and the stranger began a bucket brigade, putting out the little fires igniting around the 76. Then the stranger left.

[B]

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, okay. And meanwhile, I'm going, what's going on with my truck?

[C]

Randy ran back across the street to check on his truck, and he saw that the back of Gladstone's was on fire.

[B]

That is a wooden structure. And then a yellow fire engine came out of the smoke.

[C]

He waved the fire engine down and

[B]

he busted out his hose and it was under control. So I finally came over here.

[C]

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

[B]

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, it goes on your back for

[C]

the next 12 hours. That's all.

[B]

Randy, did you just look at that palm tree? You see which way the wind was blowing?

[C]

Yeah, I see.

[B]

And the ladder's right there. Go stand on that. Put that fire out real quick.

[C]

He had water access at a speed 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?

[B]

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.

[C]

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

[B]

Rather narnar for a while, touch and go.

[C]

So we kept improvising.

[B]

It got so silly that I was filling up a squirt gun, you know, one of them ones that the little kids use to pump one. Yeah. And I was shooting down the. The embers as it got towards twilight, towards dusk, when I. 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.

[C]

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?

[B]

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. You know, all these houses right here, I'm looking right behind me, all the houses, apartment complexes are gonna.

[A]

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[C]

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 8, 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.

[D]

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. 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. 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.

[C]

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

[D]

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

[C]

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

[D]

I'm thinking, I mean, everything's closed. The Vaughn. I'm almost surprised that the Vaughns didn't burn down. And then I saw Randy out there. So thank God somebody's alive. It's just grim.

[C]

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

[D]

He looked horrendous. You know, he had like this mask line 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's like, oh, my God, Randy, how did you do this? And I sat with him, you know, he comes out with the circle. Yeah, super gnarly and that kind of thing. Yes, beyond gnarly, man. And he goes, how's your place? Because he knew where we lived. And they said, it's gone and everything's gone. And he said, oh, my God. I said, okay, I'm gonna film, I'm gonna make a video of you as a survivor of this thing. One, two, three, you're on.

[B]

Hey, Randy. Randy Wright.

[A]

All right.

[B]

Hey, I'm still here, still jamming, still alive, helping put out fires. I put out about 40 of them yesterday and this morning.

[E]

Anyways, you're wonderful.

[B]

Hey, hey, hey. I'm so sorry that you lost your heart.

[D]

So fucking wonderful, Randy.

[B]

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

[D]

Yeah.

[C]

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.

[D]

Sebastian and I sat there and,

[C]

you

[D]

know, kind of cried and hugged on the beach, watched the waves, listen to the fire behind us.

[B]

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 to.

[C]

Only emergency personnel and first responders were allowed up. The pch.

[B]

Sheriff deputies, LA county sheriff stopped by a few times. Fish and 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.

[C]

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

[B]

I, I just lost a lot of companionship. There was nobody here. It was like being the, the Tom Hanks on 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 footprint. There's only my footprints. I watched the water. The water was so clean the day before the first rain. I could see the eel 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.

[C]

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

[B]

And it was like that for a couple days. It turned 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, started shriveling up, you know, in certain areas, you know, I was like, ah. I got out of the water, 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.

[E]

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.

[C]

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.

[D]

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 where you meet people and you're enjoying 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.

[B]

Nice bottom turn. He's got speed. He's got speed. Oh, that was a nice hit. You must admit. That was a good hit.

[C]

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

[B]

I had, you know, like half 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.

[C]

There was another Randy.

[B]

Yeah, over by Topanga.

[C]

Another surfer close to Randy's age, also named Randy. Randy Miyad died in his home right next to Pacific coast highway, just a few miles up. Twelve people lost their lives in the Palisades fire. At least 31 across LA.

[B]

Am I gonna live and die here at sunset? I'm gonna live and die somewhere in la. I mean, I'm born here and raised here. And if it's at sunset, it's. It going to be at sunset, you know, look at this set coming in. There's some, some really good surf out here, Right.

[A]

A couple of months after we interviewed Randy, Louisiana 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 the whole Sunset Point surf crew and special love to Sonya Geist, 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 Facil and David Exume. 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 with the fees on the fees, what the fees hadn't already canceled out my paycheck. I wish I could have used chime fee free banking. Rated 5 stars by USA Today for customer service. Real humans 24, 7. They even have spot me, 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 snap that's chime.com snap it only takes a few minutes to sign up. Chime is a fintech, not a bank. Banking services for MyPay and Chime card 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, Spot Me and travel perks, go to Chime.com disclosures now. If you're like me, you dig Given your entertainment, your information, your knowledge through sound. You're listening to the Snap podcast right now. 11 Reader is a new award winning audio app for iOS for Android. It's built by ElevenLabs and I had to make my way through some dense material last week. But instead of fretting, I let 11 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 I knew what I was talking about. And that's not all, because 11 Reader brings over 200,000 premium audiobooks and ebooks from top publishers, plus the ability to turn anything you bring PDFs, articles, docs into stunningly natural audio. And right now, 11 Reader has a special offer for Snap Judgment listeners your first two months for only $1. Download the 11 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. Love and Reader promo Code Podcast. Welcome back to Snap Judgment, the All Systems Down Fire and Ice episode. My name is Glenn 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 called him up. I'll let producer Anna Sussman take it from here.

[F]

Hi Roger.

[E]

Hey Anna, how are you doing?

[D]

Good.

[F]

Go ahead and introduce yourself.

[E]

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

[F]

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

[E]

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.

[F]

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.

[E]

We stopped in Tellico 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 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.

[F]

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

[E]

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 or 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 seeing was nowhere to

[F]

be seen because the clouds had rolled in and visibility was close to zero. But what they could see was concerning.

[E]

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 branches of the trees and it started sticking to the grass.

[F]

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.

[E]

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 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 are the instructions? What are we supposed to do. You just can't stay in a freezer.

[F]

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.

[E]

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 gotta hunker down and stay. When you're in a situation like this, you gotta stay put and. And somebody will rescue us. So we decided as a group that we were gonna pack up what gear we had, get dressed. The snow was over three and a half feet deep at this point.

[F]

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

[E]

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 light to try to find our way off this bald. It's interesting. There's no reference, there's no trees, there's no blazes, is. There's no way to know if you're on the right path.

[F]

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

[E]

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. Our legs were sore, the ice, it was sticking in, our mustaches, our hair. It was. 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'd 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 12ft tall.

[F]

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.

[E]

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. We had to make him go. We had to all make ourselves go. Even though it hurt to stand up, we had to continue on this path. We were scared. What would we do if something happened to one of us? There's no way that we could carry anybody out. It was everything we could to make ourselves go. We had to encourage each other, despite the pain, 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, the 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 were on the right path. Now, we may not make it, but we were on the right path. Our friend Bob, he was very impatient and 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 it filled in where he had even walked. Where's Bob? What happened? But the rest of us are within sight of each other. And finally, I remember Phil, my friend Phil said, there's the gap. It's up ahead. And I looked through my fingers. It's like looking through clouds and fog. 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 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 going to turn on, that there'll be any juice left in the battery. But the lights come on and then, and then we're looking at the gas gauge and it's full and we're 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 gonna make it out of here. He puts it in gear and we go about three feet.

[F]

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

[E]

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.

[F]

Waiting it out in the parked bronco as the snow piled higher and higher around them was their only option.

[E]

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.

[F]

Every few hours, they turn on the car engine just for a few minutes to warm up.

[E]

Periodically on the radio, we'd hear. 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

[G]

station, something called thunder, snow, something we're not used to here in the south. In fact, across most of the country,

[E]

what can only be described as a massive storm. We heard about deep snow in Atlanta, Georgia, in Birmingham, and that people were trapped on interstate highways going up the east coast.

[B]

The 1993 storm of the 60s.

[E]

People were stranded in Gatlinburg and couldn't get out.

[B]

Just in from our newsroom. Governor Guy hunt has now proclaimed a state of emergency.

[G]

And this is a storm of historic proportion.

[B]

This will be the storm.

[E]

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 breaths would form on the top of the. The ceiling of the Bronco and it would turn into icicles. The biggest fear that we had, the biggest regret was 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 gotta 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. You know, he said he couldn't be stuck there. 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, stay. You have to stay. You're going to get injured. You're going to get hurt. We gotta 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.

[F]

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.

[E]

I mean, 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 twenties. 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 a spare tire, and we pull this guy into the Bronco, and he's terrified.

[F]

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

[E]

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 groups. And now he smelled pretty bad because he had already been backpacking for a week.

[F]

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

[E]

That night, we had the radio on again. And I remember the, you know, kind of reflecting off the inside of the windshield, the radio light.

[G]

What you would have to do. Again, this is for people listening, perhaps on their car radios, on the FM dial. What you need to do is be very Aware of the tank 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 into the car. You can run the car a few minutes at a time to keep the heat going.

[E]

And we. We heard more devastation out there, but we heard that definitely that the. The US military was called in. Sunday came, and 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 something coming. There's something out there. And it got louder and louder, and so we gotta get out. So we all crawl our way out of this Bronco. And there coming over the horizon is a helicopter. Turns out it's a National Guard helicopter.

[F]

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

[E]

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

[F]

Roger volunteered to trudge out and find the red thing.

[E]

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 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 for a group of guys that were terrified out of their minds that tomorrow was going to happen. And it was magic. It's Monday morning now. The sun is coming up, and. 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 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 looking between our fence at this helicopter. We're looking straight up in the gap, and you see this big red cross sign under it. 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 he said, you're going home. And I said. And he said, now? And I said, what do I do, put my foot on this? And he said, no, your ass, stupid.

[F]

The helicopter couldn't take them all at once. It was already loaded up with other hikers they'd plucked off the mountain.

[E]

Two of us, Bob and I, crawl in this helicopter, and the soldiers aren't talking to us. And there's benches, big benches to carry troops. And there's one backpacker. I can 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 got separated from my guys and turned out this guy had found a hollow tree and crawled inside a hollow tree and lost his friends and sat out the storm and 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 to tell him that your friend is alive and well. I don't think I'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.

[A]

Thank you, Roger Redding, for sharing your story with snap. That piece was edited by Nancy Lopez. The original score was by Dirk Schwartzhoff. It was produced by Anna Sussman. Now, if you missed even a moment of snap's All Systems down series where everything is on the line and help is not on the way, get ye 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 is now available. Subscribe for bonus Snap episodes Special Snap Meetups. More snap. Snap.

[H]

Hey. This is Snap Judgment producer Jon Fasile. 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 has like happened a lot. There is like an insane number of instances of adults going back to high school.

[C]

This mom went back to school, middle

[B]

school, disguised as her 13 year old daughter.

[H]

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 Tregueros, 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.

[I]

You mean when Shawn revealed who she actually was?

[H]

Yes.

[I]

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 grownups 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.

[A]

Snap+ the world of Snap awaits at snapjudgment.org robots and people trying to be robots. Please note that no SNAP Studio's content may be used for training, testing or developing machine learning. Or AI systems without prior written permission. SNAP is brought to you by the team that knows full well to leave firefighting to the professionals. Except for the uber producer, Mr. Mark Christich. He says he can beat back the flames with bottled water. And there's Nancy Lopez, Pat Miller, Anna Sussman, Renzo Gorio, John Facile, Shayna Shealy, Teo Da Cott, Flo Wylie, Bo Walsh, Marissa Dodge on team snap. The union representative, 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 variant, very bad idea. And you would still not be as far away from the news as this is. But this is PRX.