Main image: A Recco demonstration getting off the ground | Credit: M Creative Studio / Helly Hansen
For me, though, of all the Helly Hansen kit and innovations I’ve tested, the partnership with RECCO offers the greatest peace of mind when I go outdoors. And the next day, I’d get firsthand experience of why Helly Hansen gear with in-built RECCO is worn and trusted by more than 55,000 professionals.
First, we met new friends from Røde Kors (the Norwegian Red Cross, Norway’s largest volunteer disaster preparedness organisation) and Norsk Folkehjelp (or Norwegian People’s Aid, an important player in the Norwegian rescue service with 2,000 volunteers on standby across multiple regions).
As we’d already seen on our own small jaunt up high, the sheer scale of Norwegian mountains gives the rescue services terrain- and condition-specific call-outs, often to avalanche situations. Numbers of call-outs are generally trending upwards each year, they told me, with 78 call-outs in 2025 and 75 the year before. The time is takes to reach people in need can be long in these environs so teaching widespread mountain preparedness – and having the right kit to help you stay alive should an incident occur – is at the top of the priority list.
Between talks of gallows humour and what the volunteers get out of giving back to society with this vital work, a drone demonstration of thermal imaging gave us insight into the cutting-edge tech used to help those in need. We took part in an on-foot mock rescue through the low forested area by camp as well as some CPR training and I was, once again, overwhelmed to contemplate of the physical and mental strength (not to mention selflessness) rescue service volunteers show each time they are called out. I was wiped by the time we were sent on our way to a secret location for yet another ‘first’.
Pulling up to the parked helicopter was like pulling up to see a real life rockstar – which is perhaps fitting as finding a RECCO receptor in the wilderness was described to me as “like finding an ant walking through a Metallica concert”. And yet, that was our task for the day.
You may or may not have come across RECCO, originally designed out of tragedy as a complementary avalanche rescue tool. Nowadays, the tiny, lightweight reflectors are increasingly being sewn into outdoor kit geared towards hikers and trail runners. Perhaps thanks to Helly Hansen’s ski heritage, RECCO is a good fit for the brand. Now used at more than 900 ski resorts and by mountain rescue teams worldwide, any RECCO reflector embedded in your gear can be located by professional rescuers using an accompanying detector.
Our detector hung from the helicopter like a great beacon of hope as we took off and away over (yet another!) fjord and into the snow-capped hills. A reflector had been hidden among dense vegetation and we followed a map grid reference to the point our target – a mock rescue situation – was last seen. Within minutes of hovering hundreds of metres above the ground, the detector began to beep. We peered at the land far below, the power of our eyes paling into comparison to the tech. Mission accomplished and the seemingly impossible achieved – and all thanks to a minute reflector built into your jacket or your pack. Just remember to make sure someone other than yourself knows that you have RECCO and are searchable!
As I chatted away with the new friends made on this Norwegian trip-of-a-lifetime, we naturally started to share our trail injury horror stories. There was a handful of broken bones among us, torn ligaments, shoulders popped and put back into place on ski slopes, and even a member of the Clavical Club, an informal collective of mountain bikers who’ve broken the titular bone. Kinesiology tape poked out from under the hem of shorts and anti-inflammatory pills were popped post-hike by more than one of us. It struck me that we were all bonded, fast friends, because we love to be outdoors. But that shared enthusiasm is also balanced out by more than a dollop of risk.
We don’t like to think of the worst happening when we’re soaking in a peaceful mountain environment. But I was surrounded by skilled, sensible people with adventure in their very core. It can happen to anyone and you never know when you might need the help of mountain rescue volunteers. Happily, with protective kit, a commitment to learning new skills, and a humble approach to these extreme environments, the risk can be mitigated to some degree and the mountains may well open up to us in ways we never imagined, gifting opportunities for ‘firsts’ with every new adventure.
