Yet another rescue of Skyline

[marmot]

well, one of the attractions of the skyline is just that, that it's 8000 feet of elevation gain and it has warning signs. It certainly is a thrill.

So people try it even though they are not prepared.

[magikwalt]

While we were at the at the Skyliners get together SS and I were talking about leading on C2C. He made a point about turning people around who he felt would have trouble, before 3800ft. If you wait until they make the flats then its harder to convince them the real pain is yet to come.

[magikwalt]

Okay...Perhaps I'm missing something here. This is the story on the Desert Sun site this morning.

http://www.thedesertsun.com/apps/pbcs.d ... 60316/1006

If he's been missing for that many days its doubtful that he was with the ODC group. Perhaps they just came across him as they were moving up. But then given the time lines we know: 3:00am start - 1:30pm helo call out; what was the group still doing at 6500ft 9-10 hours later? The hike leader, Udi, has done it numerous times as recently as June 07 and was thinking 5:30 hours or so. His trip log shows he's a very active hiker.

This sure sounds like two stories are getting wrapped together so I'll withhold further comments until the plot lines unravel. No need to rush into a lynching, the rope will always be here.

[Hikin_Jim]

One of the links in this thread is to a "conversation" between Cy & Udi. Udi says that he did call and is glad that he did. Sounds like heat exhaustion or other injury perhaps?

But if they (Outdoors Club) started Sunday A.M. there's no way one of them could be missing for 3 days. Does sound like we're getting a couple of stories scrambled together.

[Cy Kaicener]

Something has definately been lost in the translation. It is hard to believe someone could survive for three days there in this heat with so little or no water.
I would love to hear from rmru.org or Donnie or Udi. If I were in their shoes I would probably not want to talk about it either.

[guest]

I just read the latest thread on the link I posted earlier re. the outdoorsclub leader who decided it was a good idea to post a Skyline hike in July, (you can read it at that link).

To avoid just going totally off on these folks, let's just say the entitlement gen is alive & "unwell" in the outdoors.

It's not my intention to trash the outdoorsclub as a whole, but some self policing might be considered.

It seems that many of the people on this board here have a respect & sense of responsibility when it comes to involving themselves & others in ill conceived undertakings. I hope we work together to keep it that way, for everyones benefit.

I feel it's a good idea for any of us not to discuss Skyline or C2C during the hot, or snow months, even if we are going to hike it, unless it's to discourage others. There's just too many people reading these boards & getting foolish ideas.

ss

[Mountain Impulse]

See Travis's comment on the SummitPost thread on this same subject. The person rescued had not been missing for 3 days.

[Hikin_Jim]

Maybe the "three days" part is a "red herring," in other words, just an error.

Here are some comments from one of the participants: http://www.outdoorsclub.org/PastTrip/PastTripDetail.asp?id=14580

The thing I find disturbing is that they did not stay together. Essentially, at that point, you have first timers going solo up Skyline. This seems like a really bad idea, and it seems grossly irresponsible. If the gentleman who was choppered out had passed out, fallen, etc, no one would be there to see him. And, as the comments of the writer on the above link show, at least one of the first timers did get lost -- more than once. OK, so I'm going to say something critical here, but I think leaving a first timer on the trail constitutes abandonment. I think that's just short of criminal. I can't imagine ever leaving someone to fend for himself out in the sun on a harsh, ill defined route short of immediate threat to my own life or the lives of others. I hope this isn't too strong of a statement, but this is one of the most horrifying things I've heard of with respect to hiking in a very long time. I hope there's something I'm not aware of here, but absent that, I stongly condemn the actions of the leader. I hope the leader's actions were due to a lack of experience and not a cavalier attitude towards human life.

[AlanK]

I feel it's a good idea for any of us not to discuss Skyline or C2C during the hot, or snow months, even if we are going to hike it, unless it's to discourage others. There's just too many people reading these boards & getting foolish ideas.

If you throw out the hot months and the snow months, there are not many months suitable for any discussion.

In my view, the discussion on these pages is very responsible. I see no encouragement of reckless hikes up Skyline and many warnings against such hikes. We know of at least a couple of cases in which people have decided not to make the hike.

There are many worthwhile activities that can be quite dangerous, especially to ill-prepared individuals. Should we campaign to avoid all public discussion of them?

The idea behind message boards like this one is to provide people with good, timely information. That includes warnings aout the risks. I think that we do that quite well here.

[Cy Kaicener]

Here is Travis's report after talking to one of those rescued. Its the fourth one on the thread. There may still be someone up there from three days age according to one of the rescuers
http://www.summitpost.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=30336