Two men requiring SAR rescue...in about the same place where they were rescued once before. No equipment--naturally! An avalanche was caused and one of the rescuers was slammed into a tree and required hospitalization. Needless to say, this isn't totally over, for those in the county are discussing the issue.

http://www.steamboattoday.com/news/2017/jan/23/county-commissioners-frustrated-men-rescued-fish-c/

Not having Avi training and gear when skiing the back country is like giving a big middle finger to partners and rescue agencies. What those boneheads should do now is volunteer time and money for the SAR.

Sounds too like SAR could use more training.

There was a program a while back that required rescue victims, who broke laws and ignored warnings to get into a situation where they needed rescue, to serve as avalanche victims during SAR training exercises? I'm sorry, but I forgot exactly where it took place.

This seems like an excellent opportunity to pound some sense into these guys while benefitting future rescue victims.

I don't get this at all. Experience has always been my best prep teacher. Every time a situation I was unprepared for came up, I then on was prepped for that situation.

I'll give an example. I began prepping when I was a child. It happened in the checkout line of a grocery store when suddenly I needed to sneeze. All I had were my two hands. Fortunately a woman, also in the checkout line, handed me a Kleenex. Then on I had a Kleenex Pocket Pack on my person when I left the house.

Jeanette Isabelle

Different learned lesson. Your experience was that having a random stranger hand you a Kleenex when you needed it was an aberration. Most people don't carry Kleenex with them, so you were lucky. Your takeaway was that you will need to sneeze in the future, but it's unlikely that there will be a random stranger with a handy Kleenex, so you need to now carry Kleenex for sneezing. Their experience was that they were rescued from the same predicament last time, so they will be rescued from the same predicament in the future. They didn't take into account that SAR is not always available or successful.

If you put it that way, they did not learn a thing. Or, if they learned anything, it was the wrong lesson.

Jeanette Isabelle

Hi,
Or they learned the "easy" lesson?

well not sure if it's a finger to the resceu'ers. It is however just plain stupid. It's not like you get rescue alive if you are buried in a avalanch without any avi gear.

I do see lots of people having no avalanch equipment/knowledge going off-piste and thinking it's safe because; 'there are tracks', 'it's close to the ski lift', 'never seen a avalanch here', etc. Even clear terrain traps are ignored.

I believe there is such a thing as a "SAR paradox" - the operations of a proficient SAR unit can, in some individuals, actually foster unsafe behavior, because never worry, never fear, search and rescue will soon be here.

I was actually told by one victim we had just extricated that he was very glad we were around, because otherwise he would not be venturing into the back country....

Maybe I'm too independent; I don't understand this line of thinking. When I lived in Dallas I had everything I needed in a big city (on my person or in the car) when I left the house. I did not call someone for each incident. I did what I could with the gear and knowledge I had.

Then again I lived in a big city and did not venture out. For me a "back country experience" was going to the Cedar Ridge Nature Preserve or Cedar Hill State Park.

Jeanette Isabelle