dr_wu002
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I think you're lying, sorry.Neil said:
-Dr. Wu
Ever Been Rescued?
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-Dr. Wu
rhihn
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Neil said:
And to think I was believing every word of it, until Neil gave it away by using the word 'crikey.' BTW Neil, I see from your avatar that you've got your tongue stuck to the ice again. Won't you ever learn?
dr_wu002
Well-known member
That doesn't count. If he got stuck in the woods because of that it doesn't count. It's gotta be something better than that!rhihn said:BTW Neil, I see from your avatar that you've got your tongue stuck to the ice again. Won't you ever learn?
-Dr. Wu
dr_wu002
Well-known member
Own Up!
Ok, so far I see that Spencer, Stan, FunkyFreddy (somehow this story has got to involve a stick of dynamite! ) and Weatherman got stuck out because of lost or darkness and Chip, Chipc, Darren and Peakbagger (2 moderators) had to be helped out because of injuries. You guys (not Weatherman and Stan, you already did) wanna talk about what happened. Just curious.
The thing I'm wondering about is how often to VFTT'ers have to be rescued or get stuck out. We read about rescues and injuries in the news. We talk about it here. But I want to know how many times it's actually happened to members of this site. You guys can give us reasons and explanations (from the horses mouth!) and answer questions while people from a newspaper article can't (unless they're here).
Neil, you don't count. Sticking your tongue on something only happens in movies.
-Dr. Wu
Ok, so far I see that Spencer, Stan, FunkyFreddy (somehow this story has got to involve a stick of dynamite!
) and Weatherman got stuck out because of lost or darkness and Chip, Chipc, Darren and Peakbagger (2 moderators) had to be helped out because of injuries. You guys (not Weatherman and Stan, you already did) wanna talk about what happened. Just curious. The thing I'm wondering about is how often to VFTT'ers have to be rescued or get stuck out. We read about rescues and injuries in the news. We talk about it here. But I want to know how many times it's actually happened to members of this site. You guys can give us reasons and explanations (from the horses mouth!) and answer questions while people from a newspaper article can't (unless they're here).
Neil, you don't count. Sticking your tongue on something only happens in movies.
-Dr. Wu
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Neil
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My tongue is not stuck to anything in that pic. It's an illusion cretaed by angles and the like.
I almost had to be rescued in Manitoba, Canada once. It was negative 30 or 40, temperatures we all grow up with in that region, and me and some firends were crossing a wind-swept lake. Due to contraction cracks the stupid lake had a 3 inch layer of slush under the snow. On a dare I lay down and rolled around in the slush thereby getting soaked to the skin and rendering my down parka totally useless. It was almost dark and we were 16 miles from our canvas prospector tents. The wind was blowing to beat the band and my clothing froze and I became like a statue. We always carried propane plumbers torches back in those days and my friends dried me off lickety-split ruining my down parka but saving me from certain demise. After the 16 mile hike back to our tents we all got blind drunk and chased each other around in our underwear with chain saws. Such is the way in the great white north. I am sorry if I have inadvertantly deviated this thread from its intended trajectory. I shall remove myself from the discussion henceforth.
I almost had to be rescued in Manitoba, Canada once. It was negative 30 or 40, temperatures we all grow up with in that region, and me and some firends were crossing a wind-swept lake. Due to contraction cracks the stupid lake had a 3 inch layer of slush under the snow. On a dare I lay down and rolled around in the slush thereby getting soaked to the skin and rendering my down parka totally useless. It was almost dark and we were 16 miles from our canvas prospector tents. The wind was blowing to beat the band and my clothing froze and I became like a statue. We always carried propane plumbers torches back in those days and my friends dried me off lickety-split ruining my down parka but saving me from certain demise. After the 16 mile hike back to our tents we all got blind drunk and chased each other around in our underwear with chain saws. Such is the way in the great white north. I am sorry if I have inadvertantly deviated this thread from its intended trajectory. I shall remove myself from the discussion henceforth.
Pete_Hickey
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Know what I found out the past few days?rhihn said:BTW Neil, I see from your avatar that you've got your tongue stuck to the ice again. Won't you ever learn?
Everyone knows how the tongue will stick to cold steel, but did you also know that bare feet will stick to a steel grate? Beleive me, they do.
I never had to be rescued, but I did have to walk out with broken bones several times. When you are alone, and wake up with injuries, you tend not to want to wait.
Chip
Well-known member
Pete_Hickey said:
Woke up alone injured in your sleeping bag ? What the heck, Pete ?Mine was not very dramatic; About 20 years ago I decided to complete a backpacking trip down a section of the AT here in tennis sneakers in stead of the "uncomfortable" boots I had been hiking in all weekend
. About 1/2 mile from the trailhead my knees were so sore I could barely walk. It was the worst pain in both knees I've ever experienced. My friends split up my gear and walked out slowly with me.
--M.
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timmus said:
Hmm: Agree and disagree.
I've been courting the danger inherent in hiking since my daddy brought me out there at age four. I almost drowned and got saved when I was eleven: a fully conscious near-death experience. I've seen enough to know that anyone can get into the tall grass in only a few steps. And I agree that we don't really know our mettle until it's tested.
That said, every time out that doesn't kill me trains me for the next time, and having some gear might help make the difference.
But for the grace of someone, it could have been me on many of the stories we read. I try to be careful, while I insist on getting out there anyway.
And Neil, you're a MADMAN! I want to hike with you, Dude! Gnarly! That and I don't think I'm tough enough to hike with Pete.
--M.
mavs00
New member
Come on......... we're still waiting on our first "full SAR rescue" to come forward. I personally find it hard to believe Neil has never had to be litter carried out at some point. Either him or someone else is holding out on us.
I think I've know Peakbagr's story (but I'll let him decide to tell it of course), but if you've ever seen him knocking around the brush while b-whacking, it won't come as to much of a surprise
{I jest, he knows how much I like to tease him }
I think I've know Peakbagr's story (but I'll let him decide to tell it of course), but if you've ever seen him knocking around the brush while b-whacking, it won't come as to much of a surprise
{I jest, he knows how much I like to tease him
}
SAR-EMT40
Well-known member
Rick said:
alpinista said:
Adrenalin is amazing stuff. I have ripped my own flesh, and caused other injuries to myself and never even realized it. I have been on scenes with the adrenalin pumping and fortunately it has always been after when it didn’t matter that I have stood shaking. I have never cried but I have laughed like a real idiot at times. I suspect the adrenalin rush wearing off is responsible. But that is just my best guess. I consider not freezing and being able to think clearly when it counts during the emergency or injury more important than the vibrating, laughing or even if I had cried after.
Keith
Kevin Rooney
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I disagree with you on this one, timmus. Have only been involved in one rescue, but am sure glad we had the sleeping bag, pad and other gear, and that we had practiced the scenarios in the SOLO 1st Aid training when we had to evacuate a member of our party who had torn her knee. We did a reasonably good job of mobilizing her knee, protecting her from hypothermia, sending the most 'at-risk' hikers down so they wouldn't become victims and all those other things you practice.timmus said:
Hiking is risky, and it you do it long enough you'll either be a victim or need to help someone else. I respect the school of thought that if you're very fit and very fast you can avoid many situations (I think Tim and Inge would include themselves here) but I believe in the law of averages, and eventually you'll need the gear (the JHS School).
Personally I've been injured once but was able to get out on my own. I've also been lost for a few hours on a remote mountain in the west, but teamed up with 3 others in the same situation and we were able to get out safely (and timely) but not before I had a most pleasant conversation with Klickitat County Search and Rescue on my cell phone. It was a humbling experience.
dr_wu002
Well-known member
I agree that it's risky. I've been in plenty of situations where one wrong move and I'd have been in some serious trouble. However, so far only one person has admitted to spending the night in the woods because of an injury and nobody has voted for "full SAR carry out".Kevin Rooney said:
I realize only 66 people voted so far but I figure this is a hiking website, people here are generally to a greater (or lesser) extent devoted to hiking (and/or other outdoor activities) and I'm curious to see what frequency serious injuries occur amongst us and not necessarily the "jeans and sneakers hiking Lion's Head in Winter" contingent of the public at large. I don't even want to judge the public... I just want to know what percentage of VFTT'ers have actually been hurt or seriously hurt hiking. Or lost.
-Dr. Wu
Skyclimber
New member
We had an unexpected bivuoack in the Wolf Jaws and Armstrong, in the Winter of 1992. It was caused by the fact, we were breaking trail up to our waists and we kept losing the trail because of the severe snow depth.
We weren't rescued, as we managed to walk out on our own. However we did meet up with the Search Party in the Town of Keene Valley, stopping to tell them, we were out of the woods.
The helicopters the night before could not get off the ground, because of the newly falling snow. It turned out, it was one of the coldest nights that Winter, with temperatures, added with wind chill, made it forty below zero!
We weren't rescued, as we managed to walk out on our own. However we did meet up with the Search Party in the Town of Keene Valley, stopping to tell them, we were out of the woods.
The helicopters the night before could not get off the ground, because of the newly falling snow. It turned out, it was one of the coldest nights that Winter, with temperatures, added with wind chill, made it forty below zero!
dr_wu002
Well-known member
Wow, pretty interesting. Did you just follow your tracks out? How did you bivy that night? I would say this definitely counts as "unplanned night out"!!Skyclimber2971w said:
-Dr. Wu
Skyclimber
New member
Here's the Story Dr. Wu_002
It was pretty interesting. It happened on February 29, 1992. A rather odd day that was filled with a lifetime of memories. It took me at least five years to "recover" from the nightmares, that left alot of emotional scars! A nightmare that I didn't think it was at the time but yet chalked it up as another Adventure in the High Peaks. I realized my fears, when I went back to those peaks again, the following Winter. It took climbing them five consecutive Winters, before I could actually climb them with ease and not start crying and shaking. The memories still haunted me.
Snow depth was a foot to waist deep of unbroken virgin snow, throughout the whole trip. Making it much more difficult, with trail markers buried deep beneath the snow. We did not follow our tracks back, as we had started our climb up the Wedge Brook Trail.
We climbed over Lower Wolf, then Upper Wolf and finally Armstrong. We kept losing the trail, starting between Upper Wolf to Armstrong. We finally found our way to the cliff, on Armstrong that used to have a metal cable that hung down. The cable was buried beneath the snow, taking a rope to get me up the cliff. It got harder to stay on the trail and we were doing alot of bushwhacking to the top. We finally summitted Armstrong, after 9 hours from leaving the car. When we got down to the Armstrong/Gothics col, we again lost the trail. We ended up started bushwhacking down, starting at the col, coming out along the Upper Wolf Slides, that led us to a streambed that eventually connected with Beaver Meadow Falls. Before reaching Beaver Meadow Falls, my former husband who was with me, got his snowshoe lodged beneath the ice in the streambed. We ice hammered it out, which at that point darkness was to overcome us. Since we did not know how far we had to go, before reaching the main trail, we decided, it was safer, to set up bivuoack, before it got to dark to see.
My former husband informed me,that night time temps were to be twenty below. I found a clump of trees to protect us from the cold and heavy wind, I could hear around us. I put every ounce of my clothing on about six layers. Then if I remember correctly laid down plastic bags to keep us drier when sleeping in the snow. He started gathering wood to build a fire. After trial and error, he finally got a roaring ring of fire going and steadily he dragged old dead wood and fed the fire for the next twelve hours. During the night, when my feet got cold, I put them in the fire pit to keep warm, to prevent frostbite. When the air hit us and the fire didn't seem warm enough, we cuddled with each other, for body warmth. We watched the falling snow and it scared me all the more, because at that point, I didn't know where we were and our tracks were covering up.
The following morning we started bushwhacking again and fortunately we were only about 10 minutes from the Main Trail. This you will find amusing, as the following Summer we went back to the bivuoack site and discovered that the trail was above our heads all that night.
Upon getting back to our car, driving back to St. Huberts, we met the Search Party in Keene Valley at the Fire Station. They were gearing up for the rescue. One of the Rangers told us, "that they had searched the AuSable Lakes the night before until around 2:00 a.m. and the windchill factor, was Forty Below." That's when he also told, that the helicopter could not get off the ground, because of the newly falling snow and low visibility."
He (ex) received serious frostbite on one of his fingers, as his hands were exposed, to easier break branches off the trees to keep the fire going.
We made the "embarrassing" headlines of the front page of the newspaper the following day. This is another story all in itself.
dr_wu002 said:
It was pretty interesting. It happened on February 29, 1992. A rather odd day that was filled with a lifetime of memories. It took me at least five years to "recover" from the nightmares, that left alot of emotional scars! A nightmare that I didn't think it was at the time but yet chalked it up as another Adventure in the High Peaks. I realized my fears, when I went back to those peaks again, the following Winter. It took climbing them five consecutive Winters, before I could actually climb them with ease and not start crying and shaking. The memories still haunted me.
Snow depth was a foot to waist deep of unbroken virgin snow, throughout the whole trip. Making it much more difficult, with trail markers buried deep beneath the snow. We did not follow our tracks back, as we had started our climb up the Wedge Brook Trail.
We climbed over Lower Wolf, then Upper Wolf and finally Armstrong. We kept losing the trail, starting between Upper Wolf to Armstrong. We finally found our way to the cliff, on Armstrong that used to have a metal cable that hung down. The cable was buried beneath the snow, taking a rope to get me up the cliff. It got harder to stay on the trail and we were doing alot of bushwhacking to the top. We finally summitted Armstrong, after 9 hours from leaving the car. When we got down to the Armstrong/Gothics col, we again lost the trail. We ended up started bushwhacking down, starting at the col, coming out along the Upper Wolf Slides, that led us to a streambed that eventually connected with Beaver Meadow Falls. Before reaching Beaver Meadow Falls, my former husband who was with me, got his snowshoe lodged beneath the ice in the streambed. We ice hammered it out, which at that point darkness was to overcome us. Since we did not know how far we had to go, before reaching the main trail, we decided, it was safer, to set up bivuoack, before it got to dark to see.
My former husband informed me,that night time temps were to be twenty below. I found a clump of trees to protect us from the cold and heavy wind, I could hear around us. I put every ounce of my clothing on about six layers. Then if I remember correctly laid down plastic bags to keep us drier when sleeping in the snow. He started gathering wood to build a fire. After trial and error, he finally got a roaring ring of fire going and steadily he dragged old dead wood and fed the fire for the next twelve hours. During the night, when my feet got cold, I put them in the fire pit to keep warm, to prevent frostbite. When the air hit us and the fire didn't seem warm enough, we cuddled with each other, for body warmth. We watched the falling snow and it scared me all the more, because at that point, I didn't know where we were and our tracks were covering up.
The following morning we started bushwhacking again and fortunately we were only about 10 minutes from the Main Trail. This you will find amusing, as the following Summer we went back to the bivuoack site and discovered that the trail was above our heads all that night.
Upon getting back to our car, driving back to St. Huberts, we met the Search Party in Keene Valley at the Fire Station. They were gearing up for the rescue. One of the Rangers told us, "that they had searched the AuSable Lakes the night before until around 2:00 a.m. and the windchill factor, was Forty Below." That's when he also told, that the helicopter could not get off the ground, because of the newly falling snow and low visibility."
He (ex) received serious frostbite on one of his fingers, as his hands were exposed, to easier break branches off the trees to keep the fire going.
We made the "embarrassing" headlines of the front page of the newspaper the following day. This is another story all in itself.
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Raymond
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I've twice ridden in an ambulance to the hospital, but because of bicycle accidents, not hiking, so I didn't vote.
daxs
Active member
I was med evac'd by a helicopter after being mowed down by a car while riding my bike but never rescued or needed help in the backcountry. All sorts of things start running thru your mind once you realize you are on a backboard with a C collar on and they EMT's are telling you, oh yeah, your going to a trauma center.... As a medical person, I was thinking the worst.
spencer
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I gave myself a ************* once at about 4600 feet on the north side of Carrigain - on purpose. I thought it would help me keep warm in my bivy during a very scary night in early March once.
I don't recommend it, but somehow it made my spirits improve b/c I felt warm and that helped me through the night. I also ate a whole block of cheese for the fat content that would theoretically help me stay warm.
I planned on being out that night (and the several nights to follow) but hardly in the way it happened. I think I wrote a full blown confession about the trip once well before the last crash or two.
I was plain old scared and wept myself through the night doing calistenics inside of my fully-zipped bivy b/c I was afraid to go to sleep.
I'm still here though...
Spencer
I don't recommend it, but somehow it made my spirits improve b/c I felt warm and that helped me through the night. I also ate a whole block of cheese for the fat content that would theoretically help me stay warm.
I planned on being out that night (and the several nights to follow) but hardly in the way it happened. I think I wrote a full blown confession about the trip once well before the last crash or two.
I was plain old scared and wept myself through the night doing calistenics inside of my fully-zipped bivy b/c I was afraid to go to sleep.
I'm still here though...
Spencer
