Spring 2017 Backpacking Cautionary Thread

[mrphil]

Without a big copy and paste of your post, that was perfect. The single biggest issue in what people and dangerous situations is really about. To talk about Meet-up groups, other people you're with, people that need saving or rescue, ourselves...is to hit the nail right on the head in what this whole thread has been, and should be, about. The river, cornice, snowfield, perpetual white forest in the canyon...whatever, might be there, but the biggest obstacles, dangers, or even chances for success are in what we choose or are capable of making them. "Bob" screws up bad enough, Bob dies. Welcome to one of the harshest sets of springtime conditions in recorded Sierra history, Bob. Maybe you should've read past page 6 of the instruction manual or at least been more open to other suggestions.

Thanks.

[Tom_H]

I have found that a barometer/altimeter is much more helpful than a compass in the Sierra in heavy forest. In the Cascades in Oregon the compass has been handy. One does need to know the limitations of the barometer/altimeter and realize the need to make adjustments every time you get to a place with a known elevation.

Those are absolutely necessary in some situations. Navigating cross-country through dense Appalachian forests requires an ability to visualize a topo map in 3D, an ability to read landforms and contours on the ground, all while comparing them to map, compass, and altimeter/barometer. I grew up roaming large southern forests using little more than knowledge of the arc of the sun and tree moss to guide me. My parents lived a life of violence and loud noise. Fortunately, we always lived near very large woodlands. I stayed out in the woods as much as I could. Their quietness and tranquility was a balm to my soul. I was roaming around in large woodlands by the age of five. Being able to find my way became sort of a sixth sense. Navigating long XC trips through the Appalachians made it necessary to learn advanced navigational skills. There have been times when I did not know my exact location on a map, but I have always had a sense of my approximate location and a surety of where I was headed. The Rockies and Sierra are infinitely easier to navigate. Still, going without the map and compass or without knowledge of how to use them is very poor judgement.

[rlown]

I have found that a barometer/altimeter is much more helpful than a compass in the Sierra in heavy forest. In the Cascades in Oregon the compass has been handy. One does need to know the limitations of the barometer/altimeter and realize the need to make adjustments every time you get to a place with a known elevation.

Funny. My camera has an altimeter built in and as you correctly point out, re-calibrate when at a known altitude.

[Hobbes]

I normally refrain from criticism, but for those wishing to feel especially smug, I think it would be difficult to find a more suitable account than this one. One, he was wearing his down layers while hiking. This is bad enough - puffy is for rest/camp chores, fleece for hiking - but a water crossing? Two, he enters the Sierra in alpine conditions with an insufficient bag:

I was wearing both of my down layers. I recklessly entered the heart of the stream. I was facing upstream but stumbled because I was moving too fast. The force of the water knocked me down as the Trail Kids watched in helpless horror. Somehow, instinct took over. Falling backwards was not an option!!!! The current would have swept me away. Adrenaline rushed through me as I leaned into the current. By some miracle, I found my footing and was able to scramble to safety, but now I was soaking wet in freezing temperatures. I told myself, “Kev, you gotta keep moving and do it fast!”

The sleeves are frozen solid. Since I’m wearing my rain shell, I force it on and walk to the fire. I figured that I had a moisture barrier and I would warm up in my sleeping bag. Now, my sleeping bag sucks…period. The torso section has completely broken down so I’ve been wearing all of my layers to bed including my gloves.

https://kevbosite.wordpress.com/2017/06 ... g-mistake/

[mrphil]

Hobbes- you left out the best line of all in Kev's report: "As I think back on this day, it was perfect until I didn’t fully respect the power of nature. It’s beautiful but it’s deceptive." And I was happily married until I realized my wife was a serial killer.

It was painful to watch the videos of them crossing on downed trees with their hip belts still buckled. Nothing like adding another four or five feet to your fall and discharging all your air yelling in surprise when it happens to make sure you're driven under and stay under.

[AlmostThere]

Smug isn't really how I feel when people are making mistakes that have a higher than usual probability of being painful, or fatal. Cringing, more like. Cringing, wincing, groaning, and eventually relieved that nothing really happened -- this time. I think it's likely that if you have had the misfortune of really paying for a mistake, you're going to skip smug for that sensation of ugly fear in the pit of the stomach.

[mrphil]

Smug isn't really how I feel when people are making mistakes that have a higher than usual probability of being painful, or fatal. Cringing, more like. Cringing, wincing, groaning, and eventually relieved that nothing really happened -- this time. I think it's likely that if you have had the misfortune of really paying for a mistake, you're going to skip smug for that sensation of ugly fear in the pit of the stomach.

I'm humbled by my own mistakes and those of others. I pray that I learn from it. With all the other things I've read about or seen, I always seem to go back to the incident at the top of Vernal Falls a few years ago where multiple people went into the water and died trying to save the woman that crossed the railing for a picture. I wasn't there, but all I can think about is the abject helplessness that those innocent bystanders felt at seeing the terror in their eyes as they were swept over the brink, and how it's going to stay with them the rest of their lives. It's the stuff that PTSD is made of, and that I can sympathize with, no smugness involved at all.

[sambieni]

Hobbes- you left out the best line of all in Kev's report: "As I think back on this day, it was perfect until I didn’t fully respect the power of nature. It’s beautiful but it’s deceptive." And I was happily married until I realized my wife was a serial killer.

It was painful to watch the videos of them crossing on downed trees with their hip belts still buckled. Nothing like adding another four or five feet to your fall and discharging all your air yelling in surprise when it happens to make sure you're driven under and stay under.

Are you simply saying they should cross w/ bag unbuckled for quick release (if need be)? Am I missing something here?

[maverick]

Are you simply saying they should cross w/ bag unbuckled for quick release (if need be)? Am I missing something here?

Always unbuckle the sternum strap and waist belt on your pack before making a river crossing. If you slip and fall into the current, you need to jettison your pack so it does not fill with water and drag you down.

[mrphil]

Are you simply saying they should cross w/ bag unbuckled for quick release (if need be)? Am I missing something here?

Long story short, yes.

If you fall in while crossing the water having your pack fully clamped around your torso that extra weight is going to hold you down. You drop in from height, it's like diving...you go deeper. Add 30, 40, 50 lbs more and you go deeper still. Your gear is then all absorbing water almost instantly for even more weight working against you. And when you blow the air out of your lungs because you're startled by the fall and making some kind of surprised noise, not only are you even less buoyant, your first breath is going to be water as you need to not only get air back in your lungs (and can't) because of the exhale you made falling, you gasp again from the punch of hitting icy water, then you also have to try to position yourself for recovery to avoid taking a headshot within the first couple seconds, on top of trying to get out of your pack as well (and probably can't do that either), you heap worse on top of bad. You have a lot of things to process and do all at once. Multi-tasking in an emergency isn't really a strong suit for most people...especially when they can't breathe.

As for the quote and my response to it: In the water you're just another random piece of debris being tossed around. Nature doesn't have any special reverence for humans. Our only real claim to fame is that we can supposedly think better than most other animals and hope that our chain of reasoning comes together when it counts. Luck, divine intervention, just not skill or foresight... for Kevin to have dropped his guard and not understood his place in the pecking order until it almost killed him was pretty much the first and foremost in a chain of events that wrecked his "perfect day". S#!t happens, especially if you help it.