This story interested me as I think Mt. Rainier is probably one of the most beautiful places I have ever visited. There seems to be a lot of tragedy on this mountain this year as well, underscored by the loss of what some considered a veteran hiker in this area.

http://blogs.seattletimes.com/today/2014/06/friend-body-found-near-mount-rainier-is-karen-sykes/

I had previously read about the search for this person and it immediately came to mind that there was not to be a good outcome.

Judging by the info in the link, she was an experienced hiker - but experienced does not always equate good judgement which was missing on that fateful day.

I agree. I found it very surprising that she decided to "go it alone". Even this time of year, I think the weather on Mt. Rainier is unpredictable. I'm glad SAR was able to locate her and bring her home to her family and friends.

Seems a bit premature to be accusing her of poor judgement? I have not heard anything about what led to her death, or if the weather played a role. Maybe being with someone would have made a difference, but then again maybe not?

If hiking solo is a crime, then I must plead guilty, your honor. I have done so on many occasions. Sometimes even in unpredictable weather.

I was kind of surprised that there was so little discussion of the case here at ETS but summer has come to the Dakotas and even I am not online as much. I've followed the story with interest since the woman was a very experienced hiker and outdoorswoman by all accounts. Today I read that the cause of death has been determined to be hypothermia. Momentarily I was taken aback; in my mind I thought a 70 year old woman hiking alone, probably she had an accident or died of a heart attack or other illness.

But no, hypothermia. According to the reports the low temps were in the low 40's, certainly cold enough to kill but not usually a huge concern for someone well equipped and skilled in wilderness lore. I know that a surprise downpour or a slip and fall into a stream can lead to a rapid loss of core heat. Still...someone with that much experience should have known this and been better prepared. I don't say that to speak ill of her memory but to remind anyone reading that there's a good reason places like ETS exist! Nowhere in the media reports have I learned what she carried for gear but I have to wonder if a PSP & AMK HeatSheet bivvy might have made the difference between a story to tell your grandkids and a tragedy.

I've only read one or two articles that reported on the cause of her death, and I know that health laws limit the details that can be reported, but I do hope more details are forthcoming.

From what I read she was an experienced hiker, she was well equipped, and she was not injured.

She simply died of hypothermia ... and we don't know why.

If she had a coat with her ... was she wearing it?

If she had a water resistant layer ... was she wearing it?

Was her insulation not working - maybe she'd gotten wet?

I just don't accept that sometimes people just go out for a hike ... and die, which is essentially what the articles I read are saying.

Hopefully her family will allow others to learn from her death.

Hypothermia? That certainly would not have been my first guess either, not with someone with her experience.

It really makes me wonder what chain of events led to this.

As usual, we have only sketchy and often unreliable news accounts. Some reports say " Karen Sykes died of hypothermia with the secondary cause of heart disease, the Pierce County Medical Examiner’s office said this afternoon." Earlier reports said she was prepared to spend at least one night out.

So did a heart attack make her susceptible to hypothermia? Was she found using her extra gear? Or was it still in her pack? We can speculate all day long, but the bottom line is we don't know jack. That's why I don't jump to conclusions, or pass judgement on her actions and preparations.

Any incident has a systematic chain of events that can ultimately lead up to a tragic conclusion. This includes car accidents, airplane crashes, hiking injuries/death and so on. Science and post incident investigations has long proven that somewhere in that chain of events, poor judgement, not well thought, wrong or even worse - no decisions have played a role in tragic situations. The chain of events leading up, can be weeks, days, hours or minutes in the making. In this deceased person's case, we will probably never know. That does not mean I am passing poor judgement directly on the person, but simply stating a fact that is perhaps uncomfortable for many to realize.

Another uncomfortable fact of life: Aneurisms. Many folks have them within the brain and/or along primary blood vessels and have not ever learned of that fact, for many reasons, until one day, poof. Death occurs quickly and one drops exactly where they were at that moment. One can be standing in an Emergency Room of a modern hospital and there is not anything that can be done for them.

MDana (sorry for butchering your handle) can explain this fact of life much more intelligently than I.

Except that up thread you did seem to be passing judgement, when you explicitly said:
However, you do make one good point. Decisions made days or hours before could certainly have changed the outcome. If she had just stayed in Seattle, then none of this would have happened.

One simple preparation will insure that you will never die in the mountains, and that is to never go into the mountains. If you do go into the mountains, there is some chance you might die, no matter how experienced you are, or how much survival gear you carry, or how many companions you go with. I'm "simply stating a fact that is perhaps uncomfortable for many to realize."

I munged the words in my original post. If it makes anyone feel better, would it of been more acceptable to say; she was an experienced hiker - but experienced does not always equate good judgement which was possibly missing on that fateful day.

"I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before
one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit
theories, instead of theories to suit facts.
- - Sherlock Holmes in “A Scandal in Bohemia”, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

We don't have the facts yet.

But, I was working on something else today and the following popped up: "The Normalcy Bias."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normalcy_bias
A quote from the article "The assumption that is made in the case of the normalcy bias is that since a disaster never has occurred then it never will occur. It can result in the inability of people to cope with a disaster once it occurs. People with a normalcy bias have difficulties reacting to something they have not experienced before. People also tend to interpret warnings in the most optimistic way possible, seizing on any ambiguities to infer a less serious situation."

I have also heard something like this referred to as "get thereitis."

Pure unsubstantiated speculation: could she simply have thought "I've done this a 1000 time before---no problem."

A cautionary tale.

I do hope more facts come out, but we will never know what she was thinking.

"experienced" is a very elastic term. It doesn't mean "immune" or"impervious". It does mean that an experienced outdoorsperson is less likely to get into trouble. As always, full details are helpful in really understanding the situation.

Here is yet another case of an "experienced, fit" individual disappearing. It doesn't look good for him. http://www.vcstar.com/news/2014/jun/24/no-new-clues-in-search-for-missing-firefighter/

I hike alone whenever I can. Also fish, hunt and run cross country. It's rare that I can be alone and I value those moments. I haven't camped alone in a few years, except during deer season. I'm lucky that the boss likes being outdoors and isn't one of the dainty breed who shrieks when a mosquito lands on her. Recent se walked into our weekend camp with a bull snake she had caught for a kid down the block.

Hiking in a group in no panacea. An aware,reasonably cautious, well equipped solitary hiker may be in less jeopardy than an uninformed group. The latter case is just going to require more body bags.

The critical variable is knowledge, often expressed as "experience."

I may just have to start hiking alone, can't get the rest of the family to go often enough

Just be careful Eugene. You're smart enough to carry the proper gear. Maybe you can find a hiking buddy or even a group locally? I kind of prefer to be alone out there. I don't have to watch over anyone and it gives me time to think.

Something like this was kind of what I was driving at. The reports, sketchy as they are, listed the cause of death as hypothermia. Now, I'll be the first to admit I'm no Cody Lundin, just a guy that tries to learn and loves the outdoors. And it's also true that just being experienced and knowledgeable doesn't immunize one completely against risk. Yet in conditions that are relatively mild I would be somewhat surprised to see a skilled, healthy and well equipped person to succumb to hypothermia overnight. I do know it can hit you hard and fast, but I do wonder if some other health issue complicated things for her.

One last comment; if I am thinking about my death I can sure picture a lot of ways worse than dying on a beautiful if cold mountain at age 70. My dad loved the outdoors but passed away in a hospital bed, covered with tubes and monitors, at age 67. I have no doubt he'd have gladly traded spots with her if he could.

I will never forget a search we did some years ago. We were looking for an elderly gentleman who had not returned from his daily early morning walk in the desert. We found hm quickly along the route - quite dead. What impressed me was his facial expression which I can only describe as serene and content. There are much worse ways of going, and I don't care for tubes and monitors either.

These are two different issues. Sometimes related, but separate. GetThereItis generally refers to the perceived need to accomplish a goal (get there) that overcomes training or good sense that doing so would be dangerous and potentially life-threatening. An unfortunate common cause of aviation fatalities.

And normalcy bias is the "I've done this 100 times before, therefore I won't have any issues this time"

It's not necessarily instant. Any hematoma inside the skull is bad news but may take hours to disable or kill. Worse, the victim can feel fine and I'm not sure any field test can always uncover the disaster until too late. And there may not be any sign of an impact on the skin either

If someone reaches ER in time a hematoma can often (usually?) be treated. A couple of years ago a baseball pitcher took a line-drive to the head and was rushed to a hospital where they found an epidural hematoma - he survived because no time was wasted seeing if he got a headache before doing a CT scan. By contrast Natasha Richardson died because she felt fine after hitting her head and didn't go to ER right away; by the time she felt unwell it was too late (and ER far away).

It's not hard to imagine that Karen Sykes slipped and fell earlier in the hike and then hours later was incapacitated by a hematoma, unable to use any of her protective gear, and that hypothermia got her first.


This was called "Go Fever" at NASA and was viewed as a key element in the events resulted in the Apollo 1 fire.