It is valid to critique the decisions of people in such situations, that is how we learn to do better. That is a large part of the purpose of this forum.

The article claims that she took survival classes. She either did not learn anything or she did not use the knowledge that she gained. They made many bad decisions and did not seem to be prepared.

The comments about people consuming urine are valid in my opinion. Things appear in some TV shows and then you have reports of people doing it. In this particular case they had other options but chose to do the wrong thing.

Yes survival is a pass/fail situation, but these people were just lucky. It could easily have gone the other way based on their decisions. Last time I was in that area there was no cell phone signal at all, and they had no other method of communicating and did not leave a plan with anyone else. Nobody was looking for them until they did find a signal and made a call.

I believe that when people violate rules or laws, such as trespassing into a closed park, they should be held legally liable. Like those going into off limits areas, knowingly making that decision, they should be prosecuted. Just my opinion. These people endangered their own lives, and the life of their son, deliberately crossing into areas that were clearly marked as off limits.

A simple pocket survival kit with a good fire starter would have made a significant difference. A smokey fire in that area at that time would have brought park rangers to investigate, I am sure. They should have tried the cell phone before she decided to hike out.

This just shows that you can do everything wrong and get lucky. We should learn from this, though most people here already understand these principles.

I would like to know what survival training she received. Whoever taught it should be scrutinized to see what they are actually teaching.

Critical thinking in this forum should not be discouraged. Discussing what they did wrong is important. They came out alive, but only through luck and the efforts of others. We need to learn the correct lessons from such incidents.

Also, humor is a great teaching tool; makes the point and is memorable.

Teacher

http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-grand-canyon-rescue-20161227-story.html

Some more details about the recent rescue, The park north rim entrance station was unlocked and stocked with survival essentials. The lady unfortunately was in another cabin close by which was not so equipped. Other stuff as well....

No mention of urine ingestion, but now she is putting some snow in her mouth...???

I wonder at which point in her sojourn she realized she was in a survival situation? At what point did she realize she could die?

No qualms with the above. However when the armchair comments border on ridicule - that is not the purpose of this forum.

I suspect we've been suckered by a sexed-up headline.

I came across several other accounts by accident. No mention of drinking urine, only melted snow.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/las-vegas-woman-who-walked-26-miles-snowy-grand-canyon-n700371

http://www.popularmechanics.com/adventur...e-grand-canyon/

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2016/12/25/she...as-miracle.html

Does Bear Grylls teach survival classes? That's about the only place I figure she could have picked up those wilderness skills. Abandoning your family and hiking blindly for 30 miles while slogging down urine cocktails doesn't sound like "wilderness skill" to me.

But I wasn't there. Actually, that's the first wilderness survival skill you should probably learn. "Don't be there" (don't get yourself a wilderness survival situation in the first place).

I love the part of the article about "main highway closed due to snow". So they decided it was smart to take "Forest Road 22" instead???

I'm glad the family is OK. But I wish news organizations wouldn't glamorize idiots like this. They're at the same IQ level as those folks you see stranded on top of their cars in flooded intersections on the news casts during heavy rains.

Hi,
Have you heard of Decision fatigue?


When the TV news tries being helpful and "warn" about driving conditions, all you get is vague "be careful" , "slow down", and rarely you even hear the the equally vague "increase stopping distance"

Most people don't know what the stopping distance is supposed to be
they are speeding regularly by 5-10 miles , so slowing down by 5-10 miles on wet roads, they're still going too fast.
And in heavy rain? They're still going over 50mph

Its been a while since I took drivers education and read the DMV handbook, but things like "forest roads" aren't mentioned even in passing.

Its not the IQ, its the training/education.

With all respect, I think that if you had bothered to read the BS-reduced accounts I just posted, you might have aimed more carefully before you fired.

I would only tell you that this "idiot" has been in few jams where (as the old saw goes) I did not rise to the occasion but sunk to my level of training. Still kicking myself -- can't believe I didn't see the obvious. So (in full agreement with EMP_ above) I cut people a fair bit of slack when they are faced with unfamiliar, high stress situations.

That's where IQ comes into play. Those with a low IQ require significantly more training/education, because they don't have the reasoning skills to figure things out themselves. Folks like this family are why we have to put warning labels on drain cleaners that say, "Danger, do not eat!"

Instructions to not drive down a "forest road", in a semi-wilderness area, with no cellphone service, in the dead of winter, in a blizzard, in three feet of snow, when the main roads are closed, with only urine to drink, should NOT require a mention in the DMV manual.


If not for the lack of IQ, training/education wouldn't be so necessary. Granted, not everybody is smart. But news organizations shouldn't prop up the dumb ones by going on about their "wilderness skills and training". Otherwise, more dumb ones will follow suit.

I'm glad there were smart people around who were able to save this dumb family.


I will cut people slack sometimes. but in this case, they really went off and did something stupid. I guess what pisses me off the most, is that they put their rescuers at risk trying to save them. In this particular incident, I didn't see it mentioned that rescuers were in danger. But that does happen. It shouldn't.