Initiating a rescue?

In this day and age of over-the-top safety, responsibility and leaving as little as possible to chance I deliberately sneak out a few times a year on solo off-trail excursions.

No chance of being found or picked up. All the ties are severed. "Winter, summer, springtime or fall. All you have to do is never call. I won't be there."

In spite of what one might read in a magazine laying about in a dental office I believe that doing this sort of thing brings one to a sate of awareness in a very zingy type of way.

Nevah

Since I don't have any of the contactees mentioned, and don't carry a cell phone. Nevah

I'm a communication freak, but settled on 5 hours

I try to give a realistic window, but give assurances to my wife and others that my mileage may vary. I learned after hiking Allen that it is really hard to get the timing message across to nervous family members. I had a due, slightly overdue, and an overdue time, but I reset them by two hours with a message from the top via cell phone (it's a matter of luck up there, but I got one through). Once I was down it took about an hour of driving to find a cell tower. While I was still in my revised window, all the main fuses had been blown, and I think the entire US Air Force was being mobilized.

Now my message and messaging are clearer. I've got SPOT, ham radio, and the cell phone. One of them is going to work if I'm in a jam or way behind schedule. People are asked to please not worry, because bad news will get through, unless I have the ultimate misfortune of killing myself. And I can deliver good news periodically. I'm far less worried about myself than I am about keeping people reasonably assured while I'm out wandering.

But back to the numbers: two seems too nervous, twenty four (at least for my treks) far too much (and nobody would wait that long). Five seems pretty reasonable. I suspect there are many in my family would say two.

Cheers.

A search or a rescue?

Many people self-rescue.

Give it some time. I can't tell you how many dozens of times I had been called out too soon, just to discover someone stopped by a friends, went out to dinner, or the young couple was just spending some quality time alone in the woods.

But of course some cases the stakes are higher and the agenda specific.

wifie says "2 days". What a woman.

I picked "5 hours," but it's usually (effectively) the next morning. Particularly during the summer, I may get off-trail fairly late, and she knows to expect a call once I'm off. If I expect to be out earlier (by 4 or 5-ish), I'll say to call about 9pm or so, but be sure and let F&G know that I'm equipped for an emergency overnight. That lets the wheels get turning but hopefully lets everyone have a good night's sleep.

Thanks for the perspective, sardog1. Good to know what those on the "other side" would like

My wife will NEVER call anyone if I do not return from a trip. Here are the reasons:

She has complete confidence in my ability to get home.

She is well aware of my survival skills.

She knows that if I could not get out then I would die a happy person doing what I loved the most in life.

She also knows that I may just stay in the woods and never come out!

sli74 said:

She has been instructed to post on VFTT 6 to 12 hours after our ETA has passed to see if anyone can give updated info on having crossed paths with us, etc. At 24 hours past our ETA she has the emergency numbers to call and report us missing.

sli74

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that's a good idea right there and just another great use of the website..

I have always been a little lax in this respect..sometimes not deciding where I am going to until I am there.. Am getting wiser with age however

Some points to consider in setting your time for an overdue report to the authorities.

Response in the winter to a remote location can easily take many hours. An evacuation will take even longer once they arrive (unless a helicopter is available.)

Never count on a helicopter being available.

Never count on a helicopter being able to fly when you need one.

Never count on a helicopter being able to land or drop off rescuers while it hovers above your location.

The agencies in charge of SAR have protocols for deciding when to dispatch teams, depending on the circumstances. Better IMO to make the overdue report and let them decide whether and when to send help. Turnarounds are part of the game for them.

YMMV as a responder, but I never minded being called out "too early." I've seen instances where "too late" made a difference in the outcome.

No option in the poll for this approach.

We leave our plans, sometimes in excruciating detail ... which, of course, is always subject to change ... with my wife, who harbors the attitude, "They got themselves into it, they can get themselves out of it." She also knows where I keep the insurance policies. Other than that, we trust her good senses and instincts to know when to place an alert.

Interesting question, good topic for a poll. I chose 5 hrs. I dont think I've ever come home from a hike after 8pm. If it's after midnight and I'm not home, then somethings gone wrong.

Is there a form / template set of questions that F&G would ask my wife if she called to report me missing? In other words, what information besides routes, peaks, and ETAs should she have?

Tim

On day hikes, I call my wife from the car on the way to the trailhead, since that is when I usually decide where I am going. On overnight trips, she gets a detailed written itinerary with map.

What she does with this information, and when she does it, is her business.

bikehikeskifish said:

Is there a form / template set of questions that F&G would ask my wife if she called to report me missing? In other words, what information besides routes, peaks, and ETAs should she have?

Tim

Click to expand...

I'm not a SAR member, but I'd reckon they'd want to know what you're carrying in your pack/what you have with you. For example, snowshoes, bivy, stove, etc.

I'm quite surprised by how long some of you don't mind being unaccounted for! Since MadRiver didn't specify the time of year and whether you're solo or not I guess the answers are going to vary quite a bit.

I'm going to constrain my answer to solo mid-winter excursions. Click here for an example "flight plan" that I file with mission control (aka my sweetie) every time I go out. It contains very explicit instructions for when to start a rescue and when not to. I primarily explore the greater Ammonoosuc Watershed Metropolitan Area so the posted plan is customized for how to start a rescue in that zone. I carry a Spot Sat. Messenger. I don't carry a cell phone. I am out for 10+ mile excursions that often include significant off-trail navigation.

I created this form for a number of reasons.

1. Peace of mind for mission control.
2. To prevent Ms. Itchy Rescue Trigger Finger from pulling the trigger too early when I'm overdue. The last thing I ever want to see when returning late to the trailhead is a SAR team out looking for me!
3. I feel tremendous responsibility bordering on guilt that I'm, in effect, subjecting my would-be rescuers to every risk I'm taking. This weighs heavily on my mind. Especially because I'm off-trail so much. I therefore want to make it as easy as possible to find me because it's going to seriously suck to get to the blah-blah slide in the middle of nowhere.
4. To force me to consider appropriate gear, current weather, impending storms, and avy conditions in a form that may be scrutinized by rescue professionals when deciding whether I was reckless. This isn't motivated by trying to avoid getting charged. It's more motivated by trying to make sure I'm well-prepared and don't so something really stupid!
5. I'm somewhat OCD and like thinking about these sort of details.

I chose 5 hours, but that would be likely end up being the next day, as I usually don't get back to the trailhead till late afternoon or early evening.( do not usually hike alone in winter). I have atrigger finger husband, so unless he heard from me within a reasonable time period, he would be on the phone to the authorities.
I like the idea of posting on Views.

Bob T said:

I'm quite surprised by how long some of you don't mind being unaccounted for!

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I am a VERY slow hiker and many times will choose to night hike as a result of my pace. I am almost always equipped to spend the night out, in winter this includes a sleeping bag and some sort of emergency shelter. The delayed response time is to allow me time to get out of the woods because most of the time the delay is related to my pace and not to any real or perceived emergency.

In the case of an emergency unless life threatening, I am equipped to surivive past the send help time of 24 hours post ETA.

I do however like your very detailed link. I doubt I would ever be on top of things enough to fill out such a form for my sister. Usually she gets a last minute email telling her the mountains and trails I will be attempting. Like wardsgirl said, sisters of regular backpackers like myself (slow) are used to such delays and the reason she is my "at home person to worry" is because she won't jump the gun and worry too soon like my parents will.

Good thread by the way.

sli74

Bob T said:

I'm quite surprised by how long some of you don't mind being unaccounted for!

Click to expand...

I don't know about everyone else, but that's the exact reason I'm out there to begin with.

My initial reaction is that most of my hikes in such a way that I would not be expected home until late. I doubt my wife would go to sleep however, with me not being home yet and not calling in no matter what time in the day I was expected home. No way.

My other reaction is that she would call for help after being late a couple of hours so she could get ahold of me to yell at me for being late

It's such a tossup ... if someone's just delayed due to poor conditions, or came out in the wrong place due to a wrong turn and is taking a long time to get to a car or phone, then notifying SAR prematurely is a waste of people's time and resources. However, if someone's on the ground going into shock, those extra waited hours can mean everything.

In my own personal practice, I go a couple of hours until I start worrying and calling around, maybe even drive up to try to find the car, but the next morning (8 hours or so) until I make it official and call the authorities.