Lovetohike said:
Looking through the thread on the Madison rescue, I was struck by the intensity of the criticism and anger generated by this incident (as were some of the other posters). I want to throw out the question as to why so much intensity was generated? I believe that the criticism goes beyond what would be expected in response to a wide variety of annoying and bothersome things we run into on the trail: rude hikers, litter, poor care for the environment, dangerous situations caused by others, etc. So the answer to my question is not what bad judgment, poor choices or just plain stupid behavior was exhibited by the individuals involved, that's been gone over again and again. The answer is why that behavior creates such a huge (and in my view, excessive) response.
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I don't have an answer, but the question has been in the back of my mind since you raised it. It popped up again when I was re-reading the story of Dr. Benjamin Ball, the Boston physician who set out to climb Mt. Washington in late October in the mid-1850s with nothing more than an overcoat, a hat, and, serendipitously, an umbrella. He did everything wrong, including ignoring classic advice not to climb higher because there was no shelter. He spent two nights out in a raging snowstorm, protected by his trusty umbrella, was stalked by a bear, almost bought the farm, or so his narrative says, but survived and went on to further mountain adventures.
When Henry David Thoreau read about the incident, he didn't see it as an epic of survival but as one of stupidity. He wrote the following in his journal:
[start quote] February 15, 1857
I have just been reading the account of Dr. Ball’s sufferings on the White Mountains. Of course, I do not wonder that he was lost. I should say: Never undertake to ascend a mountain or thread a wilderness where there is any danger of being lost, without taking thick clothing, partly india-rubber, if not a tent or material for one; the best map to be had and a compass; salt pork and hard-bread and salt; fish-hooks and lines; a good jack-knife, at least, if not a hatchet, and perhaps a gun; matches in a vial stopped water-tight; some strings and paper. Do not take a dozen steps which you could not with tolerable accuracy protract on a chart. I never do otherwise. Indeed, you must have been living all your life in some such methodical and assured fashion, though in the midst of cities, else you will be lost in spite of all this preparation. [end quote]
I'm going to guess that the above items were those that Thoreau himself carried on his Washington ascents (though I wonder about the fishing gear).
In any event, Ball's adventure became the pretext for Thoreau's inventory. It's not clear to me who Thoreau was fictionally writing to in his journal--himself, an imagined audience of climbers, posterity in general. I'd say himself.
