Two Ways to Reduce your Risk on Mt San Jacinto

[john m]

I feel compelled to post in light of Ellen's rescue; glad she is safe.

It is always preferable to have someone with you when you hike. However, the two best ways to reduce your level of risk in hiking San Jacinto are (a) review National Weather Service forecasts in detail, and (b) always carry a Personal Locator Beacon, regardless of how many people you are with.

First, be very aware of the current and forecasted weather for the entire mountain.

Here is where to find the weather at the 10,539' elevation level;
http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/forecast/MapCli ... -116.68125

Here is the weather at approximately 8,715' elevation:
http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/forecast/MapCli ... &map.y=109

Here's the weather at the start of Skyline:
http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/forecast/MapCli ... &map.y=111

Consult all three in detail before any SJ hike.

Second, carry the best PLB money can buy at all times, regardless of how many persons you are with. Here's my recommendation:

http://www.rei.com/product/751974

Even if you are with another person and they fall, hit their head, break their leg, have a heart attack, etc., and find themselves in a life threatening situation, are you going to hike for hours back to the Tram or Humber Park to contact authorities or would you rather have the ability to effect a rescue (again, only if life threatening) by using a PLB? Again, I can think of no rational reason not to carry a PLB at all times, regardless of the number of hikers you are with. Carrying a PLB should not be required or regulated, it should be a matter of choice. Clear thinking persons will do the right thing and carry one.

Of course, a PLB is useless if the weather is so bad no one can rescue you. As you look at the weather forecast, ask yourself "given the forecast, could I be rescued if needed?" High winds, low cloud levels, imminent storms, lightning, etc are all issues to consider if they might impede a rescue.

In the last four years I have hiked from Humber Park to the SJ summit 27 times, often alone. Knowing the weather will not be an issue on my trip, combined with a PLB in my bag, helps reduce the risk to what I believe is acceptable. The trip will never be risk free; work to reduce the risk by paying attention to weather and using a PLB every time.

Hope this helps and may Ellen have a speedy recovery!

[Perry]

And don't buy snowshoes with aluminum cleats! Ellen slipped on some ice because of this. Steel or titanium are much sharper because they are thinner.

I visited her tonight. Cynthia and Karen were there. Ellen is doing well and loves to chat. If anybody wants to visit her, probably the best thing to do is email Cynthia and she can talk to Ellen to get approval for your visit. Cynthia will be visiting her again tomorrow. I think Ellen will be there until Thursday. The great news is that although her fingers and toes are blackish-purple, she is only losing the skin, not the nerves.

Ellen has a great story. She will post something.... Kathy, were you the one who contacted authorities? It sounded like it.

I'll try to restock the peak shelter. I'm thinking unpopular foods with nutrition: sardines, black licorice, canned lima beans or kidney beans, any other ideas?... My theory is that the reason Ellen had sardines available was because nobody wanted to steal them.

[halhiker]

John,
Thanks for you post but I have to disagree that there is no rational reason to carry a PLB. One very rational reason is that they are seven hundred bucks!

Just as I do not wear a flame retardant suit and helmet while driving my car I don't personally feel compelled to go to extreme measures to insure that I am impervious to risk in the outdoors. I utilize more caution when hiking alone than when I am in a group but I prefer to travel light and fast with as little gear and as few electronic gizmos as possible. No GPS, no cell phone, very lightweight clothing and running shoes. I tend to enjoy relying on my skills, my wits and my love of wilderness.

My wife used to worry about me but she's learned that I can handle myself and know what I'm doing. I'm no Luddite--I love the latest in technology--but I think that sometimes people tend to rely on tech. I go to the wilderness to get away from it. And when I can't rely on my knowledge, experience and physical ability I think maybe I should just stay home.

[halhiker]

Perry,
I don't know if steel is a better bet for cleats on snowshoes. I have a pair of Tubbs that I bought extra steel cleats for and in certain condition snow tends to ball up on the cleat like crazy. It makes it very difficult to walk. When the steel gets cold ice tends to form on it and for some reason it doesn't on aluminum.

[KathyW]

Ellen's family contacted the authorities when she didn't come home. They then sent out emails out to people that Ellen had hiked with to see if anyone had any information - that's how I got in the loop. Ellen's sister told me to go ahead and post their contact info on the board to see if anyone had any information - that's when everyone here jumped in to try to help. I called Cy to get his advice on what we could do and he suggested tying to contact RMRU among others and he also started trying to contact people. When I called RMRU to see if there was anything I could do and to get info I got an answering machine, but it didn't take long for them to call me back and talk to me about conditions up there and provide contact info.

For that matter I better delete the email addresses, so that they don't get more spam.

[Andy]

Hello all,

Greetings from a fellow friend of the mountain and a new member of this board!

I wanted to quickly chime in and mention that I am also one who enjoys the simplicity of the wilderness and the away time from our ever expanding electronic world. Although I usually have my cellphone on me, as an avid ultra-light backpacker I try to limit the amount of gadgets that I carry in my pack, especially on day hikes. That said, I am open as anybody to convenient, affordable insurance for something that I will likely (hopefully) never need.

A product that seems to fit into this category is the TracMe PLB listed below.
Does anyone have any experiance or personal knowledge on this device?

http://www.tracme.com/default.htm

Thank you,
Andy

[AlanK]

A product that seems to fit into this category is the TracMe PLB listed below.
Does anyone have any experiance or personal knowledge on this device?
http://www.tracme.com/default.htm

I have no experience with PLBs and similar devices at this point, but I have been following recent discussions on several message boards like this one. The TracMe device has come up and someone poster this scathing evaluation. The TracMe is not a PLB but might be suitable for keeping track of a kid at an amusement park.

[Jim Bakos]

The “track-me” has been evaluated by the Mountain Rescue Association (MRA), and found to be lacking in its real-world results. It sends a beacon on standard FRS frequencies, and is really quite worthless.

However, there is a new type of PLB (Pseudo-PLB?) called the “Spot” on the market. It sells for about $160.00 (additional monthly subscriptions required). And, as the President of the MRA said: “It’s like “OnStar” for the average hiker”.

I’ve seen good reviews of this low-cost device. It looks like the MRA backs this device (they sent us several to test at our winter meeting).

Learn more at:

www.findmespot.com

--Jim

[AlanK]

I am intrigued by the Spot device, which has some attractive features and is rather inexpensive (although there is a service subscription fee). It does have some problems. Here is a comprehensive review. The following is the summary from that review.

6. Pros

* Seriously rugged: water- temperature -and shock-proof; floats when dropped in water
* 24-hour support
* Unique feature set well suited to outdoor activities
* Flexible setup for alert message setup and recipients
* Extremely long battery life
* Partnership with GEOS Search & Rescue services
* Works in areas without cellular coverage
* Worldwide coverage
* Less expensive than Personal Locator Beacons (PLBs)
* 2-way communication lets you send "I'm OK" or "HELP" messages from the device
* Friends and family can view your position on Google Maps (provided you give them access)

7. Cons

* GPS Satellite receiver not as sensitive as most modern handhelds; required unobstructed line-of-sight to the sky to work properly
* Could not track indoors, in urban environments, in a vehicle, or in a jacket pocket
* No way to tell of a message was successfully sent or not
* Poor documentation
* Thumbscrews for battery compartment difficult to open outdoors (impossible while wearing gloves)
* No Geofencing support

8. Conclusion

SPOT's Satellite Messenger is a unique product with a feature set that could be a dream come true for both outdoor swashbucklers as well as their concerned family and friends.

SPOT's bright, red design and ultra-rugged specifications make it clear the unit is designed for some seriously harsh conditions. Battery life is outstanding, lasting for weeks of regular use.

Unfortunately, I found the GPS sensitivity poor relative to other GPS units on the market, and I was only able to get the unit to function properly by standing outdoors with a clear, unobstructed line-of-sight to the sky. Even moderate tree cover prevented the unit from getting reliable signals, and I was totally unsuccessful getting the unit to work at all in New York City -- indoors or outdoors, nor was I able to receive GPS signals inside a vehicle, or when carrying SPOT around in my jacket pocket.

One of the most exciting features of SPOT is the ability to perform real-time tracking and let friends and family check-in on your location (SPOTcasting). However, this feature's utility is greatly reduced by the poor GPS performance; you'd almost have to tape the unit to your head and be walking in a bare field to get solid tracking.

It wasn't always 100% clear whether the issue was poor GPS reception, or SPOT's own network reception. There are no reception indicators on the device, so there was no way of telling exactly why reception was so spotty.

Which brings me to my next complaint with SPOT: the LED signals are unclear at times. LEDs appeared to be blinking green and indicating everything was working fine, even when I had no GPS signal at all and messages were not being sent. There was no visual indication whether the unit had successfully sent a message or not, or whether the GPS was receiving signals and tracking my position. If you were really in a life-threatening emergency, you'd want some sort of confirmation that the device has successfully notified someone and the cavalry is on its way.

SPOT's 24-hour customer support answered my calls quickly and was friendly, but provided inaccurate information and didn't know how to perform basic functions like resetting a password.

SPOT is a good fit for strictly outdoor use and could be a great way for hikers, boy scouts, boaters, etc., to let friends and family know they're ok. SPOT provides an additional level of security in an emergency situation, and did work even in areas without cell phone coverage (provided I placed the unit in direct view of the sky and waited a few minutes.

SPOT is a niche product that will please those looking for an inexpensive alternative to Personal Locator Beacons (PLBs), but GPS and/or Globalstar's network reception were simply too poor to recommend SPOT for tracking loved ones during normal daily activities.

SPOT is a decent product that could be made into a great product by improving the onboard GPS receiver and making it clearer when the device is operating properly.

[Jim Bakos]

Yeah, some of our MRA teams are talking to the folks at spot, trying to work out some of the bugs. Still, for $160.00, it's not bad.

BTW: Why would you need a PLB in NYC??? It ain't THAT bad...

--Jim