Mountain Miracle: Woman Survives 5 Days Following

http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/20989589/detail.html

One determined lady. Another article said she drank rain water from her hair.

sometimes it just comes down to guts and luck--

Wow.


She is one very lucky lady to have made it.
If she had somebody to check her safe arrival she might have been found sooner.
I guess she had no cell phone or other means of calling for help either.

wow, I think I would prefer a head-on collision, would have probably been safer

"Her family didn't report her missing because she frequently goes off on trips alone."

I don't object so much to her going on trips alone, but she really needs to break herself of the habit of not telling anyone where she's going and when she should be back.

And slow down!

Sue

Exactly.

At least it wasn't WINTER yet.

ok, maybe a poor initial driving choice, but serious guts on getting through it.

I'd love to have a sit-down with her! Maybe DR or Cody Lundin or someone would someday do that. Be interesting to hear her side of it. As opposed to someone that did something stupid, lost a friend, and was peeved cuz SAR "didn't come soon enough."

Wow!

-Blast

What a story.

All the sudden, On-Star sounds cheaper than I thought while truck shopping over the weekend.

I think I will add a golf club to my cold weather kit I am building for my possible trip to Canada.

Five days later:


She didn't just crawl down the mountain: she was seriously injured to the point that she not able to even to get her head off the ground.

I don't like to use the word "luck" for this sort of thing. It implies that only pure chance is at work. She may not have done herself any favors in terms of preparations, but I bet she doesn't use the word "Quit" very often.

I drive a Honda minivan with two large driver's door pockets. I keep 8 4oz bags of water and 9 400cal lifeboat rations there, as well as my PLB (won't do any good at home - keep it in the car!), a handheld CB radio, and a very bright "signaling" flashlight w/ spare batteries. Ending up off a rural road because of a deer or cow is a real concern of mine so I pack the door's storage in case I *can't* get to the goody box in back or even reach to the passenger's side of the car.

PS. I realize the CB radio probably isn't real important and it may be bumped to the passenger side once I think of better things to have within reach.

James,

Have you ever been in, or seen inside a rolled vehicle?

Don't count on loose items in the pocket still being there when the vehicle comes to a rest.

I'm not counting on things staying in the door pockets in _any_ accident. If they stay within reach then it was a good idea. If not, no harm done, just time for Plan B.

I have a Honda minivan too. A quart Nalgene fit perfectly in the "cupholder" in the driver and passenger side doors, firmly enough where I think it might stay put in a rollover.

IME, everything--that is not SECURELY fastened down--will fly around the passenger compartment during a rollover, and it will seem afterwards that most of it hit you on the head. I don't have very much loose in the car, anymore. Where I can't get a good hookup with a seatbelt, I use 1" tubular webbing, and carabiners to hold my bag. As far as motorcycles go, if you're not willing to land on it, at speed, don't wear it.

"She may not have done herself any favors in terms of preparations, but I bet she doesn't use the word 'Quit' very often."

THAT'S for sure! It took a lot of guts and determination to do what she did. Maybe she will pop in here someday.

"I think I will add a golf club to my cold weather kit I am building for my possible trip to Canada."

SURVIVAL GOLF CLUB: weapon, fishing pole, poker for rattlesnakes, rabbit thumper, flag holder, campfire coal arranger, tarp prop, grain flail...

Sue

Alas, I drive a modified Honda Odyssey (lowered, wheelchair ramp) and there are no enclosed storage compartments other than the glove compartment, and I don't trust its latch.

Carabiners is an idea if I can get some hardpoints at the right places.

I'm thinking it would be a good idea to keep a whistle on my keychain.

I like Fox whistles. The smaller models like the Micro make good zipper pulls and they usually have a safety link in the neck lanyards if you wear lanyards instead.

http://www.fox40world.com/index.cfm?pagepath=HOME&id=4098

They simply are the best whistles I ever ran across.
On construction sites we use the Fox 40 classics (safety) around heavy equipment like cranes as warning devices. They are loud and shrill enough to be heard over all of the other noise and let people know a lift is happening.

The Standard disclaimer about not being associated with them.

A herd of deer, swerve and an unimaginably horrific five-day ordeal. She has a lot of guts and had a lot of luck.

Gives me the heebie-jeebies thinking about it. Just got back from the mountains today. Me and the pup.

Sounds like the essentials should be in a single bag, secured adjacent to the driver. Perhaps in the passenger seat if traveling alone. Secured by seatbelt?

In a rollover, I'd be lucky if I were not killed by all the stuff in my vehicle.

Death by bottled water - there's a case of it in the back. Unsecured.

Heck, when I was rear-ended, my wool hat that had been stuck between the winshield and the dash flew into the back seat. It was COLD that night and here I was standing outside with no hat, already with the shivers from the shock.

"Death by bottled water."

At least the pup could eat well for several days. And she's got a thick fur coat against the cold.

Sue

LOL! Yes, she'd do fine for awhile.

A shillelagh would do everything but poke the fire, and look MUCH classier.

Yet again another story that shows us its not equipment or skill that is important in a survival situation but a positive mental attitude, a will to to live and the want to get help.

Well done to her.

She did very well in touch conditions while injured.