[at-l] Hiker in Snowstorm---

[Tom McGinnis]

Normally I'd agree with you, Ken, but this was not a knife-edge situation -- where the situation was suddenly foisted upon her -- to get where she was, she had to walk past some fine spots to spend the night, and know that she was walking UP into an area that has "beautiful views" and gnarly magical forests.... (come to think of it, the last time *I* went through there, it was dark, snowy, and yes, quite magical -- SCARY magical....) She got there by a lack of planning (my "second guess"), not any sort of emergency.

(Jeez, though -- I *am* warm as I write this...)'toe

--- On Thu, 3/7/13, Ken Bennett <bennett.ken at gmail.com> wrote:

Yeah, but... One of the early signs of hypothermia is making bad decisions. I wouldn't second guess somebody from where I sit in the comfort of my living room. I could easily have done something that looks that dumb from a distance.


--Ken

On Thu, Mar 7, 2013 at 12:25 AM, Leslie Booher <lbooher at charter.net> wrote:

On tonight's Johnson City, TN, news, 
they interviewed a female thru-hiker who had spent the night in the 
snowstorm on Unaka Mountain.  For some reason, she didn't settle down and 
set up her tent and get in her sleeping bag.  She was hiking alone.  
Way in the night, when she fell down in a fetal position on the mountain, she 
called her mother-in-law, who called for rescue.  They got her down 
sometime in the morning.  The rescue ATVs bogged down in the snow, and 
they had to walk her down.  The hospital said that she has signs of 
beginning hypothermia, but nothing serious.  It's all very odd and sketchy 
to me.  With cell phone reception being what it is in the mountains around 
here, it's a miracle she got through to anyone.  
 
a'bear