http://www.canada.com/edmonton/edmontonj...b1-9ff0631bd5fb

So can we do a post-mortem on this? What should she have done differently?

She did many things right and a few wrong.

Wrong:
She went out into wilderness alone.
She did not tell anyone where she was going or when she would return.
No mention of use of maps or GPS to confirm her direction of travel.

Right:
She carried extra clothing and supplies.
She was aware of hypothermia and took measures not to let it interfere with her self-rescue.
She kept a positive mental attitude and perserved in the face of difficulty.
She was familliar with the area so did not have to rely on maps.
She improvised to tools to overcome her disabilities (wiper use while driving)

Dumb and lucky.

And may I offer my opinion that she will probably make the same errors in judgment again?

I know, I know. Cynical & judgmental. <img src="/images/graemlins/mad.gif" alt="" />

Sue

I tend to disagree on one point. There is absolutely nothing wrong with going in to the wilderness alone as long as you are prepared. Goodness, if I never when in to the wilderness alone I would miss out on 95% of the hiking, camping and hunting (though I don't hunt anymore) trips I have ever been on!

going ablone is a safety hazard. But i and lots of others like being alone in the outdoors. It's a kind of peacefullness you get wenn your alone in the wild... Ofcorse this means we have to take extra measure in securing our safety.

This guy explains it very well why people go in the wild alone: http://woodsdrummer.com/alone.html

> [color:"green"]She went out into wilderness alone.[/color]

Risky, perhaps, but I wouldn't say it was wrong.

> [color:"green"]She did not tell anyone where she was going or when she would return.[/color]

Did that matter here? If she had told someone, should she have sat and waited for rescue?

> [color:"green"]No mention of use of maps or GPS to confirm her direction of travel.[/color]

Did that matter here? I see no indication that she ever got lost or travelled in the wrong direction.

My main query is whether she would have benefited from a mobile phone. I'm guessing she was out of signal when the accident happened, but by the time she got back to her car she surely could have called for help.

One thing that caught my attention- she was pushing her skis ahead of her. She should have just left them behind.

Why not lie on top of them and use them as a sled? Then paddle kind of like riding a surfboard?

I wouldn't leave the skis behind because you will need them to distribute your weight on deep snow if you don't want to sink in chest-deep. I have learned that the hard way.