I listened to the web-version of Laurence Gonzales's 2-hour interview with nutcase radio that was posted here a little while ago. I really felt kind of sorry for the guy, having to listen to some loser describe his attempt to climb a 100-foot cliff in the dark wearing fishing waders, and pretend it was a riveting story of survival.

I think what so many of these "tragic stories" have in common is that the people involved - whether they survive or not - simply refuse to accept that there's a problem until it's far too late for them to do something about it.

A co-worker of mine lost his teenage son last winter - the boy decided he was going to walk home from a friend's, in temperatures of 30 below, wearing blue jeans and a windbreaker. After all, it was "only a 15-minute walk".

The media compounds the problem, IMO, by treating wilderness survival as either rocket science or fringe lunacy. (Depends on whether we're talking about somebody who actually survived getting lost, or somebody who tries to be prepared for it. The former is regarded as a near-miracle - regardless of how many or how few stupid mistakes the "survivor" made; the latter is regarded as suspicious, perhaps even criminal, behaviour.)