Some remarks I made to myself when reading:
He told himself to turn around, then ignored his own advice.
That seems to be a classic: Whenever you're about to do something you really shouldn't, there is usually a part of you telling you to stop.
"Get-there-itis", "summit fewer" are just two names given to man's phenomenal capacity to ignore the advice of a person he deeply respects and trusts: Himself.
"At seven o’clock I said to myself, ‘I’ve made it from two to seven and I haven’t fallen off or frozen to death. I can make it another five hours…’ Five hours later, he told himself, "I’ve made it 10 hours. I can make it another nine hours until it gets light."
That's the spirit: Break the impossible into small, manageable chunks. Do one chunk at a time. Don't worry about the next 100 chunks - just focus on the chunk at hand.
Hutchins also focused on his 17-year-old daughter he was planning to visit in California. "I thought of her the whole time, and I thought, ‘I’m going to see her again. I am not going out like this.’ She was a lot of my inspiration."
According to Laurence Gonzales (Deep survival), someone to live for seems to be an important, perhaps crucial factor in most or all of those who survive against impossible odds.
(But since we can't interview those who didn't survive such odds we can't say for sure if the same applies to non-survivors...)
As soon as I got to the top, I turned around. Things didn’t look right. For some reason it was easier to see where I was going up than it was going down."
IMO, that is always the case. There is only one way UP. Down you have the full 360 degree set of directions to choose from.
With only five feet of visibility, Hutchins headed downward, aiming for a pond that lies between the peak’s north and south summits. When he dropped steeply for a long time, he realized he wasn’t in line with the pond and assumed he’d instead gone down the mountain’s east side, toward Lutak Inlet.
He turned 90 degrees, thinking he’d intersect the trail.
A compass would have been incredible useful in that situation.... Not that I recommend 5-foot visibility in steep terrain to anyone. But at least a compass can stop you from heading right down any of the 100% lethal cardinal directions. Heading in the not-so-lethal direction is a great place to start (though it does not stop you from falling down the 60-foot cliff that you were supposed to sidestep by 15 feet before heading in that direction).
Ten minutes later, Hutchins had climbed to a treacherous spot, with no way up or down. He was out of cell phone range and realized he was nowhere near where he’d thought he was.
Climbing over a rock outcropping, trying to get within phone range, he fell backwards, he thinks maybe 500 feet or more.
Sometimes, you dig yourself deeper into trouble by every action you make... But then again, staying put on that mountain wasn't a really viable option. Or was it? We don't know what equipment he carried.
Also, the sky cleared at times, giving him a view of stars and the Big Dipper. "It was actually pretty beautiful."
"At some point you accept the fact that this is really happening to you, and you deal with it."
More of the stuff you find in Gonzales: Deep survival. Appreciation of beauty and accepting the situation in earnest are perhaps to facets of the same mind set necessary for survival?
Bear in mind that I don't know what he carried of equipment, the local terrain or what conditions he was exposed to. I am snug, warm and comfortable where I sit, enjoying my coffee. Therefore it is very easy for me to say things as having a bivy bag and a sweater would have removed none of his joy at the snowboard, but vastly expanded his options.
IMO, a PSK for the winter mountains is at the very minimum a small backpack with bivy bag, a sweater and something to drink (preferably warm). That's about 6 pounds, give or take. Perhaps also a small collapsible shovel, depending on when and where. Of course, you should also add a snack as well as the more conventional "survival-in-a-tin-can" items, they weigh next to nothing anyway. But the most crucial thing in the winter mountains is shelter from the environment and hydration.
Of course, it is hard to argue that a PLB would have removed any need to get off the mountain the fastest and most lethal way possible. All he had to do, was push the button and don't freeze to death while waiting for either a ground crew or favorable helicopter conditions.
As a side note: I am curios to what comments he would have received if he a) had a PLB, and b) pushed the button when he should have realized he was in deep trouble, BEFORE falling off a cliff or being part of an avalanche. Would he be scorned as the guy who pushed the button at the first hint of trouble?
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