Heat Stroke on Skyline 5/17/09

[Ellen]

Hello all,

The Gatorade Sports Science Institute has a good article on heat stroke.

http://www.gssiweb.com/Article_Detail.a ... =6&topic=4

Miles of smiles,
Ellen

[zippetydude]

A quote from the article: "Acclimation, much of which occurs in a week or two, leads to better drinking..." I'm all for that!

I hope that was not too frivolous a note for this thread. On a more somber note, I had not realized that heatstroke can arise so quickly or in such unexpected scenarios.

I especially feel for Alex, as he seemingly did everything right. It was not a crazy hot day, so it's not like he took some stupid chance. He started to feel bad, so he turned around. That's normally the right choice. The reports seem to indicate that there may have been some underlying cause - this could happen to any one of us, then, at any moment. I respect his outdoorsmanship and the fact that he had the guts to get out there and make life an adventure.

Like others who have posted, my heart goes out to his family and loved ones.

z

[Emily]

I am the girlfriend of Alex and I ran into these threads immediately after everything happened. I went back to them last night and it made a little uneasy. It worries me and drives me crazy to think going back down the mountain was the wrong decision. We were with an experienced hiker for the first 4-5 miles who thought proceeding to the next 5.5 miles would be 3 times as hard as what we just did (for alex and I). He recommended to go down at the point we were at. Alex and i felt really good about that decision. We were so happy for the first 3 or so miles and talking up a storm. I often wonder if we both would have made it proceeding with the hike on up or if something similar would have happened to either Alex or I. It kills me everyday. But nothing brings him back. I realize that going up would mean would cooler than going back down but you have less oxygen going up and more of an ascent (which we were already struggling with in the first place).

Thank you for your time and condolences. I felt I needed to share that.

-Emily

[FIGHT ON]

wow I never saw this thread until now. very sad.
A similar thing could have happened to me and my buddy on our first time doing Skyline. We started early one Saturday and did not expect to see anyone else on the trail.
Shortly after the picnic tables we caught up with a group of hikers that had started earlier. We decided to stick with them because it was our first time and there were two in that group that had done it many times before and said they knew the trail well.
It was very hot when we started, like 90, the sun just started to come over that ridge when we got to the picnic tables. About half way past flat rock my friend was really suffering. Out of water and I was very low. One of the two experienced hikers, a woman, told us both at that point that we would be better off if we turned around and went back! I remember that just not making any sense at all.
Being our first time and with only about two miles to go I basically told her she was crazy, not because I knew that it would have been worse because of the heat but because we just wanted to complete "skyline", and we hobbled on to the tram.
We were lucky we didn't do what she told us. It had to have been over 120 down there.

[FIGHT ON]

Emily?
Could you share what you guys were carrying on that hike? Like how much water and what you were wearing, the temps, etc?
Thank you.

[Tim Le]

Hi Emily, if you were only 4-5 miles into the hike, I can see why the experienced hiker suggested you turn around. The rest of the way is cooler, but it might not have gotten significantly cooler until you reached about 6,000 or 7,000 ft. And depending on where you were at exactly, this elevation may still have been several miles away. It also gets significantly steeper during the last 2,000 ft of gain. Based on what you knew at the time, I think you made a valid decision to turn around and get off the route. You were still in good spirits during those first 3 miles back down. I hope you can feel at peace that despite our best judgment and efforts, sometimes bad things still happen through no fault of our own. Thank you for sharing your story. My sincere condolences to you and Alex's friends and family.

[Cy Kaicener]

Emily - Thanks telling us about your heart wrenching experience on Skyline.
Condolences to Alex's family and friends
A week after your trip there was another person who also had a close call.
http://rmru.org/missions/2009/2009-009.html

[Perry]

Emily, I'm sorry to hear this is on your mind. It's a grey issue because you were somewhere in the high desert. After flatrock the best thing is to continue up in the summer time (in winter: turn back due to ice), before the top of the shady slope the obvious answer is to turn around. Between those two points it's hard to say. There are several factors involved, and physiological variables are different in different people. Some people sweat more, some people lose more salt in their sweat, some people lose blood sugar more rapidly, some find uphill or downhill to be harder than the other.

If you were doing great the first 3 miles down (did I read that right?) then it could have been an unexpected medical condition that was beyond your control. Hyponatremia (low sodium levels) becomes dangerous in a very short period of time and there is a genetic factor. You often hear about dehydration: "drink water," etc. but there's a lack of discussion of sodium in most health/fitness articles. Most people do shorter less intense activities than Skyline, and only a few people are highly susceptible to hyponatremia. It wouldn't surprise me if the coroner misdiagnosed the cause of death as heat exhaustion. (I don't know what tests were done.)

Anyways, I hope you can feel a little better knowing that there was not an obvious answer as to which way to go. Hyponatremia can even be fatal in moderate temperatures such as the tram on a warm day.

[lipbiter]

Emily, it must be difficult not to think about the what-if's. But what if you and Alex had continued hiking up and then Alex began to have medical problems. You would have been much further from help, assistance would have been hours away -- if you could have even called for help (I don't know if you had cell reception or if there were other hikers on the trail that could have helped you). You might have been in an even worse situation.

I wish there was something I could say that would help lessen your pain. I encourage you to seek professional help to deal with the incomprehensible emotions you are going through.

As a member of SAR, I hope you can stop shouldering the burden of this tragic accident. I'm sure Alex would want you to, too.