Yesterday marked the end of a rescue story in Southern California that gripped much of the nation this week. In Cleveland National Forest, which boasts 720 miles of rugged mountain wilderness, two young adults parked their vehicle on Sunday at a trailhead not more than a handful of miles from suburban housing tracts, shopping malls, and a Starbucks. While the details have yet to fully emerge, it looks like the pair set off for a day hike without proper equipment or clothing, including water, and then, at some point soon after their start, ventured off the well blazed trails to try to get a better view of the area’s waterfalls. They soon, though, became lost and then, somehow, became separated. As a Sheriff’s spokesman stated to the Associated Press, “I have no doubt that they came out here with the best of intentions … but this is a complicated environment and […]
Read more →On Saturday, my postwoman handed me the latest version of Accidents in North American Mountaineering (ANAM) that I had ordered earlier in the week. When I get home tonight from a meeting with my friend, J.C., I fully intend to crack open a beer, plop down on my couch with my fresh copy, and, soon after I start to read, begin heavily marking the pages with my highlighter and pencil. Since it is the sixth year in a row that I’ve been reading this journal, I know that it will probably take me about a week to finish — And I will appreciate every minute of it. Whoa, wait a minute, Erik, isn’t it a little weird to “appreciate” page after page of death, injury, and mortality statistics? I wrote “appreciate,” not “enjoy.” Besides, I read it … and often recommend it to my students … for very good reasons. After […]
Read more →Last week, search and rescue (SAR) teams were dispatched on multiple occasions to find or assist hikers who had gotten lost in the Superstition Mountains of Arizona. The fact that the hikers needed help wasn’t unusual (since it happens fairly often), but that so many did, in so short a period of time, raised eyebrows in the local outdoors community. After all, for one female hiker rescued on Wednesday, this wasn’t her first time requiring the service of SAR — It was her second time in three months. The recent events there, then, has helped to fuel a continuing debate that has grown across the country over the last ten years: Who should pay the cost of a wilderness rescue? The use of a helicopter, for example, for even a few hours can cost a local government thousands of dollars. Still, it doesn’t seem that the general public generally minds […]
Read more →Whether it is preparing for an unexpected survival or medical emergency, a common misconception exists. That is, that one can effectively deal with the emergency with only the barest minimum of equipment. For example, some people believe that they should be able to survive if they were suddenly blindfolded and dropped into the wilderness, in winter, dressed only in their underwear and equipped simply with a knife (Don’t laugh, I have actually heard this). Perhaps this might work on a television reality show, but I doubt that it would work in actual reality. This misconception can potentially be deadly. Consider the heroic rescue reported by The Salem News this weekend in Peabody, Massachusetts: A snowplow driver, who was parked in the break-down lane of Interstate 95 on Friday, watched a Jeep Wrangler slam, at roughly 60 miles per hour, into the back of a front-end loader being operated by a co-worker. […]
Read more →Today, an expedition composed of six Brits and Australians, led by Tim Jarvis and Barry Grey, completed a re-enactment of one of the greatest survival adventures of all time. The team followed the path of Ernest Shackleton, the acclaimed polar explorer, who in 1914 set out to sea from Great Britain on the Endurance with a crew of 56 men, just as hostilities broke out with Germany, to be the first to cross the Antarctic continent from sea to sea via the South Pole. However, soon after leaving port, the expedition faced one difficulty after another. Ultimately, though, even after overcoming all of those obstacles, the Endurance became hopelessly trapped in sea ice. Knowing that their only chance for survival lay in their own hands, Shackleton led his men over high walls of pack ice, hidden crevasses, raging seas, blinding blizzards, even a mountain, to a remote whaling station on […]
Read more →I spoke this morning to my friend, David, who lives just outside of Boston. He, and the rest of the residents of the Northeast, are bracing for a snow storm that is forecast to blast in from the Great Lakes Region sometime later tomorrow. But this apparently won’t be just any snow storm. Forecasters are predicting a “crippling and potentially historic winter storm” that will bring more than 2′ of snow. Boston has already cancelled school and it is preparing for “one of its worst blizzards of all time.” I must admit, though, that I am a wee bit jealous of David. Granted, I am happy enough to let him shovel his driveway and walk, but he and his son are going to have much fun afterwards when the work is done … As will the innumerable New England school kids who will be joining them. But whether you live […]
Read more →In the national news this month, two separate incidents occurred that involved two different sets of hikers who had set out for an enjoyable day on the trail. However, in both cases, their fun quickly became an ordeal when the weather suddenly turned against them and they were not properly prepared for conditions. In the one case, the story had a happy ending. Two sisters were rescued after spending a night on a mountain in California. They suffered the effects of hypothermia, but will likely fully recover. The other outcome, however, was terribly sad. A man and his two young sons succumbed to hypothermia overnight after getting lost on a remote trail in Missouri. When I initially read about this latter incident a few weeks ago, I had planned on writing a detailed post about it. However, the more details that I discovered, the more that I couldn’t bring myself […]
Read more →Whether it is a survival situation, or a medical issue, a recurring theme in dealing with an acute emergency in any remote location is the importance of improvisation. That’s because rarely, if ever, will we have with us an unlimited amount of resources. In particular, tools, supplies, and, perhaps most importantly, time, will likely be in short supply. Most often, we will be forced to make due with what little we may have and in a terribly short of amount of time (thus, making an already stressful situation, even more so). However, this need not necessarily be too bad — In fact, it could actually be an asset. We just need to train ourselves to do two things. First, we need to be able to mentally accept that which we can’t change … Or, as a wise old man once elegantly stated, “Embrace the suck!” And, secondly, we must learn to […]
Read more →If anyone is looking for a last minute Christmas gift, then I have terrific recommendation. One of the best all time books on the subject of survival is Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why? by Laurence Gonzales. First published in 2004, Gonzales seeks to answer a classic question that has puzzled many of us for so long: Why does survival seem so unpredictable? For example, why does only one out of a group of five in a lifeboat survive while the rest die? Or, why does an experienced hunter die overnight, while, in worse conditions, a toddler survives many days? Using a combination of physiological and psychological analysis, plus true-life case studies, Gonzales weaves a deceptively simple, yet powerful, explanation: Equipment, training, and experience, though helpful in a survival situation, are not decisive … It is what is in your brain and heart that counts. One reason that Gonzales’ book is […]
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