[pct-l] trail fatalities

[Rod Belshee]

1) Inexperience and bad judgment.

Near-misses or fatalities I have seen on or around the trail: several severe cases of hypothermia in rainy Washington (insufficient rain gear or inadequate knowledge of how/where to pitch a tent in pouring rain and stay dry), heat stroke in SoCal (hiking in the heat of the day and carrying insufficient water), AMS/HACE (mountain sickness with cerebral edema near Whitney of a hiker who went from low elevation to the ridge and stayed overnight), Sandy River crossing (attempted in afternoon during high level), lightning (crossing a long exposed ridge with no escape routes in early afternoon when electrical storms are likely). 

There are probably other examples I have forgotten, but these all can be summarized as inexperience and bad judgment. They rarely are about scary animals (or scary people, although I do agree that roadside walking is hazardous) and more about overconfidence in pushing against the elements. Mother Nature is an unforgiving teacher of humility, and I would agree that the riskiest profile is a young male (or couple) because they are most likely to overestimate themselves and underestimate the elements.

Steady Sr



> The list of causes of fatalities should be more basic:
>    1.    Inexperience
>    2.    Inappropriate/missing gear
>    3.    Lack of training/fatigue
>    4.    Insufficient water
>
> A fascinating reference is "Mountaineering Accidents of North America", a
> compilation published yearly of fatalities/accidents reported by Search and
> Rescue groups.  While not limited to hiking accidents, it is eye-opening.
> Experienced, prepared, educated people do have bad luck in the wilderness;
> anyone can fall, have a heart attack, etc.  By and large, the majority of
> problems arise among the inexperience, unprepared folks out there.
>
> At Grand Canyon, we had very few SARs involving middle-aged and older
> hikers.  But there was a recipe for disaster: a 30 yr old guy (who still
> thought he had what he had in high school) who would convince his gullible
> girfriend to go hiking in July.
>
> Ed Abby once said something about a wilderness being someplace where you
> could get killed.  These days, I think it applies more to our urban
> wildernesses!
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Will M" <jalan04 at gmail.com>
> To: <pct-l at backcountry.net>
> Sent: Friday, March 13, 2009 7:10 PM
> Subject: Re: [pct-l] trail fatalities
>
>
> > I'm planning on doing a short talk on Thru-Hiking at work next month and
> > was
> > just thinking about what the 5 most dangerous aspects of thru hiking are.
> > I'm looking for input but in no particular order I have hypothermia,
> > falling, river crossings, heart attacks, dehydration, rattlesnakes.  I'm
> > guessing most non-hikers would list bears but I don't think they belong
> in
> > the top five.  Any thought s on this.
> >
>
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