[at-l] What's a "Yuppie 911" emergency?

[hiker 317]

It's too bad that they didn't watch the movie, it would have saved everyone
a lot of risk and aggravation: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0960741/

On Mon, Oct 26, 2009 at 10:41 AM, David Addleton <dfaddleton at gmail.com>wrote:

>
> http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap_travel/20091026/ap_tr_ge/us_travel_brief_yuppie911;_ylt=AvoGFTn4r47uYVZVg.aFl0as0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTFkZGJwYjY1BHBvcwMxNTkEc2VjA2FjY29yZGlvbl90cmF2ZWwEc2xrA3RpcmVkZnJvbWF0bw--
> Tired from a tough hike? Rescuers fear Yuppie 911
>
> By TRACIE CONE, Associated Press Writer Tracie Cone, Associated Press
> Writer – Sun Oct 25, 8:24 pm ET
>
>
> FRESNO, Calif. – Last month two men and their teenage sons tackled one
> of the world's most unforgiving summertime hikes: the Grand Canyon's
> parched and searing Royal Arch Loop. Along with bedrolls and
> freeze-dried food, the inexperienced backpackers carried a personal
> locator beacon — just in case.
>
> In the span of three days, the group pushed the panic button three
> times, mobilizing helicopters for dangerous, lifesaving rescues inside
> the steep canyon walls.
>
> What was that emergency? The water they had found to quench their
> thirst "tasted salty."
>
> If they had not been toting the device that works like Onstar for
> hikers, "we would have never attempted this hike," one of them said
> after the third rescue crew forced them to board their chopper. It's a
> growing problem facing the men and women who risk their lives when
> they believe others are in danger of losing theirs.
>
> Technology has made calling for help instantaneous even in the most
> remote places. Because would-be adventurers can send GPS coordinates
> to rescuers with the touch of a button, some are exploring terrain
> they do not have the experience, knowledge or endurance to tackle.
>
> Rescue officials are deciding whether to start keeping statistics on
> the problem, but the incidents have become so frequent that the head
> of California's Search and Rescue operation has a name for the
> devices: Yuppie 911.
>
> "Now you can go into the back country and take a risk you might not
> normally have taken," says Matt Scharper, who coordinates a rescue
> every day in a state with wilderness so rugged even crashed planes can
> take decades to find. "With the Yuppie 911, you send a message to a
> satellite and the government pulls your butt out of something you
> shouldn't have been in in the first place."
>
> From the Sierra to the Cascades, Rockies and beyond, hikers are arming
> themselves with increasingly affordable technology intended to get
> them out of life-threatening situations.
>
> While daring rescues are one result, very often the beacons go off
> unintentionally when the button is pushed in someone's backpack, or
> they are activated unnecessarily, as in the case of a woman who was
> frightened by a thunderstorm.
>
> "There's controversy over these devices in the first place because it
> removes the self sufficiency that's required in the back country,"
> Scharper says. "But we are a society of services, and every service
> you need you can get by calling."
>
> The sheriff's office in San Bernardino County, the largest in the
> nation and home to part of the unforgiving Death Valley, hopes to
> reduce false alarms. So it is studying under what circumstances hikers
> activate the devices.
>
> "In the past, people who got in trouble self-rescued; they got on
> their hands and knees and crawled out," says John Amrhein, the
> county's emergency coordinator. "We saw the increase in
> non-emergencies with cell phones: people called saying 'I'm cold and
> damp. Come get me out.' These take it to another level."
>
> Personal locator beacons, which send distress signals to government
> satellites, became available in the early 1980s, but at a price
> exceeding $1,200. They have been legal for the public to use since
> 2003, and in the last year the price has fallen to less than $100 for
> devices that send alerts to a company, which then calls local law
> enforcement.
>
> When rescue beacons tempt inexperienced hikers to attempt trails
> beyond their abilities, that can translate into unnecessary expense
> and a risk of lives.
>
> Last year, the beacon for a hiker on the Pacific Crest Trail triggered
> accidentally in his backpack, sending helicopters scrambling.
> Recently, a couple from New Bruswick, British Columbia activated their
> beacon when they climbed a steep trail and could not get back down. A
> helicopter lowered them 200 feet to secure footing.
>
> In September, a hiker from Placer County was panning for gold in New
> York Canyon when he became dehydrated and used his rescue beacon to
> call for help.
>
> With darkness setting in on the same day, Mono County sheriff's
> deputies asked the National Guard for a high-altitude helicopter and a
> hoist for a treacherous rescue of two beacon-equipped hikers stranded
> at Convict Lake. The next day they hiked out on foot.
>
> When eight climbers ran into trouble last winter during a summit
> attempt of Mt. Hood in Oregon, they called for help after becoming
> stranded on a glacier in a snowstorm.
>
> "The question is, would they have decided to go on the trip knowing
> the weather was going bad if they had not been able to take the
> beacons," asks Rocky Henderson of Portland Mountain Rescue. "We are
> now entering the Twilight Zone of someone else's intentions."
>
> The Grand Canyon's Royal Arch loop, the National Park Service warns,
> "has a million ways to get into serious trouble" for those lacking
> skill and good judgment. One evening the fathers-and-sons team
> activated their beacon when they ran out of water.
>
> Rescuers, who did not know the nature of the call, could not launch
> the helicopter until morning. When the rescuers arrived, the group had
> found a stream and declined help.
>
> That night, they activated the emergency beacon again. This time the
> Arizona Department of Public Safety helicopter, which has night vision
> capabilities, launched into emergency mode.
>
> When rescuers found them, the hikers were worried they might become
> dehydrated because the water they found tasted salty. They declined an
> evacuation, and the crew left water.
>
> The following morning the group called for help again. This time,
> according to a park service report, rescuers took them out and cited
> the leader for "creating a hazardous condition" for the rescue teams.
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