A modest proposal to slightly decrease rescues on Skyline ..

[cynthia23]

Good question. I'm pretty sure we would notice if a frequent poster died! But as for lurkers, who knows? Anyone can wander in here.

As for the rest of ye doubters, hokay. It's clear that my genius idea is meeting with a certain amount of 'gentle' mockery

Yes, physicslord, I do know that men, and some ladies, too, have a certain tendency to 'puff' and there might be some grade inflation. But, the profound beauty of my 'quiz' idea is that it's hard to be subjective if you have simple choices on a quiz question: "How many miles did you hike last week?" and the choices are something like 1. 60-80 2. 40-60 3. 30-40 4. 10-30 5. 5-10 6. walked from sofa to TV because remote was broken. It's true that everyone will round up a little, but we'll take that as a given. We could work out a quiz that would be fairly objective. I know you guys think this is funny, but after all, climbers rate climbs numerically. Why shouldn't us hikers rate, err, hikers?

Again, the point of having a fitness score is not to show off or be embarrassed, but just to give more information and clarity to trip reports. Sometimes I'm really left struggling when I read something because I have no idea of the conditioning level of the poster and no way to understand if the hike they describe as 'a moderate day hike" would actually be that for me (or, instead, an episode from "I shouldn't be alive.")

HJ, I gotta ask--what the #@$% did you have in that pack?

[Hikin_Jim]

HJ, I gotta ask--what the #@$% did you have in that pack?

Well, breakfast fixings for six people for starters (omelettes), clothing and water for two, milk, stove and fuel, fry pan, ... You know, the usual.

HJ

[asabat]

Has anyone that's ever died on the Skyline been a member of this forum?

-Florian

I read that wrong at first. I saw:

"Is there anyone here on this forum who has died?"

(It must be Friday.)

[KathyW]

Statistics on weather related deaths:

http://www.nws.noaa.gov/om/hazstats.shtml#

There are relatively few heat related deaths.

[cynthia23]

Wow, that's a way-cool chart, KathyW. It's surprising how the heat deaths vastly outweigh the cold deaths. Thanks for that link ...

I'd make the argument that basically almost all hiking rescues/deaths are really conditioning failures--even the ones that involve heat, getting lost, or injury. The person underestimates the conditioning level needed for the hike, gets very fatigued, and then gets into trouble with one or more elements (getting lost, losing their balance and falling, the weather.)

After hearing people's responses to my idea, I'm getting that it might be understandable that they feel reluctant to post their 'fitness level'. It does seem too much like bragging (if you're very fit) or too embarrassing (if you're not. that would be me. )

Rather than a "Fitness-O-Meter", maybe the missing piece of info on TR posters is simply how much mileage they cover in an average week. That's pretty simple. Something along the lines of "Under 10", "10-20", "20-30", "30-40", "40-60", or "60plus", is probably enough info for the reader to guage how doable a given hike is. For instance, if I read a TR by a poster, and he's a "60plus", and he describes the trail as long and hard, that tells me it will be beyond my modest capabilities.

What concerns me is that the average person who wanders in here off the Internet just can't conceive of how many miles some of the posters are hiking every week. If they knew, they might grasp better the level of conditioning needed before they tackle some of the more strenuous, dangerous hikes.

I'd be curious to know, right now, just how many miles/gain our more frequent and faster posters (you know who you are ) do cover in a good week? Come on, enquiring minds want to know. I have the feeling that for some, 60 might be an easy week ...

[fern]

I'll post what I covered in January. 1-1-12 skyline x2 times 3:53,4:55. 1-2-12 6 mile rd run. 1-3-12 6 mile rd run. 1-4-12 skyline x2 3:47,3:53. 1-5-12 6 mile rd run. 1-6-12 bump & grind trail. 1-8-12 skyline x2 3:34,4:18. 1-9-12 12 mile rd run. 1-10-12 9 mile rd run. 1-12-12 12 3000ft up skyline and down 12 mile rd run. 1-14-12 snowcreek 14hrs to summit &3hrs to tram,with last 3000ft a posthole nightmare! 1-15-12 skyline x2 3:34,4:18. 1-16-12 12mile rd run. 1-17-12 12 mile rd run. 1-19-12 bump & grind 12miles. 1-21-12. Skyline. 1-22-12 mt Baldy summit. 1-23-12 6 mile rd run 1-24-12 9 mile rd run. 1-26-12 6 mile rd run. 1-27-12 skyline. 4:50. 1-28-12. Skyline x2 3:38,4:50. 1-30-12 6 mile rd run. 1-31-12 6 mile rd run. The next 6 months have more swim and bike miles,but less run miles. Not to many more double skylines except Easter that was skyline x3 with 2 runs back to the museum. Then started in February, pedal from Indio 25miles push & pedal up tram rd. Run to museum 6.5 miles,then skyline take tram down.then pedal back to Indio! So when I did C2C2C on 6-14-12 I was ready and that hurt coming down, I was also lucky to have shade from 2600 ft to the museum.because of the time of day. I can't imagine what people think when they try to justify doing skyline this time of year. Unless they put in mileage like said above!

[Hikin_Jim]

I can't imagine what people think when they try to justify doing skyline this time of year. Unless they put in mileage like said above!

And it should probably be mentioned that Fern did a 100 miler recently. Yeah, just your average Joe.

HJ

[Zé]

I'll post what I covered in January. 1-1-12 skyline x2 times 3:53,4:55. 1-2-12 6 mile rd run. 1-3-12 6 mile rd run. 1-4-12 skyline x2 3:47,3:53. 1-5-12 6 mile rd run. 1-6-12 bump & grind trail. 1-8-12 skyline x2 3:34,4:18. 1-9-12 12 mile rd run. 1-10-12 9 mile rd run. 1-12-12 12 3000ft up skyline and down 12 mile rd run. 1-14-12 snowcreek 14hrs to summit &3hrs to tram,with last 3000ft a posthole nightmare! 1-15-12 skyline x2 3:34,4:18. 1-16-12 12mile rd run. 1-17-12 12 mile rd run. 1-19-12 bump & grind 12miles. 1-21-12. Skyline. 1-22-12 mt Baldy summit. 1-23-12 6 mile rd run 1-24-12 9 mile rd run. 1-26-12 6 mile rd run. 1-27-12 skyline. 4:50. 1-28-12. Skyline x2 3:38,4:50. 1-30-12 6 mile rd run. 1-31-12 6 mile rd run. The next 6 months have more swim and bike miles,but less run miles. Not to many more double skylines except Easter that was skyline x3 with 2 runs back to the museum. Then started in February, pedal from Indio 25miles push & pedal up tram rd. Run to museum 6.5 miles,then skyline take tram down.then pedal back to Indio! So when I did C2C2C on 6-14-12 I was ready and that hurt coming down, I was also lucky to have shade from 2600 ft to the museum.because of the time of day. I can't imagine what people think when they try to justify doing skyline this time of year. Unless they put in mileage like said above!

lol, is your keyboard missing the "enter" key???

[Zé]

Yeah, just your average Joe.

that's offensive

[arocknoid]

lol, is your keyboard missing the "enter" key???

No; even fern's *writing* runs on endlessly. Relentlessly. Tirelessly.