Spring 2017 Backpacking Cautionary Thread

[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.

[sambieni]

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.

.

Cool. Thank you for clarifying. Just wanted to be certain I understood.

[Jimr]

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/

Looks like Kevbo has headed to Bishop and planned on a sleeping bag burning party in the parking lot of the hotel.

[Tom_H]

Unbuckling hip belt and sternum strap when stream crossing is absolutely correct for all type crossings except actual bridges: log, snow bridge, stepping stones, and wet shoe. If going via wet shoe crossing in a significantly swollen stream, one should also remove socks and put boots back on with laces loose and untied. The reason is that in rushing water a foot can jam and become stuck between rocks. The likelihood is not high, BUT if it does happen and the person becomes fatigued, the pressure of rushing water can easily topple the person who, pinned down, can easily drown. Some of the members here run whitewater. I am sure all of them will concur that moving water has immense force. If a foot does become jammed between rocks, the loose boot allows the person to pull the foot from the boot and continue. If I am crossing a smaller sized stream, I use my imitation Crocs (which I wear in camp with super thin wool liner socks). In really dangerous situations a belay may be necessary, perhaps even sending someone with a leader rope and then setting up a Tyrolean Traverse if the terrain allows.

Once you have safely crossed the stream, dry the feet, replace the socks and boots, and continue hiking.

[sambieni]

Good article in Outside on the near misses piling up on the PCT:
https://www.outsideonline.com/2193351/p ... erous-year

[scipio]

Unbuckling hip belt and sternum strap when stream crossing is absolutely correct for all type crossings except actual bridges: log, snow bridge, stepping stones, and wet shoe.

Do you mean that when crossing a log bridge or stepping stones, one should NOT unbuckle their hip belt and sternum strap?

[Jimr]

You should unbuckle any time you are not on a formal bridge. If there is a chance of taking a dunk, unbuckle!

[mrphil]

And if you or anyone in your party is prone to imbalance or fear, either have someone that isn't or the entire group shuttle their packs over the crossing one at a time. "Wet" crossings are also sometimes better as a group. If the current is running faster than you can walk, or if the water is, among other things, thigh-deep, reconsider the crossing or scout out another place. Lots of rules-of-thumb and techniques that are good to know ahead of time.

[Tom_H]

Unbuckling hip belt and sternum strap when stream crossing is absolutely correct for all type crossings except actual bridges: log, snow bridge, stepping stones, and wet shoe.

Do you mean that when crossing a log bridge or stepping stones, one should NOT unbuckle their hip belt and sternum strap?

If you are crossing an engineered bridge that has side rails, no real reason to unbuckle. In all other situations, unbuckle. If an engineered bridge looks like it may have been damaged to a questionable degree by flood, avalanche, or deterioration from age, then stay off of it.

And shuttling of packs by the most experienced members of a group is a good idea not only on hazardous stream crossings, but when traversing icy couloirs and other similar situations.