Mountain Safety and Avalanche Awareness

[Low Angle Life]

I do a lot of off trail hiking, I have been "lost" on a handful of occasions and yet have always managed to find an intersecting trail, ROW, road or some other human infrastructure that has led me out. I go into the woods relatively unprepared and often pack pretty light, that said I always am carrying water, food, light weight jacket, headlamp and cell phone with a downloaded map of the area I'm in or a paper map if I own one. That should be the bare minimum for experienced outdoors people, hearing about people lost in the presidential range with nothing but a bottle of Poland Springs and summer clothes pains me. If we can charge a quarter million for an ambulance ride surely SAR can charge, ignorance should not equal forgiveness.

Also everyone who spends time outdoors should take at the very least one wilderness first aid course. If ya stay ready you ain't got to get ready.

 

[x10003q]

I understand the feeling that there should be some kind of punishment, but it is probably not the right way to handle these situations. Charging for SAR will only make people in trouble delay calling SAR for fear of paying. This compounds the bad situation into a worse situation and by extension makes it more dangerous for SAR. If you only charge for some SAR, who gets to judge? It is very tricky because you could be dealing with injured/unhealthy people who cannot make the right choices.

 

[tirolski]

These folks weren’t lost but they all died including the dog.
RIP.
Investigation concluded deaths were due to extreme heat exhaustion and dehydration.

Sheriff says family on California hike died of extreme heat

MARIPOSA, Calif. (AP) — A Northern California sheriff says a family and their dog died of extreme heat exhaustion and dehydration while hiking in a remote area in August. Mariposa County Sheriff Jeremy Briese said Thursday that John Gerrish, his wife, Ellen Chung, their 1-year-old daughter...

mynews4.com

 

[x10003q]

These folks weren’t lost but they all died including the dog.
RIP.
Investigation concluded deaths were due to extreme heat exhaustion and dehydration.

Sheriff says family on California hike died of extreme heat

MARIPOSA, Calif. (AP) — A Northern California sheriff says a family and their dog died of extreme heat exhaustion and dehydration while hiking in a remote area in August. Mariposa County Sheriff Jeremy Briese said Thursday that John Gerrish, his wife, Ellen Chung, their 1-year-old daughter...

mynews4.com

Horrible.

 

[Ripitz]

We skied Marcy a few years ago and there were lots of people in sneakers on the Van Hoevenburg. I’m fairly certain there was a snowshoe or ski requirement at the time but since the trail was stomped flat postholing wasn’t an issue. You could move really quick with just sneakers and use micro spikes when needed. I could see going that way but I would have down booties and over boots, which weigh almost nothing, as backup. There were a bunch of crazy Canucks bombing down on roll up sleds. We were on XC skis which wasn’t safe at all. Next time will definitely be on AT gear. Keeping skins on going downhill on the upper steep sections is some good advice that I’ve since learned. The trail is very narrow and there is no place to turn or dump speed. Probably the most scared I’ve ever been on skis. A whistle is good to have so people can be warned to make room for passing. Looking forward to a repeat.

 

[Ripitz]

I understand the feeling that there should be some kind of punishment, but it is probably not the right way to handle these situations. Charging for SAR will only make people in trouble delay calling SAR for fear of paying. This compounds the bad situation into a worse situation and by extension makes it more dangerous for SAR. If you only charge for some SAR, who gets to judge? It is very tricky because you could be dealing with injured/unhealthy people who cannot make the right choices.

Reimbursement sounds better then punishment. Someone has to pay for it. From what I’ve seen in the Whites there is a thorough investigation of all involved parties. If you can’t afford your negligence then buy insurance. In Colorado it’s $3 per year, New Hampshire $35. You can also go global for $150. There’s also suffering, that’s free.

Never venture into the wild unprepared. If you do and you ever need serious help, be prepared to pay handsomely for it.

You might be surprised to learn that emergency search and rescue is not a free public service in every state.

www.themanual.com

 

[raisingarizona]

There’s some beauty to living in a world where if you F up you can actually die in that’s without any safety nets.

If you take out the nets a lot of people start to really evaluate their decisions.

 

[Ripitz]

There’s some beauty to living in a world where if you F up you can actually die in that’s without any safety nets.

If you take out the nets a lot of people start to really evaluate their decisions.

That’s how it was living in Cooke. Everything was heightened. Every decision and experience was made on a deeper level.

Years ago I was on an expedition on the Greenland Icecap. It was the most beautiful place I’ve ever been. Exactly for the reason you described. No one is going to help you.

 

[Campgottagopee]

Years ago I was on an expedition on the Greenland Icecap. It was the most beautiful place I’ve ever been. Exactly for the reason you described. No one is going to help you.

Would most certainly like to hear about this!

 

[Sbob]

Would most certainly like to hear about this!

With pictures of course!