New Book on Kate M.

[JoshandBaron]

According to the write-up in Appalachia (summer/fall 2016), she was carrying an ACR ResQLink+ PLB. The foldable antenna is the 406/121.5 MHz transmitting antenna. The GPS receiving antenna is internal to the case, most likely a small patch antenna.

The instructions say the transmitting antenna should be unfolded and vertical--folding it or misorienting it would most likely reduce the strength of the 406 MHz* signals which could cause errors in the data transmission. The GPS antenna is also sensitive to orientation (it needs to be pointed up toward the sky)--misorientation increases the probability of location errors. (The following instructions are printed on the case over the GPS antenna: "GPS give clear view to sky".)

According to the same article, her PLB was found "on its side". (I presume this means that the transmitting and GPS antennas were horizontal.) Experiments showed less accurate locations when the unit was on its side.

If she also carried the PLB in her pack (antenna folded or not), its performance would likely have been degraded.

* This PLB also transmits a 121.5 MHz low-power homing signal. None of the reports that I have seen indicate whether it was used by the searchers.


There is ample data showing that SPOT devices are also not 100% reliable/accurate.

Doug

The one time I actually needed my SPOT it failed in the Great Gulf coming off Adams.

 

[jniehof]

* This PLB also transmits a 121.5 MHz low-power homing signal. None of the reports that I have seen indicate whether it was used by the searchers.

Per Ty's book, the CAP aircraft carrying the equipment was not able to get low enough for it to be effective. Apparently it works best 1000' or less AGL and the weather that day featured 1000' drop in downdrafts....

 

[DougPaul]

Per Ty's book, the CAP aircraft carrying the equipment was not able to get low enough for it to be effective. Apparently it works best 1000' or less AGL and the weather that day featured 1000' drop in downdrafts....

OK.

The spec for the ACR ResQLink+ is 50mW at 121.5MHz, Having used low power transmitters, I would expect a longer range over a line-of-sight path. (Bare ground-to-air is a line-of-sight path if the aircraft is high enough above the horizon.) Terrain blocking or vegetation would shorten the range (potentially significantly). Depending on the electronics carried in the aircraft, the detection range might be significantly greater than the range at which a useful bearing or location might be obtained.

Anyhow, the weather was not conducive to search by air... (The Appalachia article says the CAP was forced to fly at 10000 ft in a fixed wing aircraft and a National Guard helicopter was able to stay on scene for only 15min, both on day 2. They were unable to narrow the search.)


Actually, given the weather, I was thinking of the ground searchers. Even if the ground-to-ground range was only 100 ft, it could have been helpful. She was found by a visual sighting at a fairly short range.

Doug

 

[sierra]

Just finished the book last night. My overall thoughts are as follows. TY goes into some theories on decision making and risk taking that are quite valid, I was familiar with them all,so it was redundant for me. I had pretty much followed the rescue closely and read most of what was out there , so again redundant info, there. I really enjoyed hearing directly from the rescuers and the insight to the process of SAR was very well done. I liked hearing first hand from the guys on the teams. For the casual hiker, there is much value in the book, it is well written. If I see more stuff from TY, I would be inclined to read it.

 

[ChrisB]

I had pretty much followed the rescue closely and read most of what was out there , so again redundant info, there.

I did not read every article on the accident, so I might have Missed this...

But I found the contents of her pack interesting: 2 iPhones, a GoPro on a selfi stick, a Sat phone, handheld GPS, rescue beacon, 3 liters frozen water, no bivvy sak, no bivvy bag, no snowshoes, no microspikes, one Tika headlamp (found at the scene), 1 pair crampons, no insulating foam pad, etc. etc.

No judgements, just worth pondering as another winter approaches.
cb

 

[egilbe]

Three liters of frozen water? Did she drink any? Dehydration may have been a contributing factor, also.

 

[ChrisB]

Three liters of frozen water? Did she drink any? Dehydration may have been a contributing factor, also.

Her husband reported said she also departed with a thermos of hot tea and trekking poles. Neither were ever found.

 

[sierra]

I did not read every article on the accident, so I might have Missed this...

But I found the contents of her pack interesting: 2 iPhones, a GoPro on a selfi stick, a Sat phone, handheld GPS, rescue beacon, 3 liters frozen water, no bivvy sak, no bivvy bag, no snowshoes, no microspikes, one Tika headlamp (found at the scene), 1 pair crampons, no insulating foam pad, etc. etc.

No judgements, just worth pondering as another winter approaches.
cb

Two observations I had on her pack contents. One, that's a lot of electronics, I carry one phone, that's it. Frozen water? Water in the winter is critical, and just filling up Nalgene's on a cold day is not going to cut, it will freeze. Given the forecast, she should have had a better way to carry her water. My standard system for winter H2O. One Nalgene in a OR insulated wrap with warm water, large Thermos with boiling water, that I add to my Nalgene as needed. Plus, I carry hot chocolate and a soup packet or two. If you get sweaty and a little wet, nothing beats a hot summit drink.

 

[egilbe]

Water could have been in insulated boots and froze after her death. As cold and windy as it was on that weekend, I wouldn't expect water, even in insulated bottle boots, to stay liquid after 8 hours. I would expect a couple bottles to be empty, however.

 

[skiguy]

I wouldn't expect water, even in insulated bottle boots, to stay liquid after 8 hours.

If the water is kept in close to your body it will stay liquid indefinitely. If packed directly behind the middle of your back it will stay liquid. If not it needs to be carried on your person.

 

[JoshandBaron]

If the water is kept in close to your body it will stay liquid indefinitely. If packed directly behind the middle of your back it will stay liquid. If not it needs to be carried on your person.

Dead bodies don't produce much heat.

 

[skiguy]

Dead bodies don't produce much heat.

Agreed...but not the context or scenario I was referring to. Excuse me if I misconstrued the poster's comment in which I quoted.

 

[jniehof]

Actually, given the weather, I was thinking of the ground searchers. Even if the ground-to-ground range was only 100 ft, it could have been helpful. She was found by a visual sighting at a fairly short range.

Having done my share of foxhunts (including one I "won" with just an HT and the body-nulling technique), I agree I can't see any obvious reason a ground search couldn't make use of the VHF homing signal. It may be interesting to try sometime (on 2m) and see how badly the signal gets reflected...not sure I can think of a way to do it that is sensitive to alpine vegetation.

 

[DougPaul]

Having done my share of foxhunts (including one I "won" with just an HT and the body-nulling technique), I agree I can't see any obvious reason a ground search couldn't make use of the VHF homing signal. It may be interesting to try sometime (on 2m) and see how badly the signal gets reflected...not sure I can think of a way to do it that is sensitive to alpine vegetation.

While I have not participated in a foxhunt, I was thinking of them when I wrote my comment. (I have used an AM radio to DF (direction find) a powerline arc which caused local radio and TV interference.) Just following the signal strength would generally lead a searcher to the victim, although perhaps not as quickly as a DF. (Such techniques are used by avalanche beacons.)

Another possibility would be for an aircraft (from an altitude which is too high for an accurate location) to explore the terrain shading and perhaps determine which side of the mountain she was on. Such a technique might have been able to determine which of the several early locations was more likely and might have directed the searchers more accurately on the first day.

However these techniques require special skills and I don't know if they are taught to search pilots. And even if they are, they might be difficult to apply given the conditions. I also don't know what equipment is carried in the aircraft--it could range from a purpose-built DF (ie usually pretty accurate)*, to a moderately directional fixed antenna (typically a several element yagi)**, to an omnidirectional antenna.

* Some aircraft carry DF equipment to determine the bearing to navigational beacons.
** I have seen videos of these being used to track wildlife from the ground and air.

Doug

 

[egilbe]

Reading the book now. Pretty good. Confirms what I had suspected and read and discussed on a couple of message boards after the event. Tragic how close she came to not dying at several points in her journey.

Finished it last night. Learned something about Kate and managing risk. I believe I understand her better and understand why she felt she could complete, at least, hiking Adams. Her personality drove her to make decisions that I would make differently, just because I err on the side of caution, and she didn't know when to quit and give up. The full frozen water bottles tells me that she barely hydrated and her food choices were not the high energy, calorie dense, foods I'm used to eating when I hike. She was trying to stick to a rigid schedule and set a goal that was ambitious in good weather in Summer. Exhaustion leads to hypothermia. Ty does a real good job explaining what our bodies do to try to survive when it is out of energy to burn.

The book is a well written cautionary tale on how our personalities and how we are individually wired can affect our decisions.

 

[DayTrip]

Finally got my copy this week too and read in two sittings (and I'm quote sure it would have one session had I not started it so late in the evening the first night). Thought the book was outstanding. Author had an excellent writing style that kept the pages turning despite being non fiction. Loved all the comparisons to various risk assessment strategies in real life and how he applied them in a very concise fashion to the particulars of the Matrosova story. Learning all the facts about her gear, GPS data,etc really helped clarify the situation with all the erroneous information and opinions that were floating around out there. I also liked the SAR angle that he delved into to illustrate exactly how dangerous going out after someone can be. Even the quotes starting each chapter were pretty cool. Best book by far that I've read covering this topic. Highly, highly recommend.

 

[peakbagger]

Feel free to PM me if you don't want to add it to your permanent library.

 

[DayTrip]

Feel free to PM me if you don't want to add it to your permanent library.

It's definitely going to be a member of the permanent library. Excellent read. Worth the $$$ if you read lots of these types of books (and I suspect you do).

 

[TomK]

While I have not participated in a foxhunt, I was thinking of them when I wrote my comment. (I have used an AM radio to DF (direction find) a powerline arc which caused local radio and TV interference.) Just following the signal strength would generally lead a searcher to the victim, although perhaps not as quickly as a DF. (Such techniques are used by avalanche beacons.)

Another possibility would be for an aircraft (from an altitude which is too high for an accurate location) to explore the terrain shading and perhaps determine which side of the mountain she was on. Such a technique might have been able to determine which of the several early locations was more likely and might have directed the searchers more accurately on the first day.

However these techniques require special skills and I don't know if they are taught to search pilots. And even if they are, they might be difficult to apply given the conditions. I also don't know what equipment is carried in the aircraft--it could range from a purpose-built DF (ie usually pretty accurate)*, to a moderately directional fixed antenna (typically a several element yagi)**, to an omnidirectional antenna.

* Some aircraft carry DF equipment to determine the bearing to navigational beacons.
** I have seen videos of these being used to track wildlife from the ground and air.

Doug

While with the NH CAP, besides practices, I had three "finds" of Emergency Locator Transmitters, one from the air, one on the ground, and one where I narrowed down the area from the air, landed, and used ground equipment to complete the find. Fortunately for the owner's of the ELTs involved, each was the result of an inadvertent activation of the ELT rather than an actual distress. The equipment at the time only indicated "left of you", "right of you", or "either directly ahead or directly behind". Still, was fairly straightforward to do, with a little practice. But I had good conditions, although that air/ground one was at night and very cold, but not much wind.

We learned about terrain blocking and/or reflecting signals. Also, you could raise or drop a wing, and use the aircraft wing to block signal reception, and if the signal dropped when you did this, you knew the aircraft wing was between the transmitting and receiving antennas.

Yesterday, spoke to a friend still in the NH CAP, he says the equipment they have is now much better, will show you bearing, signal strength. Also will display the serial # of the unit, and GPS coordinates, *if* the transmitting unit transmits that info. Can't imagine bouncing around 5,000 feet above Adams and getting much useful accomplished though.

Bought the book a couple days ago, about halfway through it. It is excellent so far, and would not hesitate to recomend it.

TomK

 

[ChrisB]

It may be interesting to try sometime (on 2m) and see how badly the signal gets reflected...

Speaking of 2M and ham radio...

I wonder if a 2M handheld would be a lot more reliable than a cell phone throughout the whites, using the Mt Wash ham radio repeater on 144 Mhz.

Of course every hiker isn't gonna get a ham license, but for those who already have one?

KA1D