this post was submitted on 31 Aug 2023
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Is this a joke or is this actually a thing in the US?
Hahahaha no really the US is just a nightmare in ways you havent even thought of, yet.
It’s a U.S. thing! Yay! You can buy insurance for it if you do a lot of backpacking but that’s rare. I believe it’s in the five figures for a rescue. But apparently occasionally it can be free if you’re lucky enough to get rescued by the one agency whose name I forget.
MIB?
Unfortunately they only come if you need to be rescued from aliens.
A childhood friend of mine had to sign a waiver in New Zealand because her and her team were climbing down some canyon notoriously hard to get to except by rescue helicopter. She got stuck, and the rest of the team went to go get help. She paid $58,000 in 1990s money for the rescue. So it's not just the US.
It depends on the state and payment is more likely required if local officials deem you negligent or if youʼre a part of a common pattern in that location (e.g. Floridians visiting southern Utah every winter and getting themselves stuck in cliffs).
States with laws allowing search and rescuers to charge for rescuing them, according to this 2021-10-06 New York Times article titled “You Got Lost and Had to Be Rescued. Should You Pay?”:
God help you if your rescuers call you an air ambulance, though.