Still, I wonder why you wouldn't carry something like a PLB. Other than perhaps the weight, it doesn't impair your freedom, but could bail you out if need be. I've hiked with the best; I mean moutaineers that have done 20K+ peaks; and everyone has an accident sooner or later.
A good, fair question. I suspect my reasons are counter-logical. It's sort of an aesthetic, psychological thing. I like being alone, and free. A PLB or a GPS just feels like a tether to civilization or a sort of crutch in my mind, I guess. I actually own a few GPSs, but I've yet to carry one on a long trip.
I'm not foolish enough to believe that I am immune from the hazards, or that any amount of experience or skill can keep anyone safe from an accident. I've actually had some VERY close calls, including one memorable fall and slide on a steeply sloped granite slab where I was saved from a drop into oblivion by fortuitous and quite painful jam into a little surface crack. I had to sit and wait about a half hour to quit shaking after that.
Maybe that's part of the appeal, though. Total self reliance, with a certain occasional frisson of mortal danger.
I know it doesn't make sense, but there it is.
Jeff
Actually, no, it does make sense, at least to me. Living a life so conservatively that one never
feels alive is no life at all. I find that in this over-stimulated, overloaded, over-regulated modern world we live in, freedom is something valuable indeed. Last weekend, I promised my wife I'd be back by 1:00 PM from my (solo) hike. I went down a side trail that I've been wanting to check out. I showed some restraint, but still didn't get back until 5:00 PM. Definitely caught some heck even though I called in and said I was running late. Totally blew off the "honey do" list,
but it was oh-so-healing to wander and explore on a beautiful day with no particular itinerary or objective. Freedom: no deadlines, no one to answer too, no "to do" list, no hassles, no crowds, no mechanical/human noise. It's worth some risk to
be alive.
Not trying to crowd your space, but I roll up my PLB in a plastic bag, toss it in my pack, and off I go. I forget that it's even there, and I still have the same quality of experience. There's a part of my soul that crys out for those moments of truly being alive, and there's another more pragmatic part of me that realizes that I can have a lot more of those moments if I keep myself healthy and alive. I do what I can to mitigate risk (hike in somewhat tamer areas when solo, file a "flight plan" but loose enough that I don't feel constrained, carry a PLB) while not choking the very "aliveness" that I came out there for in the first place.
One guys way.
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