[pct-l] ALERT......... hiker suffecates in bivy sack

Reinhold Metzger reinholdmetzger at cox.net
Sat Sep 23 00:40:20 CDT 2006


ATTENTION  ALL  BIVY  SACK  OWNERS!!!
On my recent JMT marathon attempt I climbed Mt. Langley ( a fourteener )as part of my acclimation.
I started talking to a hiker who was taking, what seemed to me, an excessive number of photographs.
When I inquired why he was taking so many photographs, he stated he was doing a documentary to his best friend.
Upon further inquiry he revealed to me that his best friend and hiking companion died on at mountaineering expedition. They found him dead in his bivy sack the next morning. The autopsy revealed  suffocation as the cause of death. His bivy was made from none breathable material and zipped al the way shut without a vent. The conclusion was he suffocated in his bivy  because of lack of ventilation.
The pre trial investigation revealed  that there where other similar prior problems with that particular bivy sack. I failed to get the manufacturers name and model of the bivy.

Do not let this happen to you.  I f your bivy is made from none breathable material and does not have
a vent, install a vent.

JMT Reinhold



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