How about if you're really injured and might not survive the night? I have no problem with the guy telling his wife to call SAR at 9pm, but he had better be back when he says or be willing to suffer the consequences (which are not as severe as the alternative scenario).
Such a call time will result in lots of false call-outs to SAR and is also no guarantee of quick help. One is often back to the TH later than planned and IMO one should allow extra time when setting up a call time. If one is concerned about an injury with a short survival time, one should carry some form of satellite communicator.
"SOS" button on Garmin InReach.
And in reference to the earlier day, there are only a few injuries that will kill you overnight. Old story: A guy was on a 3-4 day solo ski trip in the Pharaoh Lakes wilderness (ADK). This was in the 80's. He left a route map with his wife. On like day 2 he took some kind of fall and broke his leg, so no motion. He managed to set up his tent, get in, and survive until he missed his return time. Wife called the Rangers, they followed the map, he was exactly where he was supposed to be, got rescued, lived.
In my book, this guy is a super hero role model.
Maybe DougPaul will share a different opinion. His injury was very severe; I do not know if he would have survived the night..
Given the technology of the 80's, his instructions to his wife were reasonable.
My injury was a broken femur. However, there were no signs of shock or externally visible swelling and I had bivy gear (a pad, a down jacket and a bivy sack, IIRC) so I probably would have survived the night. I was also "smart" enough to have my accident on a popular trail so I was easy to find. Another skier arrived shortly after the accident and he could have skied out and summoned help, but my cellphone worked. Even with the cellphone, it was probably ~3 hours from the accident to being loaded into an ambulance at the TH. (The TH was part of a commercial XC skiing area which probably minimized the response time.)
The info for this incident is pretty sparse, but given what we know:
<in my opinion>:
* His call time was too soon. The next morning or day would have been a better choice.
* An out-and-back would have been wiser--it gives one the option of a turn-around via a known route. Once you are past the half-way point in a loop turning around becomes poorer and poorer option. In the worst case, it can almost double the distance.
* Streams are at their highest in the evening and lowest in the early morning--perhaps he had to wait for the stream to go down. (One should also take this into account when planning a route.)
* There is no indication in the report that he had a decent light. A good light might have enabled the stream crossings and might have enabled signaling the SAR personnel (any light would have been highly visible).
* If possible he should have bivied
on or right next to the trail so he would be found by any rescuers or any other hikers passing by.
* Except for the early call time, he didn't do too badly--after deciding to wait to attempt the stream crossings, he did appear to survive the night without harm and made it out on his own.
</in my opinion>
Doug
