guest wrote:...mother nature can do strange (or unpredictable) things ... on Skyline ... I hiked the trail during weather (on purpose), wanting to gain valuable experience for my job. Well, the one thing I didn't count on was fog & dense clouds! I couldn't see one chute from the other, hell, I could barely see 40-50 ft. in front of me. I was concerned I'd land up in the nasty chute behind Coffman's Craig, so I went up another chute (probably the one several hikers attempted this season already).
It was a real bitch, deep snow, turning Class 3 & 4 w/ 50 mph winds at the top.
It happens more often than we realize. I was in an area I knew well, the Dewey Point Trail in Yosemite NP, leading a Sierra Club group. One woman slipped and fx'd her rt. radius and ulna. We splinted her and aborted the trip. On the way back, fog came in. The Dewey Point "trail" is a series of yellow triangles posted every so often on trees. With fog, familiarity and yellow triangle trail markers don't count for much. I had to get this injured party to a hospital and get my group out safely. Thankfully, I had a topo map and compass. Between bearings and a big boost from God (we saw one crucial triangle), we all got back OK. (to add to the fun one of the women on the trip absolutely freaked out and was literally trying to organize a mutiny -- she felt I should have called a helicopter. In fog? Hello?)
guest wrote:Had I got stuck, an ELB would have helped, if they can work in those conditions.
Supposedly, they can.
guest wrote:So, of course, no one's invincible, and these devices can be benefical...
A PLB sure helped with Nate Freund on Baldy.
I bet a PLB would have made a lot of difference to the Christy family; they still don't know Dean Christy's fate. You generally can't move on financially without a death certificate. It might have even saved Dean Christy's life if they had gotten to him immediately.
I think even Ellen might have been helped. They shut down the search at 4:30 PM due to bad wx. If they had had GPS coordinates that matched an obvious shelter (the hut), they might have pushed the limit and sent a couple of guys with food and equipment to stay overnight in the hut with Ellen, sparing her a really frightening and potentially life threatening second night alone.
guest wrote: ... in the right hands.
Key point. The potential problem with PLB's is the "Boy Who Cried Wolf" syndrome. If people like Ellen have them, no problem. But if every idiot, bumpkin, and "oooh-rah, I'm invincible" fool has one, there will be so many activations that the real emergencies will be lost in the clutter, and SAR units will disregard them.
I hate to say it, but maybe the high price is a good thing. At the current prices, only serious hikers, hunters, off roaders, etc will get one. Maybe also there should be a fee for
every activation, sort of like a doctor's visit co-pay. I work for Kaiser Permanente. You'd be surprised how many doctor's visits are cut down with a co-pay of as little as $10.00. If you're really in trouble, you won't hesitate to activate, but if it's really not that bad, you might think twice before activating if you knew you had to pay, say $50.00.