Unrescued Trekking Poles

General Palm Springs area.

Re: Unrescued Trekking Poles

Postby Wildhorse » Wed Dec 06, 2017 7:22 am

Ed, your experience sounds nightmarish.

In my own experience with dispatchers, police, rescuers, etc., they commonly employ a paternalistic attitude and manner with the persons they are supposedly helping. That seems to have occurred in their contacts with Ed. Sometimes they act like bullies.

I wonder if it is possible to phone sheriff offices directly. I once reported a forest fire directly to USFS on the local office line. Very fast results.
Wildhorse
 
Posts: 548
Joined: Tue Oct 19, 2010 1:11 pm

Re: Unrescued Trekking Poles

Postby Ed » Wed Dec 06, 2017 9:36 am

I hope I did not sound like I was complaining. I did want to give people some understanding of the problems they could encounter on a rescue, even under truly ideal conditions: e.g., daylight, no strong winds, good cell phone connection, no fractured bones, no extreme temperature issues, etc. While I was frustrated at times, on the whole the experience of witnessing an SAR operation left me very impressed. Particularly when you consider that this is a loose network of different organizations, for which this kind of activity is a minor sideline. For example, I think the first helicopter was CalFire.
Ed
 
Posts: 824
Joined: Wed Oct 27, 2010 2:04 pm
Location: San Diego Area

Re: Unrescued Trekking Poles

Postby Wildhorse » Wed Dec 06, 2017 9:44 am

No, no sound of complaining.

Your description just reminded me of my nightmares, and encounters.
Wildhorse
 
Posts: 548
Joined: Tue Oct 19, 2010 1:11 pm

Re: Unrescued Trekking Poles

Postby Myth » Wed Dec 06, 2017 4:40 pm

As an alternative to Spot or Delorme, a PLB is a one-off investment ( with occasional replacing of the battery, which also costs $$$ ). Here's a link to a Facebook post by Joshua Tree SAR where one of the SAR members give some info regarding SPOT vs PLB:

https://www.facebook.com/josarorg/photo ... 96/?type=3

I carry an ACR Resqlink myself. Very light. It is the cost of the contract that has me shying away from a Delorme. If I ever get my employment straightened out to the point where I can tackle some of my wishlist treks, I'll get a Delorme to help facilitate, and carry that in addition to the Resqlink. Until then it is me and my Resqlink, which to date I've been fortunate enough to not have to use.

Oh, postscript: the one time I had to call 911 for a bicycle accident on a urban bike path ( but out a bit on the outskirts of the city ) I had a fairly positive response but I also had a bit of trouble with the "I need cross streets" thing. I was like dangit, I don't know the closest cross streets, but Manor street is west of me and the Bluffs are south of me, just send someone up the bike path, they can't miss the mess!
Myth
 
Posts: 149
Joined: Thu Dec 27, 2012 12:05 pm

Re: Unrescued Trekking Poles

Postby cam » Wed Dec 06, 2017 5:45 pm

Don’t forget the Garmin InReach PLB. 2-way texting, gps unit, tracking, and so many more features!
cam
 
Posts: 5
Joined: Sat Aug 22, 2015 8:56 pm

Re: Unrescued Trekking Poles

Postby Ellen » Thu Dec 07, 2017 12:26 pm

Howdy Ed :)

Thank you for once again being a good Samaritan. I agree with Wildhorse's assessment of what you had to go through to get Ward rescued -- ugh :?

Your experience sounds very similar to what Marilyn, Sally and I went through when trying to report the unattended fire off Deer Springs trail by the Fuller Ridge junction in late September. We couldn't keep track of the number of times Sally was asked for street intersections :roll: Then, even after the 911 operator pinged Sally's phone, the helicopter flew right over us towards Round Valley due to faulty beta from 911. Please note that I am not criticizing 911 but I do understand Ed's frustration.

Howdy CatB :)

Thank you so much for rescuing Ed and Ward's poles.

Miles of smiles,
Ellen
Ellen
 
Posts: 2578
Joined: Thu Mar 29, 2007 9:38 am
Location: Riverside, CA

Re: Unrescued Trekking Poles

Postby Ed » Thu Dec 07, 2017 2:59 pm

Ellen and Others,

The thing that I find unsettling about my two experiences are that the Big Three on Skyline are (a) elevation gain, (b) heat and (c) snow. But heat and snow were absolute non-issues in both cases, and there was no reason to expect that elevation gain would be a problem for either party, given prior experience. It was frustrating dealing with 911, and everybody seems to have had similar experiences. Also no surprise that a helicopter can have problems spotting you. I had a similar experience on Long's Peak in Colorado once, under much better conditions: a couple of dozen people waving and yelling on green open slopes, dressed in the yellow, red, orange, etc. parkas popular at the time. Yet, while I was not keeping track of time, I doubt that more than three hours passed between when I first called and when we arrived at the desert tram station, which I thought was very impressive. I was initially concerned that we might run out of daylight.

CatB,

Thanks again! I drove up to collect our trekking poles yesterday. They had two pairs of poles, but not ours. I left my name, phone number, and a description of the poles. They called today to say they had located them. I will pick them up tomorrow, they are closing today for some event.
Ed
 
Posts: 824
Joined: Wed Oct 27, 2010 2:04 pm
Location: San Diego Area

Re: Unrescued Trekking Poles

Postby CatB » Thu Dec 07, 2017 6:53 pm

Ed, were the poles we picked up not yours? Or did the tram people misplace them?
I'm sorry you're spending more in gas trying to retrieve them then they had cost in the first place.
CatB
CatB
 
Posts: 9
Joined: Fri May 13, 2016 2:47 pm

Re: Unrescued Trekking Poles

Postby Ed » Thu Dec 07, 2017 7:18 pm

Cat,

I'm sure the poles you picked up were ours. The others were probably lying around in the tram station, or Long Valley, or someplace like that. The problem I had was probably due to their Lost and Found person being out for a few days. Short distance from my house in Rancho Mirage to the tram station, so no problem there either.
Ed
 
Posts: 824
Joined: Wed Oct 27, 2010 2:04 pm
Location: San Diego Area

Re: Unrescued Trekking Poles

Postby RichardK » Fri Dec 08, 2017 8:05 am

On the PLB vs. SPOT issue:

PLB contacts NOAA satellites. If the satellite is not in range of a ground station, it saves your distress signal and transmits it when the ground station comes into view.

SPOT works with private satellites. If the SPOT satellite is not in line of sight to a ground station, then your distress signal goes nowhere. I think this explains why SPOT users report gaps in their position messages.
RichardK
 
Posts: 181
Joined: Tue Jan 22, 2013 10:52 pm

PreviousNext

Return to Mt. San Jacinto & Santa Rosa Mountains

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 13 guests

cron