Men: Quicksaaand!
Man: Oh sh**.
Brew: Quicksand!
It’s quick!
It’s...
sand!
It’s the classic killer of movie
villains since time immemorial.
But is quicksand really the ruthless
killer that Hollywood makes it out to be?
Or is it just another anti-climactic
curiosity blown up by big budget blockbusters?
A young man found out the truth the hard way
when he found himself mired in a mountain
of muck on a hike with his friends in 2011.
Only after calling a helicopter rescue, did he find
out just how dangerous this phenomenon really is.
Today’s episode concerns outdoor safety.
Always tell someone when and where you’re going
if you ever venture out into the wilderness.
We're not experts on the matter,
and frankly I never go outside.
So if you have more questions regarding
quicksand or other potentially dangerous
natural phenomena, please consult an expert.
And with that out of the way,
Let’s get into it!
Rob Tesar, 25, was out on a hike at noon with his friends
from the National Outdoor Leadership School at the end
of November, when his path was obstructed by a cliff
running flush with the river they had been following.
The spot they had planned to meet their
instructors was just beyond this section.
They spotted a raised bank that looked to be mostly
mud and sand, so Tesar volunteered to go first.
At first glance, the bank appeared to be solid,
but as Tesar and another student began to cross,
their mistake became more and more obvious.
Once the duo realized that they were sinking, they tried to
turn around, but as Tesar turned back, he sank even deeper.
The other students on shore got to work immediately
setting up a line across the mud bank that the
two boys could grab to pull themselves out..
Luckily for the other boy, he managed to slip
out of his shoes and pull himself to safety, but
unfortunately Tesar was stuck firm up to his waist.
It was a brisk 15°C (59°F), so Tesar’s
submerged extremities were quickly going numb.
He was careful up until this moment to not get
wet, but as he struggled he sank further, and the
agitated mud left an inch or two (~2.5-5 cm) of water around him.
He and his companions considered calling for
help, but quote, “It was a weird conversation
because the situation didn’t seem super serious.”.
The sun was setting and the temperature continued to drop, so
it seemed like he was going to be stuck there past nightfall.
His companions, fearing hypothermia, passed him his heavy
clothes in a garbage bag to make sure none of it got wet.
They then built him a raft out of thermal mattresses so
he could lie down to sleep without drowning, and activated
his Personal Locator Beacon to call for professional help.
About four hours later at 8pm, emergency services arrived.
Tesar says of the moment he heard the helicopter
that “When I led canoe trips in Canada, a
helicopter was something I never wanted to hear.
It made me worry” but now, it was
“the best sound he’d ever heard”.
Unfortunately, the helicopter couldn’t land close
enough to Tesar for him to attach himself to the skid,
so the pilot descended as low as possible above Tesar.
Tesar then gripped it as hard as he was able
to, he said later that “he wanted so badly
to be pulled out that he held on tight.
his body had never been pulled on in
such a way, but he didn’t let go”.
After three attempts to pull him free, Tesar says
that they yanked him in a strange way, and he felt
his spine go—and I quote—“pop, pop, pop, pop”.
Demon Boar'Daum: Which is the same noise
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Now, back to the episode.
Unfortunately, not everyone who gets caught in
quicksand is able to call a helicopter rescue.
In 1997, two Chicago teenagers set out after school
to do a little fishing as they often would, but
according to their parents, they didn’t come back home.
Around 8pm on April 30th, their mothers
reported their disappearance to the police,
but officials didn’t think anything of it.
They just assumed the two boys had run away.
Three days later, a family friend found the two boys’
lifeless bodies, submerged in mud and sand at the edge
of an excavation site nearby close to where they fished.
The spot seemed innocuous enough,
just a 4-6 foot (1.2-1.8 m) patch of mud
with a couple feet (60cm) of water.
Emergency services however, soon discovered that
even people from the rescue team began sinking in
the mud and required help to extract themselves.
They needed the pool of water to be drained
and a backhoe brought in to dig up the bodies.
The stepfather of one of the boys said that "The police
told us there were claw and scratch marks in the sand".
In the end, the police coroner determined that
the two boys died of exposure and drowning.
These boys suffered a terrible fate.
How can we make sure that we know
how to escape in these situations?
If movies are to be trusted, then
quicksand is nothing but a death trap.
How many scenes can you conjure up where some villain
descends slowly under the ground, never to be seen again?
Grill: Well there’s that scene
from the bad Indiana Jones movie.
Chill: Or the Princess Bride!
Brew: Exactly!
The point is that quicksand has been a
go-to booby trap in Hollywood for years,
but quicksand, first off, isn’t always sand.
It can be composed of any sort of grainy
material, like clay, or silt with water.
Usually the friction between grains allow
sand to hold up to an immense amount of
pressure, something called a “force chain”.
Basically, each individual grain of sand presses up
against each other grain, spreading out the force
across the entire surface, locking them all together.
It works similarly to the board game “Don’t Break the Ice”.
Where, a bunch of white cubes are wedged
tightly into a board, holding up an ice skater.
The pieces are wedged such that the pressure they
exert against each other and the edge of the tray,
counteracts any pressure that gravity exerts on them.
Each grain of sand, as it’s compressed,
wedges itself against the other grains.
However, when there is sufficient moisture, the grains
of sand no longer sit next to each other, but float
in water - creating a liquid instead of a solid base.
It’s like cornstarch and water.
It can look solid at first step, but it’ll
quickly turn to liquid and suck you in.
Unlike in films, real quicksand isn’t usually deeper than
a few feet, so being completely submerged and drowning
isn’t the most scary thing about this phenomenon.
The real fear is exhaustion, and being trapped
in the elements for long periods of time.
If you exhaust yourself trying to
escape, you might pass out and drown.
If it’s cold, you’re in danger of developing hypothermia.
If it’s hot, you’re in danger of dehydration and heat stroke.
But if you did find yourself stuck
in quicksand, how could you escape?
The worst thing you can do is struggle and thrash around.
Moving violently will not only settle the mud around
you, turning it into a concrete slurry, but it will
also create pockets of suction where your body moves.
The best thing you can do is use slow deliberate
movements to bring yourself to the surface,
then try to lay back as much as you can.
I do have some good news for everyone at home though.
Even if a pool of quicksand was deep enough for one to
descend below their head, they’d still only be in as
much danger as if they were stuck up to their knees.
Grill: Oh yeah, that’s helpful advice, Brew.
Brew: The reason for that is because the
human body is less dense than quicksand.
The human body is mostly water,
and it’s about 62.4 pounds per cubic foot (999.5 kg/m3)
but quicksand is about 125 pounds per cubic foot (2002.2 kg/m3)
We float on water if we want to.
So we’d float even better on a denser substance.
It will also help you if you spread out your
body’s surface area as much as possible.
It’s kinda like lying back on a bed of snow.
If you stand, all your weight is on two points, the bottoms
of your feet, and they act like nails driving you down.
If you lie back though, all your weight is distributed across
your entire body and the snow is better able to hold you up.
To make sure you never get yourself into one
of these sticky situations, keep an eye out for
low lying muddy areas with grainy soil, like riverbanks,
beaches, marshland, and places with underground springs
as these are the ones prone to developing quicksand.
It’s also a good idea to consider bringing a walking
stick, not only to check if a patch of land is safe
to stand on, but you can also slide your walking stick
along the length of your leg to create an air pocket
counteracting that vacuum we talked about earlier.
Chill: Wait Brew, you forgot to finish that story from before!
Brew: Ah yes, Tesar had just been yanked by a
helicopter, his spine cracking like a bag of popcorn.
He shot them the “no go” sign, and heard the pilot say,
“If I try this anymore, I’m going to rip this kid in half”.
The helicopter left soon after, and returned at around
9:30 with another batch of medics who approached
Tesar in rafts — a total of 10 first responders.
One in each boat dug with shovels, while the others held
back more mud and sand from falling back into the hole.
Three agonizing hours later, Tesar’s leg finally came loose.
Rescuers tugged Tesar out of the mud, and into the raft.
After 12 hours of being trapped in a muddy prison, he was
flown to the hospital where he was treated for hypothermia.
Quicksand is dangerous, but only as dangerous
as your knowledge of how to get out of it.
If you’re going out into the wild, it’s paramount that you
have plenty of fresh water, and tell people where you’re going
and when you’re planning to come back so that if anything
happens when you’re out on the trail, people will know that
something has happened to you, and where to look for you.
This isn’t just advice for when you get stuck in
quicksand, but for staying safe outdoors generally.
Safety measures may change though,
depending on where you live.
If you want to know more, checking in with local authorities
will give you the knowledge you need to stay safe.
Stay safe, watch your step, or else you
won’t have a leg to quick “stand” on.