WRFH/Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM - Off the Trails: Would You Rather?

Episode Date: January 26, 2026

Join Nicole Sighiartau and Storm Drexler as they discuss some of their wildest experiences in the great outdoors! This week they discuss some interesting outdoor would you rather questions. ��

You're listening to Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM. Welcome to Off the Trails. I'm Storm Drexler. And I'm Nicole Sagir-Tau, and we'll be your adventure buddies every week as we discuss some of our wildest stories from our outdoor endeavors. Some of our coldest stories, golly gosh, G. Willaker nutcakes. It is cold outside. Today's, like, the coldest day I think I've ever lived in.

Ever? Ever. It is like in the negatives with wind chill. With wind chill, okay, about all day it was between negative 18 to negative 15. I love it when people don't include wind chill. The real temp... That's not the temperature. Okay, you're like Andrew.

The real temp is zero. Right now, I think. I think right now it's literally zero degrees. So think about it this way. Temperature is what degrees it is. When the wind is hitting you, it's changing the temperature. I used to think it was like, oh, this is kind of what it's simulating with the wind. No, the speed the air is moving is actually changing the temperature.

So why give us... Two temperatures? Two temperatures. The real temperature is above zero. No, it's not. The temperature that is touching my body... The feels like? ...is low.

No, the feels like is the real one. That's what I'm saying. And Andrew's like, no, the feels like is for wimpy people. No, the feels like accounts for wind. Yeah. I guess, okay, the one way I could see... This is untrue. The one way I could see them putting both is because you're not always in the wind.

So if you're like, not in a windy spot. You go outside the day, it'll be negative 40 for most of the day. But you know, if you happen to find yourself behind a brick wall under cover, then 10 degrees. So good luck with that. Also, I'm sick. So if you hear me coughing, I apologize. If I'm sick next week, then you know who did it. You're sitting all the way over there.

I am sitting all the way over here. But still. But it's going around. I'm going to sit more over here. Yeah, you should. Keep your distance. It's the sound of me backing out. Uh-huh.

He's moving right now. Yeah, definitely. All right, it's trail marker time, and I guess it's my turn to go first. Mine is not the most exciting thing, but... I went on a walk. Okay, no, so I did go on a little walk. I actually walked from my dorm to Simpson, and it was... There was a nice wind shadow.

Speaking of wind, there was a wind shadow going all the way up the hill to Simpson, and then I get around the surl... What is a wind shadow? where the wind like if there's a building the wind will travel over the building and it'll keep going a little bit before it drops down again Oh like a rock in a river the little area behind the rock. Yeah, yeah. So in sailing we use that terminology a lot. But anyway, I turn the corner around Searle and I am met with like the biggest gust of wind ever. My hair was flying everywhere. I felt like a model but not really because it was in my face. So it wasn't like modelish. But it was 30 degrees. Like that one scene in Singing in the Rain, where she's up on the ladder. I haven't seen that movie. What?

You never seen Singing in the Rain? No. All right. Anyway, continue the story. Anyway, it was 30 degrees on Wednesday, which has, that's really warm compared to what it's been like. So when I tell you, it felt like a summer breeze. And I was like, oh, spring is in the air. And I got a little pep in my step, and then I skipped the rest of the way to Simpson, which wasn't that far.

But that was my trail marker because it was 30 degrees and beautiful. And so negative one million. Yeah, now it's gross. Gross cold. My true marker, I thought about this last week. I was like, I need one. So I decided to count how many times I slipped on ice this week because I noticed I've been doing it a lot.

I slipped on the ice. It was less than I thought I would be. I thought it would be a really funnily, funnily, a really funny, high comical number. Can I guess? Yes. It's not as, it's lower than whatever your first guess is. This week, I slipped on ice three times.

So I'm going to guess you have, you're taller. So you have a higher center. center of gravity. So I'm going to say it's five. Close four. Oh, okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And they were all embarrassing.

Not every single one of them stands one was around other people. And they left to me. I, well, I could have really taken a bad fall this morning because there was a guy walking in front of me. And I watched you over. No, I watched him like almost completely wipe out and eat it. But because of him, I was able to see where the ice was and I was able to step around it. Otherwise, I can guarantee you I would have fallen on my butt because I've fallen in the exact same spot before.

Yeah. Last week, Dr. Pongratzik said that he slipped in them to be able to better. Oh. I was like, listen, if a true Yugoslavian slips on this ice, then I feel okay. You're okay. Yeah. All right. Well, it's time to get to the bulk of the episodes.

Can I just say, yeah. I don't, Nicole usually sends me something about, hey, this is kind of the gist of what we're talking about this week or the theme for like whatever stories we're telling or advice for giving. She's giving me nothing this week. Yeah. I woke up and texted her this morning and I said, hey, what are we talking about tonight? And she said, I don't know. And then just now I walked in and she said, I'm about to surprise you on air. Yep.

So you, the listener, are about to find out at the exact same time as me what she's about to say. So yesterday, I heard a really funny would you rather question. And I remembered that would you rather questions are a thing. So we're doing a would you rather episode Outdoor edition. I love it. I kind of love it too because I Did you come up with some? I do have some.

Some are inspired by chat GPT because I am a busy college student. Of course, of course. Use my resources. Yeah. Not for academics. For extracurricular purposes. And business. And business.

That's true. So some of these are not the most interesting, but I'm hoping. Off the trails does not endorse Open AI, nor do we. Nor do we particularly love the developers behind OpenAI. No. We just recognize the handy news. tool for doing mundane tasks where our brain is better suited elsewhere. Yes.

But as I read some of these, if you can think of any fun months, please chip in and add your would you rather question. So I feel like you would in particular be read. I thought you were talking to the listener and I was like, yeah. And I was like, wait, they can't. No, you storm. Okay, yes. I will.

I will see if I can think of some. You'll help. Okay. The first one, considering the weather I thought was funny. Would you rather spend a week in the Sahara Desert or a week in the archer. circle. Ooh. Ooh. Okay. There's a lot of, there's been, there's been actually a heat, a heat and cold, like, extremes debate recently. And I think it is obviously better to die in the cold than in the heat. But if I'm going to, if I, if, am I, is my survival kind of like,

not guaranteed, but like I probably live? Let's say for the sake of this, you are going to live. If my risk of death is high, I choose the Arctic. If my risk of death is low, I choose the Sahara. Okay. Let me explain. You're going to live. Okay. Then I choose the Sahara.

Okay. I think that I would rather get the fourth degree sunburns and have full dehydration. I guess that's when you just die. But I think that that like will scorch me and I'll be in extreme pain. But dude, being cold sucks. Like being a little bit cold, just a little bit. That's worse than the worst sunburn you can imagine. And you know, if it weren't for the weather,

right now, I think I would pick the Arctic Circle because I hate it when I get too hot. Like, I faint if I overheat. It's bad. Oh, I kind of like that. But today, I walked three minutes outside and got a bad, bad brain freeze. It was like, absolutely not. This is gross. If I have a shelter, if you have a shelter in the Arctic, it doesn't help that much. Maybe against, like, the wind.

But like you get your little packed hole of ice, like a polar bear, you get down in there, you're just cold. Yeah. If you get a shelter in the Sahara, then you get a little bit of relief from the sun. You get a little bit of, you know, like survivability. Yeah, no, I agree. And then you can just tan. You can tan. Yeah.

Storm's turning it into a vacation over here. I'm trying my best. But I just, I don't know if I actually agree with this. I'm just choosing the general, I generally like heat more than cold. If you're in the shade, it can make a big difference. The shade of a coconut tree. Didn't God grow a coconut tree? It's not a coconut or just some sort of tree for Jonah when he was in the desert outside of Nineveh, a palm tree.

Was it a date palm tree? And then Jonah was like, oh my gosh, thank you God. And then he was like, but also God, about these other things, you suck. And God was like, okay, I'm taking away your palm tree and killed his palm tree. I think that's actually in the Bible. I don't remember that, but I take your word for it. And he ther his palm tree. And then he's like, ah.

Wow. Would you rather? Would you rather? sleep in a tent during the middle of a thunderstorm or in a hammock in the middle of a jungle with poisonous snakes. My gut instinct is the thunderstorm for sure. But boy, hammocks are so much comfort here than the tents. I feel like, listen, listen, I feel like you're in far more danger in a jungle than you ever are on a thunderstorm. Yeah.

I don't, I mean, there's some pretty bad thunderstorms, depending on how high up and altitude you are. You're on a ridge. You're on a ridge line above 12,000 feet. Okay, I do take the hammock then. And there's poisonous snakes out there, venomous snakes, all kinds of, all kinds of snakes, other things. You could strangle the snakes? No, but I just feel like if I'm on a hammock, it starts between two trees. Really, the biggest danger to me is like bullet ants.

So I'll take my chances. I think that also if I'm asleep and I'm not like moving and swatting these things, there's a chance a whole line of bullet ants could go across my body. or a snake gets sliver around me, and I'm asleep, so I wouldn't know. I think the real danger is when you're like, whoa, and you swat them, and then they go, and they get you. That was a good sound effect. Yeah.

Nice. Yeah, they go, and then they stick you with their fangs, or the ball dance go, do, do, do, do, do, and sting you. I would choose the ridge, because I've. I was with you until you were on a ridge. You're going to fall off. Oh, not like, okay, you're not going to fall off the ridge. Oh, okay, I just choose the ridge. Storm, my God.

No, like, it's exposed. There's a higher chance of you being struck by lightning, but I am very afraid of. I get sleep on the ridge. Oh. If it's, am I wet the whole time? Yeah, you're going to be. Whereas in the jungle, I'll just like, I don't know,

took all my clothes off and put in the game in a hammock. It's going to be hot, but it's at least there's like a hazy jungle noise around me. I could be like, ooh, kind of like one of those noise machines people have a bit night. Storm's real life noise machine. Yeah. You're listening to Off the Trail. on Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM. Would you rather trails or would you rather off?

I would rather trails. Yeah, me too. Yeah. Would you rather wear a life jacket everywhere you go outside or carry a full-sized picnic basket on every hike? Ooh. Does the picnic basket have food in it? Yes, it's a picnic basket.

Is it like limitless food? No. magic pick? Okay, so it's just, I just filled it with food prior. However much food you have for your hike, you have. Okay, so I don't, it doesn't have to have food in it. I pick the picnic basket because I think that if I don't want extra weight, I'll just, it's just like a two hour to five hour hike and I was like, we'll be back for lunch. I could empty it out.

And that's a pretty light basket that I could just, I don't know. I could probably repurpose it as some sort of hat, maybe. You could like fashion a purse out of it. Like add a leather strap. No, like your cross-potty bag. Oh my gosh. Oh, my gosh. I carry 400 pounds and carry a purse and deeper as I.

Okay, fair enough. I agree. I'm wearing a life fest is kind of embarrassing unless you're on a boat. Even then. Sometimes I'd rather break the law than wear a life fest. If there's a life fest that's like within reach, I don't feel fine. I'm also a very strong swimmer. Once you're 18, you don't have to wear one on a motorized.

No, but you have to have life jackets equal to the amount of people on the boat. Some were stored on the boat. Yeah. Yeah. But if you're sailing, it's different. You do have to wear one. I guess technically if you're over 18, you don't have to. But depending on the boat, you probably want one.

But no, motorized boats, boats, you should be okay. Get your boating license, people. It's easy. I don't have mine, actually. You don't have a reason. Wait, you're like Mrs. Boat. I'm like, I. Mrs. Boat.

Mrs. Boat. Married to the guy who invented boats. Sure. I am, I'm Mrs. Boat who sails not motorized. Oh, you don't need a license to do that? No. Okay, I don't know. Okay.

Would you rather hike a high mountain peak where you're like post-holing through snow or walk up extremely tall sand dunes? Well, I've done one of the things. It sucked. But, high mountain peak cold, but view good. Yeah, because the sand dunes, you're not necessarily guaranteed a good view. I like the peak. I like peaks.

That's a good one. I agree. Beaks are peak. Having also, you know, post-hold through snow for a while. Post-hold? Am I understanding that correctly? What does that mean? The snow's deep, but it's not like packed down.

So when you step your foot down, your foot sinks in until it finally hits, like, the bottom or the compacted part of the snow. So if you're on a glacier, you're not post-hauling because, you know, Ice. Ice. Yeah, ice. But if it's fluffy snow and you're like stepping powder, then you're going to sink in. I feel like that sucks a little bit. But I think I'd thug it out, you know, for the view, for the real ones.

For the view? For the gram. Sure. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Would you rather have the ability to talk to animals or control the weather while you're in the outdoors? Is this even a question? Listen. I don't know.

Listen. I have to stay on brand here. I think talking animals. Very cool. But Storm. But I'm weather guy. You are weather guy. I would become the X-Men character.

This would be awesome. Except I wouldn't be a female and I wouldn't be African-American. I haven't seen the movie, so I don't know. No, but I could have awesome weather powers. People could be like, I'd be like, hi, I'm Storm. And then all of a sudden lightning strikes them. That's really sad. And they die and I'm like, and I'm like, ah, ha.

No, I wouldn't be a super villain. I would use my powers for good. For good? You would get rid of, like, hurricanes? If I could talk to animals, they would probably tell me horrific secrets about the universe that I don't want to know. They would probably tell you, Storm, be quiet. You talk too much. They probably would.

Squirrels would have a lot to say. Squirrels probably run the world's governments. Probably. No. Or like birds. Oh, no. Birds are all mean. You know right.

You know birds are just terrible. Unless if they're like the cute little ones. No, they're plotting against you. If things have wings and things can fly, they automatically get. a superiority complex. Okay. Now, this one's really difficult for me, actually, because I don't know. Because controlling the weather while you're outdoors is amazing.

If you're going on a ski trip and there's no snow, bam, you make it snow a foot the day beforehand and then you have powder. I don't think you're properly thinking about the scope of this power. Oh, my ski trip, I can save it. You could radically fundamentally alter the geo-biose system. of the planet. Yeah. You can with a snap of your fingers,

produce productivity in the agriculture sector by 5 million percent. Okay, no, no, no. It's not controlled weather at any point in time. It's while you're outdoors. Okay, you could do what I just said after you step one foot out to your front door. But also, I kind of want to talk to my dog. That's incredible. Incredible.

You know what? Yeah. I bet your dog has something really, really nice to say. While the poor farmers have been in a 10-year drought and you can give them rain. Don't make this like a political thing. It's supposed to be lighthearted and fun. Okay, no, you're right. Your dog wants you to choose the weather.

No, I would take the weather because it is a safety thing. Because it's a safety thing. If it starts raining and it gets slippery, I'll make you stop. I'm over here like, I will take over the planet. No, but seriously. I bet you $100. It's going to rain in 10 seconds. If you're in the mountains and afternoon thunderstorm showers rolling and you're on a mountain ridge,

be like, oh, well, let's just stop the... Oh, yeah. Then you could camp peacefully on that mountain ridge instead of having to hammock with the poisonous snakes. Exactly. But hang on. You could talk to the snakes and you could befriend them. Wait, hold on. I don't know if just communication doesn't imply friendliness.

Like, if I could talk to the animals, I look at the tiger in the jungle and I say, hey man please don't eat me and he's like dude i'm really sorry but this is my biological primary function is predatory you're going to die here yeah okay this one's a really fun one would you would you rather would you rather would you rather whitewater raft the grand canyon or be able to climb el capitan like up the face oh be able to yeah that one that one Water rafing, Whitewater rafting, the Grand Canyon is a great experience. But the ability to climb El Capitan and then do it,

I think, unlock other things too. Like, I feel like I could climb almost anywhere now. Well, that's, that skill is limited to that singular. Like, you step on to El Cap and you're like, I can do it. I'll free, I'd free solo it. And everybody'd be like, whoa. He's the new Alex Honnold or whatever's name is. Oh, yeah.

Is that the one that the movie free solo? Yes. Have you watched that? I have seen the movie. Okay. The movie's good. The movie is good. Although he's kind of a jerk.

He's kind of a jerk. Well, of course you'd say that. I think that he's fine. He's following his dreams. His freaking girlfriend or fiancee or whatever, she leaves him because she's like, I can't bear it. Listen, at least wait to see if he lives or not. Storm, you know, it's so funny.

She's like, you're going to put yourself in danger. We had this conversation. We had this conversation right when we started the podcast. And I was on your side where I was like, she's annoying. And now you're engaged. And now I'm engaged, but also. the other thing is Andrew and I watched it together like a few months ago and afterwards we were like he's a horrible person really yes I seem to remember him being a little fanatically focused on climbing it like it's like all he's like it's all I can think about is climbing the free soloing this mountain like he's he's cool and he's talented but we're like his morality on something is a little iffy his morality is if he You watched the free solo movie, the rock climbing movie like, dude, the pro rock climber, kind of not nice.

Yeah. That's a great takeaway. A little bit. But I still want that one. Okay. Yeah, I agree. With the money I make off of making a movie about me free soloing El Capitana and my girlfriend leaving me, with that money I make, I can go and whitewater wrap the Grand Canyon later in life. You could do the Grand Canyon.

like several times. I wouldn't want to. I'd want to save the rest of the money to save up for Storm Superpowers. Oh, okay. Yeah. Not donate it to charity? Nope.

Not a cent. Got it. Storm, I'm out of questions. Well, I have one for you. Okay. I didn't have one for you. I just said that. Would you rather?

I like the jungle one. I like the animal seam. I like thinking about ones that might have helped you later. Okay. So I'm going to say, would you rather for a year

you have to camp every night moving to a different place you're basically homeless but you get to choose all the places like you get to like teleport to the next place but it's a year of camping or backpack for a year but you get to sleep in your bed every night

oh that's so easy backpack for a year what I thought you liked the camping part no sleeping in a tent okay sleeping in a tent is fine sleeping in tent is fine, but setting and taking down a tent is so annoying. Basically, every night you can spawn at a campsite at a cool place and then you sleep there and you have dinner there and you have breakfast there and then you go back home.

Or it's like you get that half of the experience. Or every day you get out of bed, you walk at the front door, you're on the trail. You walk the trail the whole day and just when you're getting to camp, you're back home. Backpacking all day. I disagree. No, because there's nothing better than falling asleep in your. bed after you're exhausted from backpacking. Every day?

Laying on, oh my gosh, yes, I love backpacking. Laying on a real mattress. That's it on the trails take. After being, like, physically exhausted is wonderful. Like, the sleep I got after my marathon was on a different level. Yeah. It's so good. I would, for sure, which is the campsite, I would love to be like, I've had my day,

I've done the things I want to do. Bang, I'm in Tahiti and I'm looking at, I'm on the cliffs of Ireland or something. Cliffs of Ireland. That is cool, but I would still backpack every day and then fall asleep in my, because you've warm bed and not on the ground. All right, any other thoughts? So many. So many. Well, you're going to have to wait until next week because we're far over time. Oh, shoot. It's okay. Thank you for listening to Off the Trails on Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM. We hope you have a great week and make time to go outside and enjoy the great outdoors. We'll see you out there. Happy trails.

High hole. Bye guys. Thanks.