hikerbrian
Active member
I'm late to this party, but my thoughts on this incident seem to differ from the majority opinion, so I'll share them. As always, my comments are meant to foster thoughts on how we (the collective hiking community) might avoid a similar fate, or worse. The criticism is intended to be constructive.
She was located at 4000' elevation in the Monroe Brook drainage, half a mile from the trail. This makes it easy to pinpoint the location where she was found. It means she traveled nearly due west from Lakes rather than nearly due north. This is an easy mistake to make, but (IMO) not an acceptable mistake to have made. Having bailed down Ammo Ravine a couple of times in some pretty harsh conditions, I can attest to the fact that the trail into the trees can be challenging to locate. But with a compass it is very difficult to get off course by nearly 90 degrees. And there are good terrain features (multiple drainages) to help guide your bearing. Furthermore, it was a bluebird day. Perfect weather, perfect visibility. It's not like she was fighting whiteout conditions. She seems to have not used a compass once her phone failed. A person as experienced as her should have known that relying on her phone was foolhardy. In an effort to make the world a better place, I'll once again post my short and imperfect video on how to navigate by map and compass. She planned to either use her phone or follow her tracks. These are things number one and number two that you should never rely on for navigation in the winter.
In my experience, ANY snowshoes are better than no snow shoes in deep, unconsolidated snow. It still may not be possible to make progress, but they'll usually help a little. I've hiked uphill through waste-deep snow in snow shoes with a heavy pack. It's very hard, but it's possible to make progress. She was going downhill with (I suspect) a relatively small pack. I think snowshoes would have helped. Also, she made a decision to continue downhill, even when it was clear she was off trail. This decision may have been driven in part by the fact that going uphill was not an option. With snowshoes, it's amazing how much easier it is when you're the second person in line, breaking trail. If she had 'broken trail' downhill with snowshoes, she likely would have had a much easier time reversing course and following her own broken out trail back to where she knew the trail was. Without snowshoes this was not an option. So I think snowshoes actually might have prevented her need for rescue.
Finally, the Hikesafe card and her emergency locator beacon: I think it's worth asking the question whether she felt overconfident and/or enabled, knowing that she could get help with the push of a button, and that she wouldn't have to pay for it. Would she have made different decisions if neither of those pieces had been in place?
While she may have been an 'experienced' hiker (who the heck knows what that means), I see inability to navigate by map and compass, along with leaving a critical piece of gear behind (snowshoes), possibly coupled with overconfidence knowing she had rescuers at the push of a button, as having driven this incident. I have no desire to enter into a debate about the definition of negligent, but I think we should think carefully about this incident. I think (i.e. this is my opinion based on incomplete info) either the compass or the snowshoes would have prevented this incident. These are basics for hiking in the winter, and it goes doubly so if you're hiking solo. I write this not to suggest I'm so much more skilled, but with the intent to prevent others from going through the same ordeal. It's clear from her quotes this incident was very hard on her. It may affect her psychologically for a long time. I'm glad she made it out.
She was located at 4000' elevation in the Monroe Brook drainage, half a mile from the trail. This makes it easy to pinpoint the location where she was found. It means she traveled nearly due west from Lakes rather than nearly due north. This is an easy mistake to make, but (IMO) not an acceptable mistake to have made. Having bailed down Ammo Ravine a couple of times in some pretty harsh conditions, I can attest to the fact that the trail into the trees can be challenging to locate. But with a compass it is very difficult to get off course by nearly 90 degrees. And there are good terrain features (multiple drainages) to help guide your bearing. Furthermore, it was a bluebird day. Perfect weather, perfect visibility. It's not like she was fighting whiteout conditions. She seems to have not used a compass once her phone failed. A person as experienced as her should have known that relying on her phone was foolhardy. In an effort to make the world a better place, I'll once again post my short and imperfect video on how to navigate by map and compass. She planned to either use her phone or follow her tracks. These are things number one and number two that you should never rely on for navigation in the winter.
In my experience, ANY snowshoes are better than no snow shoes in deep, unconsolidated snow. It still may not be possible to make progress, but they'll usually help a little. I've hiked uphill through waste-deep snow in snow shoes with a heavy pack. It's very hard, but it's possible to make progress. She was going downhill with (I suspect) a relatively small pack. I think snowshoes would have helped. Also, she made a decision to continue downhill, even when it was clear she was off trail. This decision may have been driven in part by the fact that going uphill was not an option. With snowshoes, it's amazing how much easier it is when you're the second person in line, breaking trail. If she had 'broken trail' downhill with snowshoes, she likely would have had a much easier time reversing course and following her own broken out trail back to where she knew the trail was. Without snowshoes this was not an option. So I think snowshoes actually might have prevented her need for rescue.
Finally, the Hikesafe card and her emergency locator beacon: I think it's worth asking the question whether she felt overconfident and/or enabled, knowing that she could get help with the push of a button, and that she wouldn't have to pay for it. Would she have made different decisions if neither of those pieces had been in place?
While she may have been an 'experienced' hiker (who the heck knows what that means), I see inability to navigate by map and compass, along with leaving a critical piece of gear behind (snowshoes), possibly coupled with overconfidence knowing she had rescuers at the push of a button, as having driven this incident. I have no desire to enter into a debate about the definition of negligent, but I think we should think carefully about this incident. I think (i.e. this is my opinion based on incomplete info) either the compass or the snowshoes would have prevented this incident. These are basics for hiking in the winter, and it goes doubly so if you're hiking solo. I write this not to suggest I'm so much more skilled, but with the intent to prevent others from going through the same ordeal. It's clear from her quotes this incident was very hard on her. It may affect her psychologically for a long time. I'm glad she made it out.
