TR: Stranded in the Wilderness at Kicking Horse (not me)

[river59]

Doesn't it bother you that people who get themselves in trouble are so often people who are from somewhere else? They put our local SAR people at risk due to their own poor judgment. Is ignorance an excuse? Should Darwin prevail?

This is beyond silly. Are you proposing that SAR respond only to call-outs for locals? Only for the well-prepared?

No need to feel sorry for searchers. They volunteer to help those in need, no matter where the subject is from or how ill-prepared they are.

It is frustrating when a subject makes their situation worse by making increasingly poor decisions. Dehydration, panic, and exhaustion tend to seriously impair judgment, even for folks who are mountain savvy.

Searchers would always rather help than sit by and watch someone potentially suffer. The subject has probably already learned an important lesson by the time SAR is activated.

[whyturn]

I am eternally grateful to BC SAR and learned a ton from my mistake. I have learned to be more prepared and have better gear with a plan. If I don’t know I don’t go.

I plan to volunteer with my local SAR and hope I can help. I talked with my friend who is 12 yr SAR volunteer and he said he does it to help people whether they were stupid or not. I made a stupid choice and share my story in hopes others won’t make the same mistake.

SAR rocks!!!!!!!


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[ThatsNotIrony]

I put hands in trail mix bag to create vapor barrier. Put arms inside jacket under arm pits and also kept blood flowing in my legs with movement. Was really sore. Main challenge was staying awake but knew I couldn’t sleep or I would not wake up. Played mind games and blew my safety whistle a lot. It was a long night and still get cold was sometimes.

Pretty smart given the circumstances...especially the trail mix bag. Gotta improvise sometimes. Glad to hear you made it out okay!

[ex-powderbroker]

First rescue of the season, in your face BC!

https://www.escaladequebec.com/deux-...-mt-lafayette/

[COformtn]

Stop making stupid people famous:
Idiot. Plain and simple. Every single year there's at least one death from yahoos coming to the Rockies from Quebec (and sometimes Ontario) to get rad and the die because they can't or won't follow simple directions or signage.
"heh, heh i move to the montagnes to get the sponcership and film ze movies''
As mentioned in the article it's a great way to get rid of your wife if that's your thing.

but people can learn from their mistakes...

[reckless toboggan]

... people can learn ...

^^^ the flaw in your argument.

see: the ever increasing number of selfie deaths

Which leads us back to...

Stop making stupid people famous:
Idiot. Plain and simple.

[ridge_skier]

Here's another: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/briti...-sar-1.5413276

Gets lost on the last run of the day Monday, doesn't attempt to turn around and follow his tracks back until 1AM on Tuesday

Why not just turn around in the first 30 minutes you think you are lost

[TallSwede]

I got 2 friends who have spend a night each in Revelstoke woods

[swissiphic]

Been testing this ghetto emergency shelter system. Been mulling over the basic concept for a while now and this thread was part of the inspiration to get ideas out of the head and onto the snow. Could save a life or at least provide a bit more comfort in a worst case scenario. The goal was/is to design a super lightweight, air/waterproof, compressible, packable overnight winter survival shelter and figure out a reliable, long lasting heating source so that no extra clothing layers are required for a (relatively) comfortably warm overnight experience.

I speculate that something around 3lbs is a reasonable weight for a package that will always live in the backpack in case of an outlier event that may require an unplanned overnighter. I'm not there yet weight wise but somewhat in a reasonable starting point ballpark.....



320 cm long, medium weight polyethylene. Rectangle section folded in half and taped at the seam.
Total weight including tape = 320 grams on the kitchen scale.

I employed stuff you'd usually have on hand for a day of ski touring to maintain the shelter's form factor and for closing off of either end with adjustable vents allowing for horizontal air flow.

Tea light candles for heating...just used them for testing proof of concept...minus 18C outside with moderate to strong, gusty, northerly outflow winds buffeting the shelter...inside temp got to plus 12.4 degrees C with 15 candles burning. Need a better heat source though...they were somewhat unreliable....quite few flamed out randomly.

This is all just super rough prototyping...have lots of level changes in materials, form, design, gram shaving, etc... yet to come...but...as is, it's good enough to always carry in my pack just in case.

Testing was performed in the back yard with no solar effect. I didn't stay in the tube for longer than an hour at a time. Ran out of time for further refinements and overnight testing.






upper body/back lays on backpack, butt and lower legs get insulated by ski skins and short foam pad


door closure system with a small vent



temp of plus 1C outside, temp of plus 18.5C inside within a few minutes of ignition of 13 tea light candles. Used a small, light rechargeable fan to move the air around so heat was homogenous with no cold layers in the airspace.




after a few more minutes, temp got up to a steady 21 degrees....with two vent holes open and multiple tears in the walls.

[summit]

10 candles in a plastic bag and I'm worried about CO even with vent holes.

[ill-advised strategy]

Many of those people are missing work to be out there

[swissiphic]

10 candles in a plastic bag and I'm worried about CO even with vent holes.

future version of existing setup for testing: full mitigation of any emmissions issues via breathing tube through the 'door' hole to outside air/face mask combo. Win/win/dual purpose 'cause i also wanna eliminate the introduction of humidity into the airspace from breathing.

[Vt-Freeheel]

"Falls asleep among the candles and set himself on fire"

How about one or two Candle Lanterns

Or



Thanks for thinking about safety

[ill-advised strategy]

Stop making stupid people famous:
Idiot. Plain and simple. Every single year there's at least one death from yahoos coming to the Rockies from Quebec (and sometimes Ontario) to get rad and the die because they can't or won't follow simple directions or signage.
"heh, heh i move to the montagnes to get the sponcership and film ze movies''
As mentioned in the article it's a great way to get rid of your wife if that's your thing.

Our stoopid midwest ski area calls any ungroomed area “backcountry”, cut runs inbounds at a ski area they call “backcountry”, so there’s a whole lot of people here who are learning that word has no association with danger or being prepared in any way. There are alarming cliff and danger type signs all over mild terrain. Someday one of these people from here will get himself killed out west because these idiots at our local hill taught them the “backcountry” and “cliff area”s are not anything to worry about.
I’ve been harping on this for awhile, nobody cares...they think I’m a crazy person.

[swissiphic]

"Falls asleep among the candles and set himself on fire"

How about one or two Candle Lanterns

Or



Thanks for thinking about safety

not really interested in open flame heat source for final/future versions. candles and camp stove were just for concept testing....i'm working on alternatives.

[I Skied Bandini Mountain]

Pack a couple of road flares. If you need to get warm, build a fire. If you need to build a fire, you don't want to fuck around.

[Vt-Freeheel]

not really interested in open flame heat source for final/future versions. candles and camp stove were just for concept testing....i'm working on alternatives.

Gonna be interested in what you find that doesn't weigh 5+lbs. Could use this and eat toast and or cat in the morning.

[swissiphic]

A more in depth description of the project and the testing on a new thread over at Tech Talk:

https://www.tetongravity.com/forums/...helter-concept

I'll maintain running updates as progress is made.

[summit]

future version of existing setup for testing: full mitigation of any emmissions issues via breathing tube through the 'door' hole to outside air/face mask combo. Win/win/dual purpose 'cause i also wanna eliminate the introduction of humidity into the airspace from breathing.

Rebreathing warm humid air is good if you are trying to stay warm... minus the CO

[ex-powderbroker]

Gonna be interested in what you find that doesn't weigh 5+lbs. Could use this and eat toast and or cat in the morning.

Remember in that WFA class the one garbage bag and candle trick? warmed right up!

[snowaddict91]

Our stoopid midwest ski area calls any ungroomed area “backcountry”, cut runs inbounds at a ski area they call “backcountry”, so there’s a whole lot of people here who are learning that word has no association with danger or being prepared in any way. There are alarming cliff and danger type signs all over mild terrain. Someday one of these people from here will get himself killed out west because these idiots at our local hill taught them the “backcountry” and “cliff area”s are not anything to worry about.
I’ve been harping on this for awhile, nobody cares...they think I’m a crazy person.

Are you telling me a triple black at Bohemia and a triple black at Big Sky aren't the same thing?

The new trend I've spotted this year is people giving up and taking their skis off to walk down the hill. I may or may not have started telling people "this isn't fucking disneyland."

[swissiphic]

Rebreathing warm humid air is good if you are trying to stay warm... minus the CO

Might depend on if yer a Wim Hof'er or not. For those who aren't, nothing stopping safe routing of the breathing tube in a spiral over the heating source to warm the air being exchanged. Who knows, lots to figure out here what 'best practices' are.

[XXX-er]

I did a bunch of runs at the local hill with the RCMP who did the recovery of the Quebec woman that perished in the KH BC, he told me all the whys/the wherefores, the what went wrong. He sez none of the press got it right but Outside mag got it less wrong then all the rest of them. I asked a whole bunch of questions and he had a whole bunch of answers on how it went sideways BUT it sounds like if that couple had stayed put instead of continaly moving every day they would have been found

Buddy law was skiing in civilian clothes so its a good thing I didnt pull out a reefer on the chair ride before I found out he was a cop

Gonna be interested in what you find that doesn't weigh 5+lbs.

Bivy sack only weighs 750 grams

[swissiphic]

Bivy sack only weighs 750 grams

Bivi sacks certainly have their place...but i'm thinkin' for 750 grams a guy could prolly use the poly to fabricate a full double wall, baffled construction, inflatable airspace between the two walls so structure is fully, rigidly self erected and supported and would shed any rain, snow or sleet...and...have a built in inflated, comfy sleeping pad zone for 750 grams... With that kind of R value, prolly only have to bring 6 tea candles to get interior temps up to the comfy zone and keep it idling there with less heat loss than single wall construction. Dunno, just...me thinx.

[old goat]

The problem for most people whether they're from the flatlands or the mountains is knowing what you don't know. I'd be surprised if there's anyone posting in this thread who has not done something stupid in the mountains. And if you think you haven't you just did and didn't realize it.

Lots of ignorant people have gotten themselves killed in the mountains. So have some of the greatest skiers and mountaineers in the world. I'm sure more of the latter than the former if only because of amount of exposure, both time wise and risk wise. (You can't fall 100 feet if you can't climb 100 feet.) If they're from the valley we say they were stupid; if they're sports heroes we say they died doing what they loved. But dead is dead.