Hiker rescued near Springer

[Praha4]

remember the article said he was suffering from "altitude sickness", in so many words.... Springer is pretty high up in the clouds, 3782 ft elevation, compared to Green Acres, IL where the poor guy came from.

it was snowing, he couldn't find the trail, he panicked and pushed the button. I agree folks like this should be required to pay a fee to compensate the local taxpayers who are footing the bill for EMS services.

we go thru the same thing down here in PC Beach, if you own property you pay hefty property taxes, which pay for EMS services that have to be called out repeatedly during Spring Break to respond to stupid, drunk spring breakers jumping off condo and hotel balconies or wreck their vehicles, these folks should have to payup for their own stupidity and recklessness

that guy from IL should probably stick to hiking in shopping malls, at least there he should be able to find the food court with no trouble

[superman]

well, "common sense" would tell us that if he did have a map and he had known how to use it, then he would have know where he was and he wouldn't have been lost. and had he not had a spot, maybe he would have been more inclined to have been prepared since he wasn't guaranteed a rescue. i really hope that researchers come up with more wonderful devices that can be sold as aides for laziness, poor decision-making, and stupidity.

I've been lost lots of times and never pushed the panic button or stopped to ask for directions.

[GGS2]

No mention of altitude sickness. Mention of unused to the altitude, which probably simply means that it was harder work than he expected. It also mentions that he became disoriented in the snow. It doesn't say what the weather conditions were, except that it was snowy. Does that mean snow was falling, or simply that there was snow on the ground and possibly on trees, obscuring blazes, etc. So we have a tired (exhausted?) novice hiker, disoriented and on the wrong trail. I presume he used the Approach Trail, as otherwise he would probably have known how to exit from Springer, unless, of course, the snow conditions obscured the trail markings and tracks. It doesn't say what he did before calling for help, but I think we can assume he was active enough to become tired and probably wet and cold, etc.

From this analysis I take it that he was without skills and experience enough to survive in those conditions, and he was probably right to push the button. However, it seems passably obvious that he had no business on the mountain that day. When I think of this, it sounds pretty much the same as the stories of more experienced adventurers, like wilderness trekkers and alpinists, who get much farther but end up in essentially the same fix. Here the risk is a lot less calculated, but the rescue is also a lot less risky and expensive. I say cut the poor schmuck some slack. My guess is that he won't be back real soon. He certainly learned how serious it can get out there. Thankfully without loss of life or limb.

[Chaco Taco]

"altitude sickness", in so many words.... Springer is pretty high up in the clouds, 3782 ft elevation, compared to Green Acres, IL where the poor guy came from.

Thats too funny

[Skidsteer]

.... devices like these are not letting natural selection do it's work.

Ding ding ding!

[Panzer1]

Although the air gets thinner as you go up in altitude I don't that its thin enough at the top of springer to get what is commonly known as "altitude sickness".

Panzer

[Panzer1]

The newspaper article leaves a lot of things out.

Panzer

[Lone Wolf]

Although the air gets thinner as you go up in altitude I don't that its thin enough at the top of springer to get what is commonly known as "altitude sickness".

Panzer

The newspaper article leaves a lot of things out.

Panzer

no ****. ya think?

[Frosty]

Someone who hasn't made a hiking mistake, cast the first stone....
Shoot I have done the whole trail but wore bad shoes on my last hike and took out my toenails, got awful blisters and had to have my hubby come get me as my feet were so bad.

SO fire away...

Did you have your husband call in a helicoter for you as soon as you discovered your shoes weren't comfortable? Or did you walk out on your own and call him from there? If you called for a helicopter three hours after starting your hike, within a mile of a road, then your 'mistake' was similar to his. But I suspect you walked out and tehm call for help.

That is what some people are upset about. Taxpayers are paying for that 'rescue' of a man with camping gear and food who called for an emergency rescue at 1:30 after leaving Springer that morning.

I do not see how anyone can say this was a desirable thing to do.

Either the man was thoughtless and lazy and called for help when he didn't need it or he was incredibly unprepared to hike. Neither alternative is good.

[cls]

Something is missing from the news article. On March 1 I hiked from Springer to Gooch shelter leaving Springer about 10:00. I didn't walk in any snow and don't even remember seeing any snow that day. The temp was about 50 by early afternoon. It did not start snowing until sometime that night. March 2 was a miserable hiking day. Three other guys rode up from the Hiker Hostel with me on the 1st. I wonder if this guy was one of them.

[GGS2]

Hmm. It seems that the news story may not be all that informative. Also not much like news as the byline date was the 8th, while the incident was supposed to have occurred on the 1st. So perhaps the rescue actually happened on the 2nd, and maybe he was wandering around for a day or so. Case for clueless seems to be getting better.

[Praha4]

maybe not the same guy, but I passed an apparent meth-head duffle bag hiker on the trail in mid December about one mile south of Rock Gap shelter.... there was no snow on the trail that day, and no snow forecast. the guy was carrying on a conversation with the tree in front of him, an as I approached he told me very emphatically to be careful on the trail cuz of the snow. He sat on the ground on the trail with a duffle bag, other plastic grocery bags, and a 5 lb bag of sugar. He said he was headed south toward Big Spring shelter that nite, I'm guessing to conduct experiments in modern chemistry.

not saying Gomer Pyle from IL was on a bad acid trip or anything, imagining snow, but sometimes people do hallucinate for other reasons like dehydration or hypothermia.

[Panzer1]

I'm guessing this guy got a chewing out by the rescue people. Maybe they told him to go home and not come back. Maybe that explains why he left the trail so fast.

Panzer

[Lone Wolf]

I'm guessing this guy got a chewing out by the rescue people.

extremely unlikely. y'all are a silly buncha armchair QBs

[weary]

Although the air gets thinner as you go up in altitude I don't that its thin enough at the top of springer to get what is commonly known as "altitude sickness".

Panzer

It's just a typo. The paper meant attitude sickness.

[Blissful]

That is what some people are upset about. Taxpayers are paying for that 'rescue' of a man with camping gear and food who called for an emergency rescue at 1:30 after leaving Springer that morning.

I do not see how anyone can say this was a desirable thing to do.

Either the man was thoughtless and lazy and called for help when he didn't need it or he was incredibly unprepared to hike. Neither alternative is good.

What I read he was not prepared for the conditions. You can have "camping gear" of a cotton flannel bag, etc. Remains to be seen what he did have (unless its been said, I haven't read all the messages). And one can start getting hypothermia after a few hours (we had it one hour after leaving Mt Washington observatory). And maybe at that age, he had some underlying physical issues. Memory lapses and impaired judgement caused by issues not diagnosed - even thyroid, early alzheimer, etc You as being older should know that it could happen. And have some understanding.


I won't even get into how taxpayer money these days is wasted in far more grievous manners and with lots of $$$$$$$$$$$ attached. This rescue (and I guess people don't feel he was worthy to be rescued until it is too late or he was at the appropriate mileage or time point) is a molecule in a bucket as far as supposed wasted money and hardly worth all this dumb fuss.

[chief]

we go thru the same thing down here in PC Beach, if you own property you pay hefty property taxes, which pay for EMS services that have to be called out repeatedly during Spring Break to respond to stupid, drunk spring breakers jumping off condo and hotel balconies or wreck their vehicles, these folks should have to payup for their own stupidity and recklessness

And how dare those spring breakers add millions of dollars into the PC Beach economy every single year. There oughta be a law!

[BitBucket]

There are three rules I try to follow whenever I'm headed out on a hike...whether it's to a trail near the house, over in GA, or out in Yellowstone/Glacier/Grand Canyon

1) Know the environment.
2) Know the hazards of the environment.
3) Prepare for the unexpected.

It doesn't necessarily require a lot of effort to research the environment you will be in, study about the hazards you might face, and make sure you're prepared for those you haven't anticipated.

I would think that if the fellow had given even minor consideration to these questions prior to starting out at Springer, he would be 11 days into his month long hike by now...

I saw a guy walk up to a shelter one day, stop and eat lunch, get up and head back out the same way he came in. He got a 100 or so yards down the trail before he realized he had went the wrong way...

It's not hard to get turned around or lost if you're not paying attention to your surroundings.

[Tin Man]

all kinds of ways to learn... from the just go do it - to the study it to death and maybe do it later... at least he was trying to do it instead of yacking it up on some dumb website... but i guess none of the moaners fit into either category and never made a mistake... yeah, right...

[elmotoots]

Ouch!!!!!! Tin Man I bet that left a mark


Kind of like the boot prints some of these people are leaving