Rescue on Little Haystack-NHF&G insists that hiking solo is a "serious error".

[JCarter]

Rescue on Little Haystack-NHF&G insists that hiking solo is a "serious error".

http://www.unionleader.com/article/20131212/NEWS07/131219682

"Sutmeier said Fielding made three serious errors: going off trail, hiking alone, and not checking the weather before starting out."

Of these, 1 is definitely an error (weather), another *might* be an error (going off trail.. if *unintentional* and *unprepared*), but the mere act of hiking solo is NOT a serious error.

 

[Creag Nan Drochaid]

It is easy to foresee this case adding to the notion that hikers are irresponsible self-centered childish ignorant whiners, which seems to be the fallback position of those who think we should have to pay for all our rescue costs no matter what. Few if any such actually hike.

I think it wise to be proactive given the bill in the 2014 session to create some semblance of a rescue insurance scheme via F&G. I plan to hail it if it amounts to an insurance policy, bought once then good for one rescue even if we are judged to have acted negligently (not recklessly). It will not be so good if we have to buy it each year at more than $10/year. We'll know better in a month.

Meantime, Merry Christmas to you all! Creag nan drochaid

 

[sierra]

If I hiking solo is a crime. I should get the Electric chair.

 

[Raven]

If I hiking solo is a crime. I should get the Electric chair.

Don't tell anyone, but sometimes I bushwhack solo too.

Hiking stupid should be the crime, not hiking solo.

 

[Tim Seaver]

Bushwhackers and soloists, take note. Bushwhacking Soloists may bow their head in shame now. REPENT!

 

[expat]

Isn't usual for most hunters "go off trail"? When they get lost, is that a "serious error"? I haven't seen that phrasing used much in that circumstance.

 

[RoySwkr]

Isn't usual for most hunters "go off trail"? When they get lost, is that a "serious error"? I haven't seen that phrasing used much in that circumstance.

I believe that F&G conservation officers usually work alone, often off-trail

Certainly there are disadvantages of hiking alone and minor things can turn into major ones, such as the woman many years ago who slipped crossing a brook, hit her head on a rock and passed out, drowning when she landed face down in a pool. A companion could have saved her but no time for outside rescue. There is no reason to believe that hiking alone was a problem for the recent case.

 

[TJsName]

I know what everyone this thinking, but I don't think that hiking with a blow-up doll will help: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VsbrQagPths&noredirect=1

 

[sardog1]

I made my views known on this subject. Here's your chance:

Union Leader article, with a comment

 

[Kevin Rooney]

I made my views known on this subject. Here's your chance:

Union Leader article, with a comment

Good for you - I agree with your comments.

This is the second time in a week that the NH F&G has used public shaming as a PR tool. I wonder if they all took the same workshop on effective public communications?

Public shaming as an educational tool has never worked. Why does F&G think it will now? Continuing to ramp this tactic up may result in situations where people are reluctant to ask for help, with tragic consequences.

 

[John H Swanson]

I propose that going solo may be more safe than going with others depending on who you would be with. Have you seen some of the people out there? I'm sure that I'm more safe without them. People come in two types: liabilities and assets.

Similarly there are numerous times where it was more safe to go off trail vs on trail. The trail can have risks that can easily be avoided with "route finding" such as ice and avalanche prone snow

 

[roadtripper]

I once fell in a 6-foot spruce trap and I literally could NOT get out by myself. I'll never hike in deep snow conditions by myself again.

 

[Grey J]

Even if solo hikers constitute a higher percentage of people needing rescue, that does not mean that hiking solo in any season is a "serious error." That's really a ridiculous thing to say.

 

[Will]

I once slipped an fell in the bathroom. I'll never ...

 

[DougPaul]

I once fell in a 6-foot spruce trap and I literally could NOT get out by myself. I'll never hike in deep snow conditions by myself again.

I have gone in chest deep (solo). And also knee deep on a steep slope where my body slid down so my weight held my leg in the dense surface layer (foot under, knee above, also solo). I smashed the dense layer with the shaft of my ice axe to get out.

After the chest deep incident, Spider Solo gave me a few pointers on getting out of the deep ones: basically knock snow down and trample it underfoot to make a platform. Build it high enough to get out.

The big risk is the >10ft deep traps--your only way out without help may be to climb a tree. These may be more of a risk out west than here in the NE, but there is a zone on the Mt Pierce side of Mt Eisenhower where dangerously deep spruce traps have been known to lie in wait for the unwary or unlucky.

If you are in a group, a short rope and maybe one carabiner might be worth carrying for spruce trap rescue. (The biner would be useful for pulling a pack out and for making a 2:1 pulley.) You probably don't need full crevasse rescue gear...

Skis may be safer than snowshoes in spruce trap terrain--I have skied over a small trap that a following snowshoer fell into.

Doug

 

[Stan]

I would not generally agree that going off trail or winter solo are serious errors but there are circumstances when they are and this may have been one of them. There's quite a difference between credible experience (e.g. 55 years) and a 21 year old who doesn't know enough to check the weather and gets lost in a location where someone with knowhow could navigate out with nary a reference to a compass ... downhill and west to the highway, a long day or night but sure to get to safety sooner or later. This may have been one of those circumstances.

Those who think this was a "shaming" should not underestimate their own skills or project those skills upon the general population who probably are the bulk of readers of that Union Leader article. To most of them, such things are serious errors. I suggest we quietly enjoy our abilities, whatever they are, maintain the sensibilities to know our limits and let the SAR professionals caution the public in whatever way they see fit.

 

[cushetunk]

http://www.conwaydailysun.com/index.php/newsx/local-news/110451-rescue-121213

Don't think this was posted already. Slightly better take than the UL. I think the Sun has been opposed to policy of charging for rescues, but I might be mistaken.

 

[thegibba]

http://www.conwaydailysun.com/index.php/newsx/local-news/110451-rescue-121213

Don't think this was posted already. Slightly better take than the UL. I think the Sun has been opposed to policy of charging for rescues, but I might be mistaken.

This is a very different report without hyperbole. You'd almost think it was a separate incident. Thank you.

 

[sardog1]

I would not generally agree that going off trail or winter solo are serious errors but there are circumstances when they are and this may have been one of them. There's quite a difference between credible experience (e.g. 55 years) and a 21 year old who doesn't know enough to check the weather and gets lost in a location where someone with knowhow could navigate out with nary a reference to a compass ... downhill and west to the highway, a long day or night but sure to get to safety sooner or later. This may have been one of those circumstances.

Those who think this was a "shaming" should not underestimate their own skills or project those skills upon the general population who probably are the bulk of readers of that Union Leader article. To most of them, such things are serious errors. I suggest we quietly enjoy our abilities, whatever they are, maintain the sensibilities to know our limits and let the SAR professionals caution the public in whatever way they see fit.

When the COs start qualifying their blanket statements in the manner you have done here, I'll stop calling them on it. Until then, the reverse floggings will continue. . As you might already recognize, there's a serious issue embedded in all this with regard to the statute authorizing cost recovery in cases of negligence.

 

[Mike P.]

The Conway report has better details. Appears while from Mass, he's been at school in VT the last couple of years. He was ice climbing, it would appear that Lincoln's Throat was harder then he expected and took much longer than expected. While one of the SAR crew did it solo a few days earlier, depending on his experience, it may have been too ambitious.

With the proper gear, he was able to spend the night outside.

Still many questions regarding his experience and why he was solo. (did friends who planned to go, opt out due to weather like one of the Ike fatalities several years ago?) Experience people sometimes make mistakes too. As usual, hopefully we'll get to learn more.