Who pays for search, rescue and recovery

[FARRIER]

http://shar.es/CPdVv

"Who pays for search, rescue and recovery"

[Pylon]

I stopped reading after the first half of the first sentence:  "Pressure cookers that have been simmering slowly in Vermont and New Hampshire are beginning to boil overs..."

[NIN]

As a relatively new White Mountain hiker (I did 2 4,000 footers before the weather got beyond my current equipment and experience in November), this is important to me and the people around me.

Hikers have been getting lost in the White Mtns for a long time, but in years past, hardy hikers did not venture into the woods without sufficient self-rescue capability, so you wound up only rescuing/recovering the people who had a BadDay™ (catastrophic accident, etc)

However, in just the two hikes I did in October and November in the Whites, I saw plenty of people on the trails who were ill-equipped for even the hike they were attempting, let alone any potential for things to "go bad."  If someone had fallen down, gotten lost on the trail, ran out of daylight, etc, their idea of "backup plan" is the cell phone in their pocket.  So now you have doofs bombing into the back country without even the basics, and now Fish & Game has to pluck them off the mountains in the dark for making a series of bad decisions rather than when something accidental happens.

Doing everything right and sliding 1000 ft down a ravine is probably an "accident".  Doesn't mean your rescue is free, but this falls into the "I was doing my winter hiking right and then I broke my leg and spent 4 hrs dragging myself down the trail on an improvised crutch I built with 550 cord and a tree bough before F&G found me" category.  You might pay $600 of the $1500 cost. 

OTOH, not wearing the correct gear, getting disoriented on the trail with no map, lacking a flashlight, water or shelter falls into the "Six P's" (Proper Prior Planning Prevents Poor Performance) and people should be FOR SURE charged for their rescue, and should be charged for the full boat.

Mike & I went up on Mt Pierce in November.  It was my 2nd 4000 footer, Mike's first in the Whites. 

We were *loaded* with gear: Water, first aid, food, fire, limited shelter, layers, maps, multiple GPS units, flashlights & head lamps. We let people know where we were, where we were going, and when we'd be back.  We planned our hike and hiked our plan.  Apart from a 2 hr delay to our start, we pretty much did everything exactly as we had planned, even though it was snowing pretty steadily and the conditions were considerably worse on the summit than we had hoped for (but were, thankfully, well within what we had prepared for). 

Were we over-prepared? Probably.  But we told ourselves that if it got really nasty/bad, we'd be smart and just turn around. It was never really "nasty/bad" until the last 150-200 ft above the treeline headed for the summit.  I took extra precautions to identify the way back down to the path, because in the literally 3-5 minutes between leaving the Crawford Path sign and reaching the summit cairn, our foot prints on the summit were completely wiped out.   Did I expect that? Well, no, but I was smart and listened to a friend of mine who had literally told me the day before of losing the way off a summit due to similar situations. Our summit was only 100-150 ft off the trail, so its not like we had a 20 minute hike above the treeline to get lost.  Nevertheless, I paid close attention to what we were doing at the treeline and above to avoid becoming a statistic.  We scooted up, got our "yay, we made it!" pictures and scooted back down in very short order.

In preparing for the hike, I mentioned on FB that I was headed up to Mt Pierce, and one of my former cadets, a crew chief in the UH-60 Dustoff unit, said "I'll be your hoist operator today...." It was a matter of pride for me that my first UH-60 ride was NOT going to be getting winched off a mountain due to be a chucklehead.  I'd have rather low-crawled off that mountain than ride in a Sikorsky product... LOL

[a2capt]

There were articles locally about people calling for "help" because they were "tired" and figured the helicopter would come and bring them back to their car in the lot.. at the trailhead..

I kinda left that article with the feeling that the helicopters did come. But the trip to get the car back ended up being harder than it would have been to walk .. but there's been an increase of that kind of call lately. With the last couple Summer's of more than usual heat in the back country, it's a tossup between real trouble or "fakers".

[NIN]

There were articles locally about people calling for "help" because they were "tired" and figured the helicopter would come and bring them back to their car in the lot.. at the trailhead..

I kinda left that article with the feeling that the helicopters did come. But the trip to get the car back ended up being harder than it would have been to walk .. but there's been an increase of that kind of call lately. With the last couple Summer's of more than usual heat in the back country, it's a tossup between real trouble or "fakers".

Many years ago, Curt Lafond (yes, the Curt Lafond) had a guest speaker at his squadron banquet who was from the Expensive Eastern Mountain Stuff Sports SAR team in Conway, NH.  He talked about the increase in "I'm prepared, I have a cell phone" sorts of rescues.

I got laughed at by some friends from the West Coast who felt that all our preparations to hike 4000 ft mountains was "stupid" and they pointed to Mt Whitney, etc as examples of things they just dash up wearing shorts, etc.  It is this same derring do that gets out of towners in to trouble.

The gent from EMS related a story of an adventurer who had climbed many, many mountains around the world and came into the store in Conway to pickup gear prior to climbing Mt Washington around Thanksgiving.  He demurred on some of the stuff they were recommending, citing his experience on much higher peaks and much worse conditions.

Never mind that the White Mtns has some of the worst weather (for its altitude) in North America.

Yep, you guessed it: They wound up plucking this guy off the mtn after he got half way up, ran into weather and refused to climb down due to his knees hurting. Instead he called 911, demanded help, said he was going to climb up to the observatory and pound on the door till they let him in.  The rescue team ascended the auto road on snow cats and found the guy curled up in his uninsulated bivy sack near a rock cairn just as they were about to give up.   Later, the guy claimed he did everything right since he'd had his cell phone with him. (!)

Just last week, the predicted wind chill on the top of Mt Washington was -86F (yes, thats a MINUS), and last Thursday the wind speed atop the mountain was > 100mph.    Yes, Washington is the tallest of the Presidentials and is 1/2 the height of Mt Whitney in California.  But the mountain Mike & I hiked is only 3-5 miles south and about 1800 ft shorter and we could easily have been caught in weather similar to that which they were experiencing on the summit of the mountain.  Heck, they close the auto road in mid October because the weather can change on a dime and nobody wants to have to leave their grocery getter on the top.

Another thing to think about in terms of recovery: I grew up on the Great Lakes. Every year, several (dozen?) ice fishermen wind up driving their snow machines, ATVs or vehicles out on the ice on one of the lakes and the ice breaks off and they find themselves floating toward Canada or Wisconsin.  (or vice versa)  The Coast Guard dutifully flies their Dauphin or Jayhawk out, plucks them off the ice and deposits them on dry land.  But they don't sling out their gear.  No, you have to PAY someone to rescue your pickup or sled off the ice floe. BEFORE it goes to the bottom and creates an  ecological disaster.

And it happens EVERY YEAR without fail.

People don't learn from the mistakes of others anymore.

[FARRIER]

I'm not sure if it's just Colorado or all of Rocky Mountain National Park, but there are rescue cards, like mentioned in the article, where if you do have to get rescued, your rescue cost are covered.

[Pylon]

Hm, those two fellas on the mountain look familiar.

[NIN]

Hm, those two fellas on the mountain look familiar.

Really? I thought I grabbed pics of just two random dudes off the Interwebz.

[EMT-83]

It's surprising how quickly the weather there changes without warning. Last time I was on Mt Washington, we took the cog railway. When we left the station at the bottom, there wasn't a cloud in the sky. We were about two-thirds of the way up, and it got pretty snotty. When we got off the train at the top, the guides told us to hold hands and follow the sidewalk – the building would be there, honest!

Another time hiking in Maine, we were above the tree line when the fog came in fast and thick. The terrain was nothing but rocks with no features to speak of; real easy to lose your bearings. Someone lacking common sense could have stepped off an edge with no problem at all.

[sardak]

I'm not sure if it's just Colorado or all of Rocky Mountain National Park, but there are rescue cards, like mentioned in the article, where if you do have to get rescued, your rescue cost are covered.

Wrong. The Colorado SAR (CORSAR) Card does not cover rescue costs, is not insurance, does not reimburse individuals nor does it pay for medical transport. Rocky Mountain National Park does not charge for SAR, nor do other national parks, because the policy of the National Park Service is not to charge for SAR.

The funds from purchase of a CORSAR Card go into the state SAR Fund which reimburses SAR teams for the costs of a SAR incident, if the subject(s) of the SAR is/are a card holder, AND if the team files for reimbursement from the Fund. At the end of the year, left over funds are available for SAR grants. Most teams don't file reimbursement requests, instead waiting for the end of the year to apply for grant money.

CORSAR cards are $3 for one year or $12 for five years. An automatic 25 cent SAR Fund fee is attached to all OHV and snowmobile registrations, hunting and fishing licenses.

CORSAR Card homepage: http://www.colorado.gov/cs/Satellite/DOLA-Main/CBON/1251592090523

Mike

[FARRIER]

I'm not sure if it's just Colorado or all of Rocky Mountain National Park, but there are rescue cards, like mentioned in the article, where if you do have to get rescued, your rescue cost are covered.

Wrong. The Colorado SAR (CORSAR) Card does not cover rescue costs, is not insurance, does not reimburse individuals nor does it pay for medical transport. Rocky Mountain National Park does not charge for SAR, nor do other national parks, because the policy of the National Park Service is not to charge for SAR.

The funds from purchase of a CORSAR Card go into the state SAR Fund which reimburses SAR teams for the costs of a SAR incident, if the subject(s) of the SAR is/are a card holder, AND if the team files for reimbursement from the Fund. At the end of the year, left over funds are available for SAR grants. Most teams don't file reimbursement requests, instead waiting for the end of the year to apply for grant money.

CORSAR cards are $3 for one year or $12 for five years. An automatic 25 cent SAR Fund fee is attached to all OHV and snowmobile registrations, hunting and fishing licenses.

CORSAR Card homepage: http://www.colorado.gov/cs/Satellite/DOLA-Main/CBON/1251592090523

Mike

Stand corrected 

[SarDragon]

Regarding Colorado - I grew up on the East Coast, mostly in relatively flat areas. My first trip west took me through Colorado in early June. I spent a night with a friend in the Springs, and then headed south. When I gassed up, I asked the attendant how far it was to Pike's Peak, and how far up I could drive. He told me, "not very far, because it's been snowed in for a week." And I had just come from Maine, where it had snowed on April 16th. It was still a big surprise.

[a2capt]

In 1989.. the first time I drove halfway across the country .. madman I was, from Southern California to Kansas City in "record" time. Drive, pull over, crawl in the back of the pickup, sleep. Wake up. Drive.

Mid July, 10PM or so. Pulled over near Vail, CO. Did my thing. At some point later I woke up shivering, teeth chattering. It wasn't "cold" to me.

Took about 45 minutes of the heater running to feel "normal" again.

Got the heck outta there.

The return trip, I hung a Left at Denver, towards Albuquerque.. but not a left at Albuquerque

So it wasn't until the next year when I saw Georgetown .. "I -don't- remember this -at all-"..

I remember the Eisenhower Tunnel, as I'm a sucker for infrastructure .. and then I remembered the $32.95 American Motel, at I-70 near Kipling. Anything else in between? Bzzzzzt.

I remembered that when joining CAP and sitting in on survival class stuff that was going on.

Yeah, you don't realize it, catches right up to you. Fast.

[Eclipse]

Yeah, you don't realize it, catches right up to you. Fast.

That's why divers are taught to treat all issues as life-threatening, because the individual issue may, in and of itself, not be a big deal,
but things add-up quickly, and while "1" may be a low risk, "1+1+2= death", all because "1" wasn't addressed immediately.

The same, BTW, goes for stress in complex leadership situations, but I digress.

[ol'fido]

I don't live in an area that could be said to have challenging or unpredictable weather despite the local jokes about waiting a few minutes. But I do live in an area where we often have nice weather followed within days or hours by crappy weather. We often get freezing rain or sleet anymore as opposed to snow. That kind of weather in the high thirties or forties can be more dangerous because it's easier to underestimate

[Spaceman3750]

I don't live in an area that could be said to have challenging or unpredictable weather despite the local jokes about waiting a few minutes. But I do live in an area where we often have nice weather followed within days or hours by crappy weather. We often get freezing rain or sleet anymore as opposed to snow. That kind of weather in the high thirties or forties can be more dangerous because it's easier to underestimate

I think last week I saw 50 and stormy within the same 24 hours as 20 and snowy. :angel: