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Post by hikerjer on May 17, 2016 7:24:10 GMT -8
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Post by Lamebeaver on May 17, 2016 7:36:07 GMT -8
Rest in peace
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Post by trinity on May 17, 2016 7:46:58 GMT -8
Tragic, but when it's my time to go, I hope it is out on the trail. I wonder if they'll ever be able to determine a cause of death. We all make mistakes, but I have a hard time believing that a triple crowner who was on his third throughhike of the CDT would die of exposure.
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rebeccad
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Post by rebeccad on May 17, 2016 8:23:42 GMT -8
I suppose the lesson here is the no matter how experienced we are or what our level of confidence is, we can still make dangerous mistakes when we over estimate our abilities or underestimate nature. Or just get careless, or... Yes. I know I've proven more than once that you don't have to a an ignorant idiot to make a potentially fatal mistake. I've been lucky, as are most of us. But sometimes things just go wrong. :-( |
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rebeccad
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Post by rebeccad on May 17, 2016 8:25:12 GMT -8
I have a hard time believing that a triple crowner who was on his third throughhike of the CDT would die of exposure. You never know. Something goes wrong, you let yourself get a little hypothermic and start making bad choices...or get sick or something. There's a lot that can sabotage even a very experienced hiker. |
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Post by Lamebeaver on May 17, 2016 8:39:41 GMT -8
I once found a backpack near a secluded off-trail lake. I usually get up there at least once a year, so when it was there on my next trip, I looked through it to see if I could find any kind of identification.
I sometimes wonder what the story is behind that pack.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on May 17, 2016 9:21:21 GMT -8
I have a hard time believing that a triple crowner who was on his third throughhike of the CDT would die of exposure. You never know. Something goes wrong, you let yourself get a little hypothermic and start making bad choices...or get sick or something. There's a lot that can sabotage even a very experienced hiker. I'm surprised that there are not more thru-hikers dying of hypothermia — especially on the CDT, no matter how much experience. Every time I see the base pack weight of thru-hikers, I wonder how they will keep warm with so little. It seems to me that hardly any of them pack for temperature extremes combined with wet weather. And if there is any long trail that could catch them off-guard, I would expect the CDT to supply those extremes. |
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BigLoad
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Post by BigLoad on May 17, 2016 9:33:22 GMT -8
I wonder if there were contributing factors. Was he caught in an early-season storm? Did he run out of food or fuel? Did he get wet in very cold weather? That part of NM can be quite cold, especially at 10,000 feet.
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Post by hikerjer on May 17, 2016 9:48:12 GMT -8
I wonder if there were contributing factors I'm sure there had to be, but we may never know what they were. |
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rebeccad
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Post by rebeccad on May 17, 2016 9:49:02 GMT -8
I wonder if there were contributing factors. Was he caught in an early-season storm? Did he run out of food or fuel? Did he get wet in very cold weather? That part of NM can be quite cold, especially at 10,000 feet. And especially in November. I'm surprised that there are not more thru-hikers dying of hypothermia — especially on the CDT, no matter how much experience. And through-hikers are of necessity pushing the edges of the seasons, which increases the risk. Yeah, I look at what a lot of them have, and I don't think I could keep warm with that. A lot relies on being in bed when it's too col (the sleeping bag is the only adequate insulation many carry for temps below freezing), but it's so easy to get too chilled to do what you need to do. We've all read London's "To Build a Fire", right? |
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walkswithblackflies
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Post by walkswithblackflies on May 17, 2016 9:49:30 GMT -8
I know I've proven more than once that you don't have to a an ignorant idiot to make a potentially fatal mistake. but it's so easy to get too chilled to do what you need to do Yup. I was on an early spring hike once, and the temp dropped. I was a bit chilled but decided to keep hiking up to the ridge. At the ridge, the temperature plummeted, the wind picked up, and it started pouring. Within 30 seconds I went from slightly chilled to downright freezing. No problem though... I came prepared. I went to get the extra layers out of my pack. Unfortunately, my hands got so cold I could no longer grip the zipper. Could I have used a tree branch or similar to open the pack? Probably, but I was thankful I was hiking with someone that day, which made the entire solution much easier. |
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rebeccad
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Post by rebeccad on May 17, 2016 9:59:04 GMT -8
I was on an early spring hike once, and the temp dropped. I was a bit chilled but decided to keep hiking up to the ridge. At the ridge, the temperature plummeted, the wind picked up, and it started pouring. Within 30 seconds I went from slightly chilled to downright freezing. No problem though... I came prepared. I went to get the extra layers out of my pack. Unfortunately, my hands got so cold I could no longer grip the zipper. My hands can get very cold very fast, so this is definitely a danger for me. I've never been too close to hypothermia myself, but twice Eldest Son got there, because kids' rain gear is often inadequate, and we weren't attentive enough to how fast someone with zero body fat and a high surface-to-mass ratio can chill. After the second one, we learned. Probably the times we put ourselves at biggest risk are when trail running. We carry very little, and while the trails aren't a million miles from anywhere, temperatures are often too low to be hanging out all wet if you're unable to move. Like I realized at Xmas when I sprained my ankle (Seattle-area; about 40 deg. and drizzling), you might not have a lot of time to get rescued (or self-rescue) under those conditions, and if it happens somewhere in a 10-mile run...I often don't even know exactly which trails my spouse is running, as we may make random choices or change our mind partway through. After a hard run or bike ride on a cool day, even though I change at once into warm, dry clothes, sometimes it takes me a long time in a very warm car to stop shivering. Running out of fuel obviously contributes. I've rambled a bit, but it never hurts to think about what can go wrong and what changes to odds. |
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BigLoad
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Post by BigLoad on May 17, 2016 10:12:36 GMT -8
I wonder if there were contributing factors. Was he caught in an early-season storm? Did he run out of food or fuel? Did he get wet in very cold weather? That part of NM can be quite cold, especially at 10,000 feet. And especially in November. Once I encountered single-digit temps in the Gila Wilderness the week before Thanksgiving, and that was just under 5,000 feet. |
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crawford
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Post by crawford on May 17, 2016 10:28:11 GMT -8
Doesn't even have to get cold. Low 50s with a little rain...that can create an issue quickly because we can easily be lulled into a sense that it isn't that cold. Sort of like the ease of becoming dehydrated when it isn't that warm out. When it is hot, we drink a lot. When it isn't, some folks seriously cut their intake of fluid. Same mentality with Temps, we can take it really seriously when it is cold and we prepare for it. When it isn't that cold we can put ourselves in harms way because we don't see the immediate danger.
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