[pct-l] Death on the PCT / John Joseph Donovan

[Don Billings]

Paul,

I agree that turning back would have been the prudent thing to do in John's case. From what I read, though, he routinely 
hiked miles in the snow to and from work in his home state so he may have simply had too much confidence in his ability.

Nobody knows for sure what went wrong or WHEN it went wrong, but I suspect he realized he made a mistake and then
attempted to head for safety. Being without a compass and gps in the dark and in a snow storm could have been his downfall. 
Rather than being the most dangerous gear in his pack, he could have used the backtrack feature to perhaps find his previous 
location.

In any case, his hiking without compass nor gps was a mistake. I even read that the maps he had were of poor quality but I'm 
not sure what maps were used. He was a poor man all of his life and scrimped on everything. So, if he had photocopied maps, 
that too may have been his downfall. When you read of his life, and his low income (he didn't even have $$ for a phone at his 
apartment)....  you have to cut him some slack. He finally found something he could do on his income/retirement that he
liked but he still had those lifelong habits of frugality..... but the one thing, in my mind, that nobody should cheap out on
is safety gear.

The thing that struck me heavily was that after having a hard life (parents gone by age 10, etc), he stated to friends that his
lifelong fear in life was to die alone. So, imagine how he felt... in the snow, injured, without food, nobody knowing where he was,
no S&R initiated, and without the proper gear. The story just tugs at my compassion.




----- Original Message ----
From: Paul Mitchell <bluebrain at bluebrain.ca>
To: pct-l at backcountry.net
Sent: Mon, January 25, 2010 1:00:42 PM
Subject: Re: [pct-l] Death on the PCT / John Joseph Donovan

With all due respect to the late Mr. Donovan, I'd chime in to say that much
more valuable than a compass and GPS in his situation would have been a bit
of caution and sense.  John took on the San Jacinto stretch with ultra-light
gear, 3 feet of snow on the ground and foreknowledge that a storm was
blowing in that night.  The other hikers who last met him had the sense to
descent to Idyllwild to shelter from the inbound snowstorm, yet John decided
to press on through serious snow into a high altitude snow storm.  

If a compass and GPS gave you the confidence to enter a mountain range under
those conditions, than they just might be the most dangerous gear in your
pack.

- P178

"This year the Idyllwild area has had its highest snow fall in 40 years, and
the area John was last seen in had approximately 3 ft. of snow and the
weather report, (which John knew about) for that night was that a storm was
coming in. Other PCT hikers came into Idyllwild for shelter from the storm."

http://www.rmru.org/missions/2005/2005-017.html


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