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

[Reinhold Metzger]

It appears that suffocating in a none breathable shelters is not limited to
bivy sacks.
I have bin informed that a woman, using a none breathable tyvec tarp
suffocated after wrapping herself in the tyvev tarp when it started snowing.

----- Original Message -----
From: Reinhold Metzger
To: pct-l at mailman.backcountry.net ; Hiker97 at aol.com ; Deems ; Monte Dodge ;
Bighummel at aol.com ; John Stamstad ; Al Shaver ; Rex Spaith ; mat masterson
Sent: Friday, September 22, 2006 10:40 PM
Subject: ALERT......... hiker suffecates in bivy sack


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