Welcome to the sports playbook where we discuss solutions to issues that impact sports. I'm your host, Angela Hazelett. Today's guest is Guy DeBron, a guide for Blue Ridge Mountain Guides. Today we are going to discuss rock climbing safety, conquering the heights. Guy, thank you for joining us today on the sports playbook. Thanks, Angela, happy to be here. I want to hear all about your rock climbing experience. So start us back when you first got involved with the sport and what led you to where you are today. Yeah, so my father worked at Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg, Virginia, and they offered a rock climbing class through their physical education department. And I was home for a summer and I took the class as a summer couple credit course as an introduction. And so I was introduced starting with some indoor climbing and learning the ins and outs of how to tie the knots and et cetera. And then we went out on several different outdoor climbs as part of that course culminating in an opportunity to climb at Seneca Rocks in West Virginia. So my introduction was a credit course through a summer class. And then I got really interested from there and started traveling to climb throughout the Northeast. And how old were you when you first started? So I must have been around 20, I guess this was before the summer before my senior year of college. And and so I haven't looked back from that lots of recreational climbing throughout the Northeast and various other countries, but also an opportunity to do some training with the American Mountain Guides Association. So some formal training in addition to sort of the more traditional informal mentorship with with another more experienced climber. Tell me a little bit about the training that you've gone through to become credentialed to lead and guide others in rock climbing. Yeah, so the guiding industry in the United States is interesting. It's not as regulated or as sort of ingrained in the culture as it is in Europe. France, for example, but we it is emerging in the United States. And so I started with taking a course in Joshua Tree National Park a couple hours from Los Angeles over a spring break called at the time called the top rope site manager course. So that was designed for institutional type guiding like what I was doing in my career at the time. I did 18 years of managing campus recreation outdoor programs. And so that included overseeing climbing walls as well as training students to lead their peers on rock climbing trips. And so when we talk about top roping, we're talking about a situation where the, the belayer is on the ground and the anchor has been set up at the top of the cliff and the run rope runs back down to the ground. And so everybody's at the same place as far as starting on the ground climbing up and then lowering. So that course was designed to teach all the inside, all the ins and outs of building anchors. And when I say anchors, that's securing the rope to the rock and all the techniques around around top rope climbing that course is now known as the single pitch instructor course because now it includes starting from the ground and leading up. And building an anchor at the top and bringing someone up to you, perhaps. And then I went on and did the rock instructor course, which was. I want to say that was at least the 8 or 12 day course and that was designed for more, what we call multi pitch terrain. So in other words. Now we're climbing higher than 1 rope length above the ground and so it's a lot more technical. So those are the 2 courses that I took. Would you say that the top rope or the single pitch is kind of the typical pathway that a lot of people kind of start with rock climbing? Or is there another entry way that's more common? You know, now climbing gyms have become, you know, sort of the way to get introduced to the sport and it's good and bad. People get strong. And, you know, and they can learn some good things, but it's also such a different. So it's a very different experience from climbing outdoors and some of the hazards and. And things we think about from a risk management perspective when we're climbing outdoors are just not there indoors. For example, you know, loose rock, right? It's extremely rare for a climbing hold to break or come off. And so. There has, I think there has been challenges associated with so many people coming into the sport in a very controlled indoor environment. And making it more difficult for them to transition outdoors where, you know. I'm going to guess now it must be. 40 years ago that, you know, before the climbing gyms really got going, everyone went through a mentorship with a more experienced partner in the outdoors. And so there's just a little bit of a difficulty in transition. And then the second thing I would say to your question is most people probably get into, yeah, top rope climbing, but even more common is what is known as sport climbing. And that's where you see bolts either on the indoor climbing wall or out on the rock that are drilled into the rock. And so as you progress, you clip what's known as a quick draw, which is 2 carabiners to that bolt and then clip your rope through that. Until you progress to the top, it's usually single pitch. So, in other words, you come up to the top, clip anchors, and then you're able to lower down with a rope. Most ropes are around 60 meters, which is 200 feet, right? So we're talking about 100 foot max climbs. And that's the sort of gateway is climbing in gyms or climbing. And that's where people start generally. But that is really interesting. And I believe sport climbing is sport climbing is actually now an Olympic sport. So it's going to expose even more people or make more people, give more people a pathway to participate in that particular sport. And so the sport climbing, someone would have to go through and kind of make those bolts, they'd have to install those bolts in advance for someone to participate. Is that correct? That's correct. The 1st ascensionist, and it's a lot of work, establishes the route by drilling holes to insert the bolts. And so, yeah, and it emerged out of Europe in the 80s. It was very controversial in the United States. Because of a damaging the environment, is that what you're concerned? It does, but the thing is that sport climbs are established in rock that cannot be climbed in any other way. So in other words, there's not enough cracks to take natural climbing equipment, which we call traditional climbing or trad climbing, which is a cleaner form of climbing. But the type of rock that sport climbs are established on cannot be protected naturally. And so there was a lot of controversy that the ethic in the United States out of Yosemite was the traditional climbing ethic where you started at the ground and you protected by putting different equipment into cracks and went on. So it was very controversial for a while, but that controversy was pretty short lived. Now sport climbing is widely accepted across the country. And so, yeah, those are, we talked earlier about the disciplines, right? So traditional climbing and sport climbing are two sub disciplines of rock climbing. And as you mentioned, the Olympics has bouldering, lead climbing, which is sport climbing, clipping bolts as you go, and then speed climbing. And it was somewhat controversial in that for the Olympic format, you climb all three of those. But in the World Cup circuit, people specialize in one of those three. Yeah, that makes sense. I would imagine you'd have to have, you know, strengthen or power or speed or, you know, you don't necessarily have all those capabilities and it probably takes it a very different skill set. So that's interesting. Tell us more about the differences. There's a wide variety of different climbing components or disciplines. So you mentioned a few of those, but there's also a few others like mountaineering ice climbing. Can you tell us a little bit more about the differences between those disciplines? Yeah. So let's start with bouldering, right? So bouldering is unroped climbing at generally low heights. Now, boulders have really pushed that. And there's a fine line between what we call free soloing and bouldering, right? And so free soloing was obviously made very popular by the movie Free Solo, Alex Honnold's movie. So bouldering is unroped climbing using pads and generally it's in the 12 to 15 foot range, but people do push that higher. So that's bouldering. Then we go into top rope climbing. And again, that's where there's an anchor at the top where the rope runs up through the anchor back down to the climber, but everybody's on the ground. Then you move to sport climbing where you're clipping the bolts as you progress up, which is as risk because you will fall further than you would on a top rope, right? And then we go to traditional climbing, which is protecting the rock with various metal devices and camming devices that you can put into cracks. Again, upping the risk a little bit because now you have to have the knowledge to place that equipment properly that it's going to hold if you fall. Then we'll add, let's see, ice climbing, right? Ice climbing can be done via top rope or you could lead. And then when you put all of those disciplines together to ascend big mountains, we get into what we call mountaineering. And so mountaineering is moving over snow, rock or ice or combinations of those things to get into the big mountains. And so rock climbing initially was sort of actually just kind of considered a training for mountaineering. But it evolved into its own discipline. I guess the only other thing I would mention is alpine rock climbing, which is when you're far away from a trailhead and you have to hike in many miles to do a multi-pitch climb in a remote environment. That's kind of an overview of the sub-disciplines. Definitely a lot of variety and opportunity. I'm sure the terrain, the geographic terrain obviously will dictate what's required for which discipline is going to be appropriate. I want to go back to something you said earlier. You were talking about a lot of people are getting their start now in rock climbing gyms. Tell me a little bit about, dive into that a little bit deeper about the distinction between being in a gym. You said it's kind of this controlled environment versus being outdoors in a natural environment. What are the distinctions that you see that maybe people aren't acquiring those skills in an indoor gym that they might need for an outdoor location? Well, some climbing gyms, a couple of examples, the type of device that they use for what we call belaying, which is essentially holding the rope and stopping off the wall, they'll use an auto-blocking device like what's called a gregory. And so climbers from gyms are only familiar with a device that is called, it's actually an assisted braking device. So in other words, if you were to let go of it, it's going to, it's most likely going to stop the climber. And so climbing gyms tend to favor assisted braking devices for obvious reasons. It reduces the risk, but they're not always practical in an outdoor setting. So now a climber may not have experience with having to completely arrest the fall with their own hands using something like a slot belay device, for example, like an ATC. So there's one example. Another example is sometimes climbing gyms will have you clip in with carabiners instead of tying your own knot. So people don't get that repetitive experience in how to tie in properly. And then you just remove lots of hazards, right?  So all of these hazards that are very common in outdoor environment have been removed from the indoor environment. And so it can make it a little more challenging for people to conduct themselves in a safe manner when they enter that less controlled environment. I imagine like being outdoors, for example, if it's cold out, your fingers might kind of cramp up and making it harder to grip and move. Some of those challenges. In addition to kind of weather and these other natural type of creatures you might encounter or rocks breaking, what are some of the other challenges that you may face in climbing outdoors versus climbing indoors? Well, so another example would be the length of the route. Okay, so you know 100% that in a climbing gym, the rope length is appropriate to the length of the route, right? But let's say you go outside and you don't think through that and you have, let's say, a 50 meter rope, right? But the climb, you know, which is, you know, it's fine on the way up. But then when you start lowering, you need to make sure that if that climb exceeds 50 meters. And so a common accident in sport climbing is people go outside, they climb to the top. And then as they lower, they don't realize that the climb is actually longer than the rope. And so if you haven't tied a knot in the end of your rope, it can go flying right through the blade of ice and somebody could get dropped, right? So, you know, that variation in route length is something that you don't see in the gym as much because you know exactly how tall that climbing wall is. And so that's one example. That's really interesting. And when you lead groups outdoors, how many people do you take at a time? Is there kind of a limit to control and make the environment safer? Yeah, there's definitely standards within the field and industry, you know, in the collegiate recreation field, which I've worked in for 18 years, we worked with bigger groups and usually like a 5 to 1 ratio. So we might have 2 staff and 10 participants out at, say, a top rope crag. In my role with Blue Ridge Mountain Guides, I've worked with much smaller groups generally. Guiding tends to be 1 to 1, 2 to 1, maybe 3 to 1, especially in multi-pitch terrain. I rarely would have more than 2 clients, say at Seneca Rocks, where I'm taking people up multiple rope lengths. So that's kind of how that works. Okay. Yeah. And I imagine it's more personalized experience. You can kind of keep a better eye on that. Make sure it's a safer experience for everyone. Talk to me. As you up the risk, you have to, the ratio, the client to guide ratio has to decrease. Yeah, I imagine distractions probably play into that too. The more people there are there, the more distractions there are. Do you have like a no cell phone policy when people are on trips like that? Well, we actually will take snap photos with cell phones, but certainly not while actively climbing or or playing. But no, we don't have a specific policy on that. We kind of have other ways of mitigating those risks. The hands are occupied, right? So they're going to be busy with that. What about people with disabilities? How do you make accommodations for people that either aren't able to use all their limbs or have missing limbs or other kind of physical disabilities? And then maybe you can touch a little bit on intellectual disabilities and is there ways to accommodate them as well in the sport? Yeah. So there's 2 well known climbers. 1 is Mark Wellman. Mark Wellman, I believe is a quadriplegic, didn't have the use of his legs. And he's devised some techniques where essentially it's using somebody would lead up and then fix the rope so that he could climb with some devices, essentially doing a bunch of pull ups, which is quite impressive on the rope itself. And there's a variety of adaptive technologies that have been employed in climbing gems to allow people to climb up the rope and get that same experience as somebody who can who can climb in a more traditional manner. And different programs have specialized in adaptive climbing. And then Eric Wayne, Wayne Amar is a visually impaired climber. He's climbed Everest. And so again, sort of it's sort of the equipment isn't as adapted for somebody with visual impairments, but certainly the the ratio of the guiding and communication that takes place is different. So there is a there is adaptive climbing. It's definitely a thing and a lot of university programs have incorporated it into their programs. You mentioned communication and that's really key between the guide and the person who's climbing or the participant that you're escorting. Talk to me about that because some of these participants are probably learning new vocabulary related to the sport. They may become fearful or they may not understand commands that are given to them. How do you manage the communication piece these challenges? Yeah, thankfully, there's a fairly standard protocol with maybe some slight variations that that's taught to every climber. And so making sure people understand that is is really critical. Another really kind of common mistake is miscommunication, especially within the sport climbing realm, people will get to the top of the climb and then it's unclear what they're going to go on to the anchor and then repel down or what they're going to get lowered, right? So one of the one really important pieces before you leave the ground with your partner, whether it's a guide or just a recreational environment, be clear on what you're doing. Like, okay, I'm going to go to the top. I'm going to thread the rope the anchor and you're going to lower me and don't ever take me off the lay, right? Or you can take me off the lay. I'll pull the rope up and I'm going to repel just that kind of simple agreement about what's going to happen when you're 100 feet up in the air is really important. And then, you know, we use a very standard procedure where it's on the lay, right? That means, okay, I've got you now climbing, climb on. And that basically is a contract then like that you're going to keep your hand on that rope until I say off the lay. And so, yeah, making sure everybody understands the commands we're using and before we leave the ground. And then in a multi-pitch environment, I'll explain and because what's happened sometimes is you get around a corner and the wind picks up and you can't hear and it's really frustrating. Some people use like communication devices like walkie-talkies, but what I do is rope signals and I make it very clear to my partner or client if you feel me tugging three times in a row extremely hard on the rope, that means that you are you can take me off the lay. And so those are some of the techniques that we use. That's great to have a kind of a nonverbal cues if the the environment doesn't allow you to communicate verbally. And there's been an increase of people in the sport since COVID has happened and more people pursuing outdoor activity and many who don't have the experience or safety training in mind.  And if you have what what have you done if anything in that situation? Yeah, that that's a delicate situation because you see stuff sometimes that maybe is just like not good technique or sort of misapplication of a technique but not necessarily immediately dangerous. And so you know you don't want there's you don't want to create some environment where people don't feel welcome and included in the sport, but at the same time there are times when if you don't speak up it could it could result in a really bad accident, right? I'll give you an example. I was at the New River Gorge guiding a couple weeks ago and that's um very popular and I was surprised at how many people were out with their little kid little very little kids like babies, which is great but that they don't make helmets for kids that small and let's like Rockfall is not uncommon or or something being dropped and I I shudder to think about like a little baby getting hit in the head with something you know without a helmet and so there's like that area where you don't want to like be like well, you know get out of here like want people to be out enjoying the sport with their families, but there's also maybe a lack of awareness of some of the potential issues. Yeah, and so just to be clear the babies are not Scaling the rock face, but they are just on the ground with their parent one of their parents hanging out with the kid and the the hardest part too is sometimes you see like The partners belaying each other and then so no one can actively be with the with the little baby and so um Yeah, just but it's it's something that in nine out of ten times is probably going to be fine, but it has um There's that possibility right and here. I know you're familiar with the idea of like Frequency versus severity right like how frequently do it does an accident occur and how severe when it does occur You know the frequency is probably pretty low there, but the severity is potentially high Right, right. Yeah, so that It may not happen that often, but the type of injury could be really devastating So that's a really um interesting interesting point. So lots of climbers out there Do you think there's areas that are getting overcrowded overused that's maybe either compromising the experience or safety? Oh, sure. That's an ongoing debate within the climbing community. Um as as the gyms have greatly increased the number of climbers um There is that that that that debate for sure and you know often the rub is the parking areas Right lots of climbing areas are in mountainous areas where there's not a lot of real estate to work with And so the parking areas get overrun and that Causes tension with other users and within climbers Um also climbing is not a very dispersed activity, right? So in other words, there's you know, maybe There's 30 routes at one particular crag and we all want to be on those 30 routes, right? And so you can't disperse all that well versus say something like mountain biking, right? There could be You know 100 people on on the mountain, but in various different trails and different parts of the trails and so it's not quite as um It's a little more dispersed than climbing. Um, and so yeah, that's that's an issue 100 percent And I imagine only one crew can be on a route at a time Um for safety reasons But do some of the routes kind of cross over each other and that kind of eliminates the use of Such certain routes. Yeah. So for top roping we tend to try to You know, yeah, only one person only one group can be on the route. Yes. Um In the big climbs like in Yosemite Multiple parties can be on a route because they're much taller, but they do intersect and so Sometimes you'll see people like professionals that are moving extremely quickly. They'll actually pass parties Um, but yeah crowding crowding is an issue and there's no simple answer because you you want to be inclusive You want people spending time outside and Enjoying natural resources and hopefully speaking up for those natural resources because they value them um, but at the same time, um, we 100 know that There's an impact and so the access fund Uh is a climbing conservation Um organization that I would recommend everybody check out and they provide a lot of guidance on how to minimize impacts in the climbing environment Okay, I'm really curious. Have you Either witnessed seen or been involved in an incident and can you describe what that was like in in a rock climbing situation? um, yeah, I did uh I was present when somebody um took a fall So they were lead climbing so starting on the starting on the ground protecting the climb naturally as they climbed up And they fell and I think one of their pieces of gear Popped out and they hit the ground and broke their ankle very severely And um, so I was part of evacuating that person Uh, they were actually quite lucky in that the national guard was at the crag that day doing some kind of training So there was a whole bunch of national guard folks that were able to assist in carrying that person out Um, so that that was one particular incident that I did witness. Yeah National guard got some uh on the ground Relive training there. So, um, that was fortunate for for that individual Um, you know, we're kind of getting to the end of our time. So guy, I'm curious Are there any kind of final thoughts that you would share with someone wanting to get into the sport or maybe Improve their skills and in this sport. Yeah, so It's worth investing in some guiding or instruction It's just far too dangerous a sport to kind of um mess around with like I think making that investment is is very, um, very important and then also You don't need to emulate Alex honnold, um in free solo like Free soloing is a very fringe aspect of the sport and it's practiced by people who have done it for many many years And frankly most of those folks die at some point. So I would just encourage people that are getting into the sport You don't need to rush into free soloing There's plenty of safer ways to enjoy the sport Absolutely and and blue ridge, uh mountain guides is one avenue in which people can Kind of get that leadership from from experts in the area Well, guy, thank you so much for for your time today and joining us on the sports playbook and for teaching us about rock climbing safety and conquering the heights Thank you. It was uh, I really enjoyed talking with you I appreciate your time and expertise. We learned a lot today. Thank you for our viewers for joining us We'll see you next time on the sports playbook Thank you so much for watching think tech hawaii If you like what we do, please click the like and subscribe button on youtube You can also follow us on facebook instagram and linkedin Check out our website think tech hawaii.com Mahalo


What's up you guys welcome back to another one. If you're new to the channel, I am Goldpony. I do new car truck SUV reviews on YouTube. And today we are in the brand new 2024 Hyundai Santa Fe courtesy of Jackie Umbalvo Hyundai and York PA. For more information on their inventory, please feel free to check out the link in the description box below. So we're in this one today to start because I own a 2017 Hyundai Santa Fe. I have had it for seven or eight years. Absolutely nothing has ever been wrong with it. It has been bulletproof. I love that and it's paid off. So I'm going to be hanging on to it for a little bit longer. But this has been a complete transformation for the 2024 model year compared to the previous generation. All new interior, reimagined exterior as well with a longer wheelbase. You do have three rows of seating yet again with the Santa Fe. So you got to love that. You also get America's best warranty, of course, being five years, 60,000 mile bumper to bumper, 10 years, 100,000 miles on the powertrain. You also get three years or 36,000 miles of complimentary maintenance as well.  But ultimately in this video, we'll be testing out and going over everything about this one from acceleration to braking, steering field, ride quality, sound system, exhaust clip, all that fun stuff. So having said all that, what do you guys say? Let's just go ahead and jump right into it. And as always, let's start with pricing. It says, as you can imagine, there are a few different trim levels for the 2024 Santa Fe. First one being the SE starting at $33,950. SEL for 36,450, XRT for $40,600. And lastly, the limited being the one we are in today starting at $43,350. So that was all pricing for the front wheel drive configuration. If you wanted to add all wheel drive, you can do that simply at $1,800 then to any of those prices. But regardless of trim level that you go with, the power plant on the Santa Fe is actually going to be the same. Powering the Beast is a 2.5 liter turbocharged four cylinder, putting out 277 horsepower, 5,800 RPM, 311 pound feet of torque coming in at 4,000 RPM. That power being sent to front wheels or all wheels through an eight speed wet dual clutch. Zero to 60 times should come in at approximately 7.6 seconds for this one. MPG numbers then coming in at 20 in the city 29 on the highway for the front wheel drive, 20 city 28 then on the highway for the all wheel drive taking regular unleaded fuel. But so then before we do any kind of fun acceleration or paddle shifter test here in the Santa Fe, I did want to mention to you guys the drive modes.  And the drive modes will include sport, my drive, snow and normal. Justing things like the shift points of throttle response and the steering sensitivity then as well. So now having got all of that out of the way, what do you guys say? Let's go ahead and find a straightaway. Let's put the paddle shifter here to the test first and let's see how quickly these paddle shifters are going to react for us here. See if it holds. Oh wow, it's holding. That's amazing. All right, go. Paddle shifters, I mean, there's a slight delay, but paddle shifters are pretty darn good. And I guess that's because of the wet dough clutch. There's actually a decent reaction time and you almost never find that in SUVs, let alone having paddle shifters in general in SUVs. But still, they were actually pretty darn responsive. So I don't mind the paddle shifters. That's actually kind of cool. And the other benefit to having paddle shifters in an SUV is when you're going down these mountain hills like I'm going up right now. If it were to be snowing out, you can actually just hit the paddle shifters do a little bit of engine braking rather than actually hitting the brakes risk sliding off the road. So that's going to help you out there as well. But yeah, I like the paddle shifters in the Santa Fe. That actually worked out. So anyways, let's talk about full control to the Santa Fe here. Let me find another straightaway and let's put the acceleration here to the test and let's see how quickly we can get our new 2024 Santa Fe here up to speed. All right, in three, two, one, go. There it is. Doug, what's this thing that's higher up in the RPMs, man? This thing really, really goes. But yeah, there was a smidge bit of a delay at the initial punch there. But yeah, that was plenty of an acceleration for the Santa Fe for a three-row SUV. So yeah, you're definitely not going to have any issues emerging onto the highway. But anyways, to go along with that acceleration, as always, braking is equally important. So of course, you will find four-wheel ventilated disc brakes coming standard. As far as braking feel goes, it's on the softer side of things. It's on the softer side of things, no doubt, but that's to be expected in the Santa Fe. I actually have a soft braking feel in my 2017 as well. So it's kind of something you just get used to. This isn't a sports car anyway, so it's perfectly fine for what the vehicle is. I'll just put it that way. Then touching on suspension and handling, up front you're going to get a McPherson strut front suspension. In the back, independent multi-link rear suspension, gas pressure eyes, shock absorbers, of course. Front and rear stabilizer bars. As far as ride quality goes, it's actually been perfectly fine in my short little test drive here today. So I personally haven't had any issues there. So it is absorbing Pennsylvania's road imperfections quite nicely. As far as steering feel goes, let me put it back to sport driving mode real quick here. It is a way to your steering feel in the sport driving mode. I kind of like that. But honestly, it's what you would expect an SUV to drive like. It does tend to lean a little bit on the looser side of things. So it's pretty much normal for what an SUV is. But here's the thing that I first noticed when I got in this one is the lack of cabin noise. It is a very, very quiet cabin here in the Santa Fe. And that's due in part because there is an acoustic laminated front windshield, but there's also acoustic laminated front door glass. A lot of times that's an optional feature, even on luxury automakers like Mercedes-Benz, I know. So the fact that acoustic laminated front door glass comes standard on every single trim level of the Santa Fe, that is going to lead to a very serene cabin as I am experiencing here in my short little test drive in this 2024 today. So huge fan of that. That was the first thing I noticed when I got in this one, but touching our rear visibility because of the shape of the Santa Fe, you're 100% not gonna have any issues there. So rear visibility is 100% on point, but we also have rain sensing windshield wipers here today. I did turn them on because it is raining today. So by the way, that's only for the limited trim level. We have that limited. They have been automatically turning on, adjusting the speed and all that and the intermittentness. I don't even know if that's the word, but it's pretty cool. I love automatic windshield wipers. So anyways, they're pretty much on the performance segment of this review, guys. Let's now go ahead and take a look at the exterior of our brand new, completely redesigned 2024 Hyundai Santa Fe. All right, so here she is, you guys, the new 2024 Hyundai Santa Fe finished in Hampton Gray. In case you were curious of the exact exterior color name that we had on this one here today, but again, completely redesigned for 2024 with a longer wheelbase, I think it looks dang good. It looks like a Land Rover, but for half the price more or less. So pretty darn cool, but as always, let's go ahead and start with where this one is made. Taking a look at the van, first character is the number five, indicating that the new Santa Fe is built and assembled here in the U.S. In case you were curious, but starting up front, LED headlights with LED daytime running lights do come standard, got the LED accent lighting coming standard as well, along with automatic feature and automatic high beams. So if you have your high beams on at night and it senses a vehicle coming in the opposite direction, it's gonna automatically dim them back to low beams and when that vehicle is gone, it's gonna automatically bounce it back up to high beams for you there. You do have the H design found in the headlights though. I thought that was a pretty cool, pretty creative little feature that Hyundai added to the Santa Fe this year. So guys can see that H in the headlight bezels there. I thought that was pretty cool. And you do have this cool LED light bar kind of tying together the two headlights up front there as well, so also very cool feature there. You do have active grille shutters up front and then to the bottom corners there, there are front air curtains helping direct air around the wheel and tire combination then as well. So overall, that's the front end. Let me know what you guys think of it in the comments section below, but now let's go ahead and make our way to the side. All right, so now since we are around to the side of this one, the roof rail's coming on the SEL trim leveling up if you wanted those. And as far as that handle goes, I know a lot of people are gonna ask about the handle kind of found towards the back. We don't have it on the limited that's gonna be found on the XRT and that's to kind of put your hand in there so you have easier access to the roof if you have like a cargo container up top or something like that. So anyways, XRT is gonna give you that. You get a gloss black A pillar actually with the XRT and the limited trim level that we have today, that's pretty cool.  Rear privacy glass does come standard on the Santa Fe. Then taking a look at the side mirrors, you will find body color, power adjustable side mirrors coming standard.  Of course, heated side mirrors coming standard for all trim levels.  Then power folding side mirrors for our limited trim level that we have today. A little luxury feature there. Then take a look down at the wheel setup. They are of course going to differ in design depending upon the trim level that you go with. But as far as the sizes go, 18 inch alloys coming with the SEL and XRT and then 20 inch alloys for our limited that we have with us here today. But anyways, that pretty much rounds out the side profile. Very boxy shaped to this one. I like it, but let's not go ahead and make our way to the back. Alright, so now since we are around to the back of this one, you actually do have a gloss black shark fin antenna all the way up top for all trim levels across the board. Just below that rear spoiler with an integrated brake light. Just below that, there actually is a rear window wiper. I think you guys can see that there, but it's tucked away underneath the spoiler, kind of like the Chevy Tahoe and Chevy Suburban does. I think they kind of pioneered that, but that's pretty cool because that actually leads to better visibility. So it's not actually a rear window wiper on that rear glass. So it's not impeding your vision. So I like that actually. Do you have the Santa Fe lettering spelled out horizontally? It's gonna be finished in gloss black for the XRT. Otherwise, finished in this matte silver look that we have on our limited trim level here today. H-track badging found just above that passenger side tail light there. That's gonna be the all-wheel drive system, of course. Gotta love the H design to the tail lights yet again to tie them together with the headlights, of course. Hyundai really going all out on that H logo, but anyways, just below it all, I like this. They exposed the exhaust. Thank you, Hyundai. So many manufacturers right now are tucking it away and it's just not the look. I don't like that trend. So anyways, having said that, I do believe you guys know what we have to do next here. As always, here is that exhaust clip. All right, and so now since we are around to the back of the Santa Fe, when it comes to opening that rear lift gate, it is a hands-free smart lift gate, believe it or not, for every single trim level across the board. So you just gotta walk up behind it. So that's pretty cool, but also a power lift gate for our limited trim side could just press the button. It's just gonna automatically open up for me there. So that was convenient as well, but once opened up, cargo capacity comes in at 14.6 cubic feet behind that third row. If that was not enough space, of course there is a 60-40 split that folds that third row down, bumping that up to 40.5 cubic feet. And then with all of this folded, 79.6 cubic feet, which quite honestly is almost the exact same cubic feet as my 2017 Santa Fe, that is a three row. I know last year, the previous generation, it was only a two row. I actually got the three row back in the day. So it's essentially the same size of my vehicle now. So that's pretty cool. But anyways, cargo lighting found back there. LED cargo lighting, by the way. LED interior lighting all throughout this one. You gotta love that. 12-volt power outlet back there. There's actually 115-volt power outlet as well. So that was pretty cool to find. Grocery bag hooks, of course, you got tie-down anchors as well. Then if you were to lift up underneath of that cargo floor, you will find some in-floor storage actually. You gotta love that for like an ice scraper if you needed to put that back there. As far as the spare tire goes, that's gonna be located up underneath of the vehicle, kind of next to the exhaust in case you were curious. So glad they have that though. But then make your way up to the third row legroom that comes in at 30 inches even. So on paper, that's not a ton, but the second seat does move forward and back so you can allow more space for the third row passengers if you need to do that way. So anyways, for reference, I'm even six feet tall. This is how much space I had in the third row there. There are cup holders on both sides for those third row passengers. There's rear ventilation found on the side kind of of the vehicle, not on the roof or the ceiling as you typically find, but actually right next to the third row passengers there. And they actually get USB charging ports for both sides back there. So that was pretty cool to see for the third row passengers because that's definitely not always the case on the competition. But then make your way up to the second row legroom that comes in at 42.3 inches. Again, I'm still an even six feet tall. This is how much space I have back there. Bench seating does come standard for all trim levels across the board. Rear center armrest with cup holders also coming standard USB charging ports. All trim levels are gonna get those for the second row as well. And they're kind of located on the sides of these front seats. And then there's kind of like USB cord hangers on the backside of the front seats as well where you can put those to keep the cords out of the way. So nobody actually trips on them when they're getting in and out of the second row. So I thought that was pretty clever as well. But heated second row seats coming on the limited trim level that we have today. That, that's the winner right there. I love that. You also get rear window sunshades. I was looking at that too. So you gotta love that feature as well. But anyway, it's still gonna also mention rear passengers have their own panoramic sunroof back there as well. The button to open it is located up front here. But you can actually completely open that one up. And that one is actually bigger than the one in the front. So that's pretty cool. So they get a view of the sky. I'm loving this thing so far. This interior is very much impressing me. But then making our way up to the front seats, stain resistant cloth seats for the SE trim level. Leatherette seating for the SEL and XRT. Leather seating for the limited trim. Manually adjustable front seats for the SE. Eight-way power driver seat with two-way power lumbar for the SEL trim level and up. Eight-way power adjustable passenger seat for the limited trim level only. Heated front seats coming on the SEL trim level and up. I've had those on today. And then ventilated front seats coming with the limited trim level. But overall, as far as seat comfort goes, it's been perfectly fine. I'm a short little test drive here today. So you're definitely not gonna have any issues with that lumbar support was plenty adjustable as well. So my short test drive, I was definitely a fan. But then taking a look at the steering wheel, this looks like a Land Rover steering wheel, 100%. But tilt and telescoping, of course, it is manually adjustable for all trim levels. Leather wrapped for all trim levels as well and actually heated for our limited trim level. I've had that on as well. In the case anybody is wondering, why isn't there a Hyundai logo on the steering wheel? There's just four dots. What does that mean? Four dots is Morse code for, take a guess, the letter H. Go figure. So Hyundai being clever yet again. But now let's go ahead and make our way to the startup. Let me start by showing you guys the key here. Once again, you got the H located in the key. You might not notice it, but if you turn it sideways, you might. So lock, unlock, and that circular button that says hold, that's gonna be your remote start. So if you lock it up, press the hold button, then look on the side of the key. There's gonna be some buttons to pop the rear tailgate, but also buttons for your smart pod. So if you park a little too close to somebody or somebody parks too close to you, you can actually pull this one out by simply using the key without actually getting inside first. So that's pretty darn convenient feature because this thing was definitely parked pretty close to some other vehicles when I first got inside of it. But anyways, I will say the keys a little on the cheap side of things. It's a very light key, so wouldn't mind if Hyundai kind of gave this one a little more heft maybe in the future or something like that. But now let's go ahead and take a look at the gauge cluster because yet again, impresses me once again. So analog gauges with a 4.2 inch screen coming on the SESEL and XRT trim levels. However, with the limited, you will find a 12.3 inch fully digital gauge cluster completely customizable. So you can actually change the loadouts on these gauges. I put it on more of a classic look, but there's also other looks you can display up there as well. There's more of a simplified look or you can just make it kind of adjust dependent upon the drive mode that you put it on, which is actually what I said it to. So in that sport driving mode, you're gonna have a lot more reddish hues. I thought that was pretty cool. Normal driving mode is kind of the classic look and there are other clusters up there you can display if you wanted to, like I said, but there are steering wheel mouse controls found on the left side of the steering wheel that gives you a ton of other things you can scroll through like trip A, trip B, of course. There's a digital speedometer. There's how many miles you have left until you hit empty outside temperature. The list goes on and on. So pretty much everything you possibly want on a gauge cluster. But now let's go ahead and make our way to overall interior quality.  That's the one that gives the rear passengers a view of the sky as well. LED interior lighting, like I said, comes standard for all trim levels across the board. You gotta love that. Kind of surprised there's no overhead sunglass holder though. That's kind of something I was looking for and I don't know why they didn't put it, but anyways. We do have home light controls for up to three different garage doors. So I like seeing that. That's found just underneath of that rear view mirror there. Melange headliner coming on the limited trim level. A little bit fancy there. Wireless phone charger on the SEL trim level and up. I love that. But the ambient lighting, that is going to come on the limited trim level only. So that's pretty cool. So it's all up front here. I see that it's just underneath of this screen as well. The infotainment screen in the digital gauge cluster. Also the rear doors have a little bit of it as well. So that definitely looks good and there's plenty of different colors. I think 64 different colors you get to choose from. So definitely a big fan of seeing that. But anyways, there's a lot of rubberized storage I want to show you guys. So just behind all of these USB charging ports here, there's a rubberized place to put your phone. And then another one just next to that. Again, it's rubberized. So your phone's not actually going to slide around. That's good thinking Hyundai. Hyundai definitely had their thinking caps on when they designed this thing. Just behind that, you have dual cup holders. Just behind that, there's a rear center armrest with openings for not the front, but the rear passengers actually have their own opening as well where they can open it up to actually see what's inside as well. So it's kind of cool the way they did that. Very smart yet again. But one of my favorite features about the interior is the hidden glove box. So you have your normal glove box just below. Just above that, you have a little bit more rubberized storage. I like seeing that. But just above the climate control vents there, there's a little button. If you press that, you have an upper glove box with more rubberized storage in there as well. So I like the hidden glove box. That's pretty darn cool. I like the silver trim found on the doors. There's almost a wood-like trim found on the doors as well. Lot of soft touch material. And overall, quite honestly, I think the interior was done absolutely amazing, especially in our limited trim level. I almost forgot to mention there is a bunch of hidden storage just underneath of that wireless phone charger here. You got a tall, whole power outlet under there as well. So I don't know, girls could put the purse down there. Really anything that you just kind of want to stay out of sight. So that was pretty cool to see. But anyways, now let's go ahead and make our way to the infotainment screen. 12.3-inch color touchscreen display coming standard for all trim levels. Bluetooth and audio streaming. Wireless Android Auto Apple CarPlay for all trim levels this time. Well done, Hyundai. Thank you for doing that. Factory navigation system for the XRT and limited trim levels. Rear seat quiet mode. You gotta love that. That essentially cancels out the rear speakers if your kids are sleeping in the back and it limits the speakers in the front. You still got the voice memo system I'm looking at here so that can record your voice and play back at a later date. You also have weather information, which we don't have set up yet, but that is gonna be available for you as well. Of course, you have that navigation setup. I just told you guys about up there. You can adjust your ambient lighting settings up there. Give you your different drive modes up there if you wanted to. And of course, your radio information. And so when it comes to the sound systems, the six speaker sound system is gonna come standard on all trim levels, but the limited. So the limited trim level is going to give you a 12 speaker Bose sound system. So that is the one that we have today. So let's go ahead and turn on the radio to see what we got playing this morning. And let's test out the clarity of this one. Yeah, that's pretty dark good. I love that clarity was crystal clear. Bass was plenty fine as well. So that's a heck of a sound system for this thing. And I'm sure you guys know Bose is a very reputable company. They've been around for forever now. So I can imagine that sound system is gonna be rock solid. I've actually had Bose sound system in one of my cars before in my Infinity G35 coupe back in the day and it never failed me. So love that sound system. But last thing I wanna mention to you guys on the infotainment screen release is when you do put the Santa Fe in reverse, you will find a crystal clear high definition rear view camera. That's amazing. That's like Mercedes-Benz good right there. You also have the panoramic view monitor there to the right for the limited trim level only. That gives you that bird's eye view letting you know what is completely all around you which is always is going to lead us into safety. So first let me start by saying it's an IIHSS safety pick plus for the 2023 model year. So the last generation typically vehicles only get better with time when it comes to safety. So I would imagine it would be the same thing hasn't been tested yet though. I'll just put that caveat out there. But front side side current airbags of course in the back you're gonna have latch aka lower anchors to the children for the rear car seats. Rear child door locks, temperature monitoring system but also coming standard. A blind spot monitoring system with rear cross traffic alert that doesn't always come standard on the competition guys. So I wanna emphasize that. Front and rear parking sensors coming standard as well. That's an optional feature even on Mercedes-Benz that's nuts. Forward collision avoidance assist adaptive cruise control with stop and go. Lane keep assist, driver attention warning and lane following assist then as well. And by the way, the adaptive cruise control system is amazing on Hyundai and Genesis and Kia for that matter as well. Overall though, when it comes to my final thoughts I like the rugged new design. I think that looks pretty darn good but I was more impressed with the interior of the new Santa Fe. Maybe it's cause we got the limited trim level but I love the heated rear seats. I love the rear window sunshades. I love the ambient lighting. I love all the soft touch material. I love all the rubberized surfaces so nothing slides around. I love the hidden glove box as well. There's so much to love about the interior in this thing. The melange headliner, the aluminum speaker covers for the Bose sound system. So a lot going on in this thing. Big fan of that. You do get America's best warranty.  So you gotta love that as well. As far as room for improvement goes there's only two things that I'm really thinking right now. And so that's the third row is kind of cramped. You can move the second row up a little bit to make a little more space for the third row passengers that's doable. But having said that, if you wanted a little more space there's always the Hyundai Palisade. I'm just saying. The other thing is I question the reliability of the turbocharged engine and the wet dual clutch transmission. So like I said, you do get that 10 year, 100,000 mile powertrain warranty. So that's a little bit of peace of mind right there. But I don't know. Maybe it's cause I love my naturally aspirated V6. I have in my Santa Fe currently. Guess I'm a little scared to try out this powerful turbocharged engine. I don't know. Let me know what you guys think of the Santa Fe in the comments section below. I was a big fan personally. That is about it for this one you guys. Thank you so much for watching. Feel free to follow me on social media at the bottom of the screen if you want to see what's coming next on the channel. Before it gets to YouTube be sure to hit the subscribe and the bell notification button. If you're in any new car reviews that is what we do here on this channel after all. Do appreciate you guys watching more than you know when I will see you guys all in the next video. Stay cool.


I think I have the coolest job in the military. I think I have the coolest job on the planet, quite honestly, or off the planet. I thought of being an astronaut kind of like being a professional football player. Like, little kids might dream of doing that, but come on, that's not really reality. And I put that in the same ballpark. I thought, that would be really awesome, but superheroes get to do that. And I'm not a superhero. When I was a lieutenant in the Army, my boss handed me the memorandum. This would have been in 1990 probably, that the Army was looking for people that had the following minimum qualifications to apply to the astronauts. That was the first time it occurred to me that that was like real people got to do that. I've had two tether failure. There are a variety of pathways to become an astronaut. We have many that have backgrounds in aviation as pilots, also as engineers, as scientists. And then medical doctors make up one of the professions that often become astronauts. But there are a variety of different professions you can have, and all of those are valid pathways to become an astronaut. You know, I look at my bio and one of the things that makes me proud is that I made my 10-year-old self proud. And so when I talk to young women and young men that have high career aspirations to do anything, professional sports, military, doctor, I mean, congressman, whatever they want to do, the big thing is to be true to yourself and to be passionate. And we tell the candidates that come and they want to be astronauts and they always ask us and they say, should I go to this university? Should I major in this or that? Should I get this job? And we say, you have to do what you're passionate about because otherwise you're never going to have enough energy to do all the hard work that it takes if you don't actually enjoy doing it. The nice thing about it is, in the process of trying to become an astronaut, you can pick up a lot of other skills. But don't make success or failure for your entire life be based on whether or not you become an astronaut. The path to that, though, if you have so many benefits that you're seeking more education, just working hard in a team, making sure that your teams are successful. It's not all about the individual, you being the best all the time. It's about you making sure all the other people around you are their best. My army career was better than I could have imagined it. There are so many opportunities out there and I looked for those challenges and I took them and the army never disappointed. And I was able to become an astronaut because I had those opportunities that the army presented. I had the skills that the army gave to me. And so whatever your dream is, whether that has anything to do with the space program at all, whatever it is, your goal is, the army can help you get there. But you know what's neat about being here is that you just step back and you get to do so many cool things and contribute to something that is so unifying. No matter where you go, people know astronauts and it's respectful and I think it's so unifying. And I think right now in our world, anything that can be such a unifying force, not only across our nation but across the globe, that is really vital right now. Mark Vandahy, Alexander Mazurkan and Joe Acaba lifting off and now on their way to the International Space Station. When I first looked out that window, what really struck me was how big the contrast was between the sunlit earth and the absolute blackness of space. It made the earth seem very isolated to me. That was the emotion I had but the grandeur of the earth was amazing. It's so important for the army to have astronauts because we have always been involved in exploration in the United States. In fact, the Corps of Engineers in the army helped explore the western United States and Lewis and Clark involved, their expeditions involved the army. So I think historically it makes sense and it's something we're just continuing. There's a long tradition of it.


Hello, my name is Matt Clark, and I am the commander of the Denver Police Department's Major Crimes Division. This critical incident debriefing is intended to provide you with information regarding a fatal shooting involving Denver police officers that occurred in the area of 38th Avenue and Olive Street in Northeast Denver on Friday, June 4th 2021. You are about to see relevant video footage and learn about other evidence and police procedures related to the case so you have an understanding of the details of this incident. The use of deadly force by a police officer demands a thorough investigation be completed. The Denver Police Department is committed to ensuring a full and timely investigation of these serious incidents. This allows for a comprehensive examination of the officers actions to determine compliance with state statutes and department policies. In accordance with legislation passed in 2015, the investigation of police shootings occurring in Denver are conducted by a multi-agency investigative team made up of members of the Denver and Aurora Police Department homicide units as well as the Denver District Attorney's Office. All critical incident investigations are actively monitored by the Office of the Independent Monitor. Throughout this briefing, portions of the body camera video and surveillance video obtained during the investigation will be shown to provide context and detail. All officers assigned to uniform patrol duties in Denver have been issued body-worn cameras. These devices are generally worn at chest level by patrol officers and are capable of recording both audio and video. Prior to being activated by the officer, the body-worn camera maintains a 30-second video buffer. Once the officer activates the camera, the 30-second buffer video is captured and the camera starts recording both audio and video. It is important to note that a body-worn camera captures a general perspective of what is in the camera's view. However, this footage may or may not be what the officers saw or perceived. At times, an officer's movement or hand positioning may inadvertently block the camera's view. Additionally, the camera may not capture light in the same way as an officer's eye. A word of caution. The images and information you are about to see may be disturbing. When a police officer uses force to arrest a suspect or defend against an attack, it can be graphic and difficult to watch. In addition, there may be strong language used by those shown in the video. Viewer discretion is advised. On Friday, June 4, 2021, at approximately 5.30 p.m., the Denver Police Department received six separate 911 calls reporting an individual was firing a gun in the area of Martin Luther King, Jr. Park at 38th Avenue and Olive Street. I'm at the corner of Olive and 38th Avenue. I think there's a gentleman shooting a gun at MLK Park. I saw the guy shooting a gun in a black cute Cherokee. I think there's a dude shooting a gun over there. He's shooting it right now. I believe it was here and shot fired up there and I got out of there. The male subject, who was later identified as 31-year-old Colton Wagner, was reportedly standing next to a jeep that was parked in the 3,800 block of Olive Street and shooting a firearm. Denver Police officers promptly responded in marked Denver Police vehicles. Upon arriving, the officers observed Mr. Wagner reaching into a gray jeep grand Cherokee that was parked on the roadway. The officers took positions behind vehicles parked on the roadway along the east side of the park, directly north of Mr. Wagner. The uniformed officers verbally identified themselves as police officers and issued multiple commands to Mr. Wagner to show his hands. Denver Police, show me your hands! When Mr. Wagner was out of the vehicle and was in full view of the officers, the officers observed he was holding a handgun. Officers gave Mr. Wagner specific direction to drop the firearm in an effort to gain his compliance and safely resolve this incident. Drop it! Drop the gun! At one point, Mr. Wagner raised the firearm and placed it to his head. Mr. Wagner did not comply with commands to drop the weapon. He briefly lowered it to his side before turning the firearm towards the uniformed officers. Mr. Wagner raised the handgun in the direction of the officers and began walking towards them. The officers feared Mr. Wagner would fire the weapon at them. In response to Mr. Wagner's actions, Corporal Matthew Van Portfleet, Corporal Christopher Williams, and Officer Kimberly Blanchard discharged their weapons multiple times. Thirty-two Baker shots fired. We need an ambulance. Code 10. Mr. Wagner was struck and fell to the ground. Following the shooting by the officers, an ambulance was called and officers formulated a plan to safely move towards Mr. Wagner. The officers utilized a slow rolling cover approach to safely secure Mr. Wagner and render medical aid. This controlled approach by officers was necessary to ensure their safety because Mr. Wagner's hands and the firearm he possessed were not immediately visible to the officers. Mr. Wagner was transported by ambulance to an area hospital where he was later pronounced deceased. Following a police shooting, any officers involved in the incident are separated and assigned to a supervisor once a situation stabilized. Involved officers remain in the company of the assigned supervisor throughout the initial investigation of the incident. Investigators located and interviewed several individuals who witnessed Mr. Wagner's actions prior to the arrival of officers. The witnesses described seeing Mr. Wagner assuming a shooter's stance before shooting at people in the park and at a nearby construction site. No one was injured by the rounds fired by Mr. Wagner. During the crime scene investigation, detectives and crime lab technicians located a .45 caliber Semeron firearm which was the firearm Mr. Wagner possessed and pointed towards officers. Additionally, .24 .45 caliber shell casings were located near the Jeep Grand Cherokee. These shell casings were forensically linked to the firearm Mr. Wagner possessed. A functionality test was conducted on the recovered firearm and it was determined the firearm was functional. A toxicology screen showed the presence of alcohol in Mr. Wagner's system. Through the investigation, it was determined the three Denver police officers fired a total of 14 rounds. 13 rounds were fired by two officers from their handguns and one round was fired by an officer using an urban rifle. The Denver District Attorney will review the details of this incident and determine if the officer's actions were in compliance with Colorado law. After the district attorney renders a decision, the Denver Police Department's Internal Affairs Bureau and conduct review bureau will complete an administrative review of this case. The details of the case will be presented to a use of force review board which is made up of community members and police command officers. This board will determine whether the actions of the Denver police officers were in compliance with the high standards expected of every Denver police officer related to policies, training and tactics. For additional information regarding the investigation of critical incidents or the Denver Police Department's use of force policy, please visit denvergov.org slash police. Thank you for taking the time to review this critical incident briefing.