https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021...nise-the-number

Hiker lost on US mountain ignored calls from rescuers because he didn’t recognise the number

Summary: they sent two rescue teams after him that didn't find him. He was lost for around 24h before finding his own way back to his car, with no idea that anyone had been looking for him.

Given the massive volume of scam calls I'm getting, this is not a surprise. If you even pick up the call once, you're on their list forever. Did SAR leave a message? Scammers rarely do.

Since he had cell service, though, you'd think he'd call or text someone with an update ("I'm a little lost but I'm okay, don't panic yet.") to save everyone the trouble of a search.

I'm not shocked at all. I rarely answer calls not in my contact list. And the guy claims he didn't know he was "lost" and had no idea anyone was looking for him. In his mind he got turned around and was a little late but no cause for alarm.

Many of us get spam calls. Sometimes it happens so often that we install a call screening app. We can easily miss real calls from numbers we don't recognize. Perhaps rather than "survival stupidity," we could understand the news story in a different light.

The guy got turned around (it happens), kept himself together and self-rescued. Not much of a story IMO. So yeah, the breathless media chatter about "survival stupidity" is more noise than signal.

I guess they did try contacting via text message too, although spam filters set to maximum might toss those too. Still, I think he could have sent a message out (and maybe he did).

The assumption that we are required to be connected and respond to our phones every second is a pernicious -- a.k.a. facebook disease. Good luck contacting me when I'm hiking. My phone is probably turned off to save the battery for a real emergency.

Just what you need when you're out there lost in the woods,"We've been trying to get in touch with you regarding your automobile warranty..."

I wonder what would happen if you were lost and answered that call, and pleaded with "Keith" with the Indian accent to get in touch with EMS. He'd probably want your credit card number first.

Haha, haven't had the "automobile warranty" scam yet, it's either free vacations or robo threats from supposed goverment agencies ("an arrest warrant has been issued!"). The desire to reach out and adjust attitudes is strong, but impractical, and a waste of otherwise healthy blood pressure.

Why don't these search and rescue teams simply unblock their number so it identifies who they are?

I might actually answer my cellphone when out hiking if it showed an incoming call from, say, "Colorado Search and Rescue" rather than "unknown caller".

Cellphones don't work with standard landline caller id, but the providers (AT&T, Verizon, etc.) can send an ID if they want to. You think they'd be agreeable to do that for the limited number of rescue agencies, police agencies and other emergency responders who might care to ask. Businesses can pay to have their id sent out on cellular calls, so you know the providers have the capability.

Also, search and rescue teams could publish the phone numbers they might call from to local area residents (or post them at trailheads) so people could enter them as a contact in their cellphones so that the name would show up on incoming calls. Even a simple coutry-wide online database of search team names, phone number and area(s) covered would work. Get the word out and people could look up and enter ones relevant to them as phone contacts. What, we only have 50 states (plus a few territories) and how many rescue teams could a state have? A dozen per state would seem on the high end. That's a very small database. You could even do it with a flat text file sorted by area covered (state, then quadrant of the state).

Last time I wanted to change that I had to call and wait on hold to do so. Some SAR organizations might be able to afford dedicated phones, but others might use volunteers who have their personal phones


Actually they do, that's why the cell providers have the option to make the cell number show blocked/private. Verizon defaulted to blocked and SIL moved and her signed up for a privacy service on her new land line and it wouldn't let my wife's blocked Verizon cell number through, we had to call Verizon to unblock it so it would show on SIL's called ID and then get through.



A lot of work. Our county has a reverse 911 service. You have to sign up for it and its an robocall for major alerts. I'd suggest maybe something like that. SAR could notify 911/police and they could attempt reaching out to a missing person and the caller id would show as 911 or the local police number.

However caller ID can be easily faked so I don't know if I'd pickup a call that said 'police' or 'SAR' after having received calls from the IRS telling me I needed to give a credit card to pay taxes and such like that.

Unfortunately its signal to noise ratio. I get less than 10 legit phone calls in a year and get 10 junk/spam calls a week s I've gotten to the point that I won't answer either because its just a waste of time.

SAR could have authorities issue an amber alert "Guest of Hotel 6 reported missing, please call ###-####" so he could think "hey, that's where I'm staying"

Too many missing pieces from the article, for example:
“If you’re overdue according to your itinerary, and you start getting repeated calls from an unknown number, please answer the phone; it may be a search and rescue team trying to confirm you’re safe!”

Did the hiker have an itinerary, did he tell anyone he was going hiking? If he didn't leave any itinerary or tell anyone he was hiking then he wouldn't expecting any calls.

Though someone reported him missing, was he staying with a friend, or a hotel? Did the friend/hotel call (i.e. recognizable number).

Says they sent texts too, what did the text say, seems like there would be something recognizable at a glance there. Unless he had his phone turned off and in a backpack or something.

If he knew he lost his way and was trying to find the correct trail he could have made a facebook/twitter/instagram post "Ha Ha I think I'm lost" or something.