http://www.rgj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081005/NEWS18/81005001&OAS_sitepage=news.rgj.com%2Fbreakingnews

Will post more when I here from our SAR group.

Hiker Dies After Rescue

Wet, Cold, Elevation, limited Calories, and apparently no fire. In those conditions people will get hypothermia and some will die. Its very unfortunate, but it happens in the wilderness. The good news is the others survived.

Under those conditions getting a fire going might well be somewhere between extremely difficult and impossible.

Also: note the age group. Only one of them was under 50. OAP's playing spring chicken.

Like it or not: the older you are, the less you are able to withstand. And yes, ladies and gentlemen, there are exceptions to that.

A simple shelter tarp like a lightweight poncho and a few feet of line, for an improvised shelter, would probably have saved them.

Waterproofs, extra clothing and chemical heater packs like the commonly sold handwarmers are lifesavers.

The shame is what one brings into a Wilderness Survival situation is rarely reported on. I notice than when a surviver is properly interviewed or is reporting it themselves they can tell you every piece of gear they had, found, lost, or received along the way. It would make a big difference to wilderness survival education if more successful survival situations were reported along with the gear they had taken into the woods.

Please enlighten me on the meaning of the acronym OAP.

In Britain, OAP means 'Old Age Pensioner'.

And it certainly would be great if reporters DID report what they had with them. It might make a few people think for a couple of seconds and grab something that they would ordinarily leave behind. But that doesn't make news, does it?

Something to keep you out of the cold wind could make the difference between life and death.

"Death knows no time, nor respects rank... Death walks in darkness and carries away young and old, high and low, good and evil wayfarers that it meets on the way." (Ahura Mazda)

He doesn't mention the careless and stupid, but I guess poets don't.

Sue

Thanks, Susan.

We were up not last weekend but the weekend prior and it was Shorts and T-Shirts during the day and mid/low 30s at night.

Last weekend it was snowing and raining showers on and off... the weather up there can change in an instant. On the peaks 0mph to 40mpg gusts that blow you down in an INSTANT! You can see storms rolling in hitting and leaving in a matter of 1hr or less.

People need to know what they are in for in high altitude and during the storm/start/winter season.

For years we go snow camping, 4x4, etc, and it's AMAZING how many people go with their family not prepared... amazed more don't die frankly.

Truly.

I went out for a backpack this past Sat/Sun. At the trailhead, there was a day hiker there with shorts (cotton) and a sweatshirt (cotton) on. She had no backpack. She only had a very small fanny pack with a water bottle on one side and a stuff sack (looked like it might have held a windbreaker) on the other. The forecast was for 40% chance of snow. It didn't snow that day, but I awoke to frost on the ground the next morning. That's a bit chilly for shorts and no supplies.

I see this all the time when I'm out, so I shouldn't react to it anymore, but it's just so astounding to me. Have they never heard that unprepared people die in the wilderness? I just can't fathom it.