[pct-l] trail fatalities

[Romano Scaturro]

In 2005, on our last night on top of Whitney during a SB JMT hike, we heard 
helicopters buzzing over in the early evening.  Turns out a couple scouts 
were killed by a lightning strike earlier that afternoon while trying to 
hide in, of all places, a hollow tree just a few miles to the north during a 
late July thunderstorm.

Now you might be wondering what in the heck we were doing spending the night 
on top of Whitney during a thunder and lightning storm.  One of the dumber 
things I've done in my life.  Didn't get alot of sleep that night and woke 
up with an inch of snow around us.




----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Rod Belshee" <rbelshee at hotmail.com>
To: <pct-l at backcountry.net>
Sent: Saturday, March 14, 2009 9:21 AM
Subject: Re: [pct-l] trail fatalities


> 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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>
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