An Interesting Morning on Skyline

[halhiker]

RMRU has just come out with this rescue report

http://rmru.org/missions/2012/2012-003.html

This report should be required reading for all newbies and those who want to hike down the Skyline.

[Sally]

Thank you, Cy, for posting the link to the RMRU report. It filled in a lot of the blanks. Ellen and I had been wondering what time the hikers started. Noon is a late start for this time of year, unless you have headlamps or are Steve or Fern!

[cynthia23]

OMG Cy, thank for posting this incredibly interesting report. I agree 200 percent with Hal it should be required reading for all Skyline newbies. When even the rescue crew starts to get in trouble, it makes you understand how treacherous and grueling Skyline can be. I really hope the guy who was considering going down Skyline reads this and changes his dangerous plan.
Reading this also makes me understand how risky rescues really can be and how much the volunteers who do the rescues give up to do them.

[Cy Kaicener]

This is from Summitpost where I posted the news

Re: 17 hikers stranded overnight in 118 mph winds
by MoapaPk » Sun Jan 29, 2012 6:04 pm

I now carry a Blizzard survival bag whenever I think there is a chance of getting stuck out overnight in cold weather (and by that, I mean less than 35F at night, or warmer with precip). In fact I had one on my only C2C trip, when snow started at 5700' and it was below freezing at the summit, with 20" of snow. It was Ellen's survival story (on San Jacinto) that made me think harder about this. I was amazed how many folks were still heading to the summit of San J as we were coming down. Few of them looked to have much preparation for cold weather; many were in light clothes, wearing trail runners. The deep snow had been packed by then, but was icing up and very slippery. I'm actually amazed there are so few rescues up there.

A general explanation of the Blizzard system in here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIyjBd15KwY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MJsMc5mmzc

NOTE these are NOT the single-layer mylar bags that people buy for $5.

When leading trips, I often take the survival blanket instead, which is more appropriate for injured members (imagine tring to stuff someone with a broken leg or spinal injury into the bag). A "sister" hiking/climbing group had a case recently where a fellow slipped on ice, went 30' over a waterfall, landed in ice water, broke an ankle and fractured two vertebrae. They got him on top of some packs, and all had to put their fleeces on top of him, to keep him from succumbing to shock, while SAR was notified by a "runner" (rough territory, no one really runs there). Then the folks waiting for SAR started to become hypothermic themselves, as the sun lowered behind the mountains, and conditions went from a nice sunny day with sweaty outdoor adventure, to sub-freezing.

I used to take lots of extra clothes, but at 12.5 ounces, the survival bag makes more sense. Make sure you also have at least 20x15" of closed-cell foam (say serving as an extra pad in your bag) to keep from loosing so much heat through your butt and back.

I credit the controversial Mattski for publicizing this stuff.
MoapaPk

http://www.summitpost.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?t=61097