Ever Been Rescued?

[dr_wu002]

I gave myself a golden shower once at about 4600 feet on the north side of Carrigain - on purpose. I thought it would help me keep warm in my bivy during a very scary night in early March once.

I don't recommend it, but somehow it made my spirits improve b/c I felt warm and that helped me through the night. I also ate a whole block of cheese for the fat content that would theoretically help me stay warm.

I planned on being out that night (and the several nights to follow) but hardly in the way it happened. I think I wrote a full blown confession about the trip once well before the last crash or two.

I was plain old scared and wept myself through the night doing calistenics inside of my fully-zipped bivy b/c I was afraid to go to sleep.

I'm still here though...

Spencer

What the hell happened that made you so scared!? 4600' -- were you on the Desolation Trail?

-Dr. Wu

 

[hitmann]

Hope I dont jinx myself. Came out very late one night after getting twisted up. Extra batteries for headlamp!!!

 

[Neil]

If you could add up all the accumulated hiking trips that have been done by all the people who voted on the poll and divided by the number of rescues then you would come up with a fair idea of just how risky and dangerous hiking really is.

I have hiked for 30+ years without incident and either I'm very lucky or I'm very due.

(I believe that soloing Hymalayan peaks alpine style is a little riskier but then I doubt that full SAR litter carries don't get done in those cases too often. More like your carcass being carried out by glacial flow a thousand years hence.)

 

[Rick]

....Everyone knows how the tongue will stick to cold steel, but did you also know that bare feet will stick to a steel grate? Beleive me, they do.....

THIS Time I spewed Coffee all over my keyboard and monitor.

Note to self...... never have liquid in mouth when reading Pete Hickey Posts.....Doh!!!!

 

[Grumpy]

I voted “never rescued” and “spent night because of injury.” Not a bad record for 50 years-plus of traipsing around in the boonies, but probably more a testimonial to my natural conservatism than to exceptional skill, fitness, preparation or anything else. No superhiker here. And no pretenses. Very experienced, but hardly a world class or grand adventurer. My SOP has been to do things that challenge me (and the folks I’m with), but not in ways you would call extreme. Stretch, but not to breaking. My idea of “challenge” and general approach to hiking is pretty mild by the standards of some or many folks who regularly post here at VFTT.

Nonetheless, stuff happens.

Twice, I’ve had to spend nights in backcountry locations specifically because of injury or illness (once each). They weren’t “extra” or unplanned nights in the strictest sense (making return to civilization “overdue”), but in the way things worked out.

In one of those instances, a pair of kind and patient fisherman in a small motorboat towed me, my gravely ill partner and our kit in our canoe slowly from the foot of Long Lake to Long Lake Village, into the wind and chilling rain. It would have been an arduous solo paddle. My partner was hospitalized with pneumonia after we returned home, actually several days early, from our aborted trip. That was the most serious incident of the sort that I’ve had.

The other -- an actual hiking incident -- came when Mrs. (Pretty) Grumpy injured a knee while we were hiking in to Lake Colden from Adirondack Loj. Luckily, the injury was more painful than destructive (but Pretty G doesn’t handle pain and discomfort very well) and occurred less than a half mile before we got to a leanto up along the Opalescent near Lake Colden. We just scrubbed our further hiking plans and hung out at camp for a few days, like honeymooners (which we were, actually, having been married less than a year). Then, one day we took our time hiking back out to the Loj. A very unpleasant experience for Mrs. G in some respects, but now, after nearly 37 years she is considering forgiving me.

On other occasions I’ve been able to walk out on my own with very painful knee and lower back "episodes" sustained during dayhikes. Not pleasant.

G.

 

[C.Tracy]

I think we should ask Charles Darwin what he thinks

 

[rhihn]

My one experience doesn't really fit into the poll, so I didn't vote. A few years ago we had an 8-day backpacking trip in the Yukon (guided) cut short on the next to last day. In a nutshell, there were six of us trying to cross a river with numerous sandbars and currents, and the water was moving quite fast. We made it half-way, and were high and dry on a sandbar in the middle of the river while some of the others continued crossing first. Somehow they all fell in, and two packs went sailing down the river. One of the packs was found about a half-mile downstream. Given the missing pack, and the fact that one of the people on the trip was not fully up to the task of the trip in the first place, they decided to cancel the last day, called the ranger via satellite phone, and we were airlifted out. The incident didn't really involve us, but we did have to pay our share of the airlift.

There's lots more to that story, but that's the gist of it.

 

[Tim Seaver]

I respect the school of thought that if you're very fit and very fast you can avoid many situations (I think Tim and Inge would include themselves here) but I believe in the law of averages, and eventually you'll need the gear (the JHS School).

I like to think it's possible to be a student of BOTH of those schools. I would rarely head out without sufficient gear to keep me warm if I were to be immobilized...it really depends on the route, the situation, the weather, etc.

Reinhold Messner once (in reference to expansion bolts) complained of people "carrying their courage in their rucksack"....well, to some extent that is true of safety as well...you can carry gear that will no doubt make a huge difference when the crap hits the fan (and it will), but your primary means of staying safe is not something you can buy in a store and stick in your pack.

 

[Pete_Hickey]

Woke up alone injured in your sleeping bag ? What the heck, Pete ?

Nahhh. One time I woke up, in a pool of blood, at the bottom of a cliff, with broken things. When that happens, you just slowly start moving and then start walking out.

It isn't a matter of being tough, since, given the situation and the alternatives, it is rather easy.

 

[Neil]

I go along with Inge and Tim regarding being fit. Strong, well co-ordinated muscles, good balance and a clear, alert head are good equipment. Knowing where you're going and not making wrong decisions etc. etc. are also good for staying off the injured list.

 

[jbrown]

I completely forgot until a few minutes ago, I did have one hiking companion rescued several years ago. (I was thinking more about myself and if I had ever been rescued so I forgot about it.)

My first High Peaks hike I did was Mt. Colden from Lake Colden, down one of the slides on the backside, up to 4 corners to Marcy and back down to camp at Lake Colden. There were 10 of us in the group and on the way back down we were strung way out along the trail and I was unaware of the drama unfolding behind me.

One of our group was ill, puking, cramping, headaches, couldn't keep water down. Two guys were hiking with him supporting him, but it was still slow going on the way down. We pumped water a couple of times and left several quarts in the trail for them. When they got back to camp I was shocked at how far gone he was. He was pale, clammy, still retching his guts up. We made some dilluted gatorade for him, but he couldn't keep it down.

One of our hiking buddies who is a doctor had compazine (sp?) suppositories, an anti-nausea/anti-cramp drug I think, and gave him one to self-administer. (We're a close group, but not that close...) We had a ranger stop by to give us a warning for having too large a group camping together and we discussed our companion's situation with him. His assessment was to monitor him through the night and if necessary, they would organize an evacuation in the morning. (The doctor was saying that he didn't have the night to sit there and we needed to get him out tonight, but I guess the ranger assessed the situation differently.)

He took a turn for the worse during the night and two guys were dispatched to the ranger station on the other side of the lake to get help before morning. I don't know exactly what happened, but they never made it to the station, but the ranger still ended up coming in the rowboat and the doctor and he took our friend to the ranger station.

I found out later that one or two rangers or associate rangers were dispatched from the Loj with saline IV's and that they administered fluids throughout the night.

The next morning I was pumping water in the river when "Airwolf" flew overhead. I ran to the dam and saw the helicopter just disappearing below treeline in the direction of the station. He was flown out to Lake Placid hospital where we met him in the morning after dividing his gear up and hiking out to Upper Works where we parked.

Altogether, I think he got a total of 6 liters of saline in a matter of about 12 hours.

In retrospect, after the experience I've gained in the intervening years, I think I would now either go back for him and the two guys to support them or at least wait for them to get down to us and hike out together. I think the group could have created a litter to carry him down to the lake and may have been able to get him out that night.

Everything turned out ok, though, and I definitely learned from the experience.

 

[hikingfish]

Missing Option!

I was never injured or had to spend the night out, however on an intro to mountaineering class on Mt Washington, someone from our group got hit on the head by a football sized piece of ice hurling down Huntington's Central Gully as we were practicing crampon techniques. She lost conciousness for a minute and then came too, but we had to carry her out on a liter. Ranger said she wouldn't of been here today if she hadn't been wearing a helmet.

Fish

 

[chipc]

you can carry gear that will no doubt make a huge difference when the crap hits the fan (and it will), but your primary means of staying safe is not something you can buy in a store and stick in your pack.

Agreed. In thinking about my accident while hiking in Crete (see earlier post), I was much less prepared for this hike than for any I do in the Whites. While we had the correct gear, we had poor descriptions of the trail and thus knew very little about what to expect. Basically we were in Crete for a meeting and spent a few extra days vacationing. I found a map with mountains and trails, need I say more? Certainly, there was no WMG! In retrospect, I should have been more cautious and paid more attention to how I was doing physically. In other words poor judgment may have been a contributing factor.

 

[Kevin Rooney]

I go along with Inge and Tim regarding being fit. Strong, well co-ordinated muscles, good balance and a clear, alert head are good equipment. Knowing where you're going and not making wrong decisions etc. etc. are also good for staying off the injured list.

I agree with you Neil.

However, I also think most people leaving any given trailhead, if asked, would say they are strong, well-coordinated, have appropriate gear, and know where they're going and don't plan to make poor decisions.

 

[Chip]

I was much less prepared for this hike than for any I do in the Whites...In other words poor judgment may have been a contributing factor.

In the "Back seat driver, Monday evening quarterback" thread Tim Seaver posted this link to a 2 year study on rescues in NH. The largest percentage of people rescued were men aged 30 to 40 from NH & MA (which only represents higher usage, it wasn't weighted). But I joked that living in CT made it safer for me to hike in NH. HOWEVER, if it WAS weighted I wonder if there would be more rescues of people more familiar with the area (backyard mentality) vs infrequent visitors (expedition mentality). I don't know.

 

[Neil]

I agree with you Neil.

However, I also think most people leaving any given trailhead, if asked, would say they are strong, well-coordinated, have appropriate gear, and know where they're going and don't plan to make poor decisions.

LOL!
But I KNOW I'm all those things. Most people just THINK they are all those things.

 

[Tom Rankin]

... and don't plan to make poor decisions

But I KNOW I'm all those things.

Looking at your avatar, one might dispute your contention!

 

[Clown]

I think it's good to have the right gear and be well prepared. I don't really think that it's an argument of who brings what, or how much though... Accidents do happen, and they always happen when you least expect it, and most likely you are never going to be prepared enough, or at least not as much as you would like. I would like to believe that it's more in experience and decision making. I know that you cannot anticipate some things, but there are many other things that you can.
I bet that if you posted a poll on how many people have cut short a hike, cancelled a trip, or turned back instead bagging that peak you would find alot of people have done this. Turning back has probably saved alot of injuries that could have occured. I know that I have turned back a few times, safety is always first.

 

[dr_wu002]

No Sars??????

So, nobody on VFTT has had a SAR Carryout or been so lost that SAR has had to find them???? I realize one poster came close. But nobody so far has voted for "SAR Carryout" while 6 people have admitted to pooping in their pants!?

-Dr. Wu

 

[dottie]

Whiteface--lost. . .

A couple years back, a long-time hiking partner and I re-connected after a few years of raising kids. We planned to hike Whiteface & Passaconaway. Up Blueberry Ledge Trail we went, stopping at the first big outlook, chatting all the way as we had a lot of catching up to do. We walked straight ahead, right over that big summit-like overlook, and down we hiked. It was pretty steep, and we were well down before suddenly nothing looked or felt right. She asked me, "what does the map say, what does the guide book say?" And I had to tell her that I left both of those things back in the van. Turns out we were on the McCrillis (sp.?) Trail, no idea where we were. Eventually, we came to a road, and later were able to hitch-hike back around the mountain to our van. We were a long ways off. . .But lessons were learned: we stayed calm, even as darkness crept in, we stayed together (of course) and continued to hike down, we weren't angry with one another (even though forgetting the map & guide book was stupid). We discussed the possibilities of what we would do when the sun really went down. And then, the guy who picked us up found our story funny, as we did, too, once we were "found" and greatly relieved. The feeling of being so lost has never left me, and I pack a bit differently now--maps and guidebooks always come with me. And then we re-hiked Whiteface and Passaconawy, grinning when we passed the trail sign for the Rollins Trail!

dottie