Mt Whitney Zone Forums General Discussion Missing Hikers In Cleveland National Forest

An update re charging for the rescue.

And "Rescuers repelled down a steep hillside to get to her" sounds like an interesting technology in a hhgttg kind of a way.

Kinda sorta difficult to rescue someone so repelling.

I'm sure I'm not the only one wondering what repels you from translating "hhgtth".

I was repelled down a hillside once. In fact it was Whitney: repelled by bad weather.

must be this, hhgttg, a wagga favorite, I think
hhgttg

also, rapelling is description of rap music

In my opinion, the word "rap" and "music" should never appear in the same sentence.

High Jack or Speedy Cendoya?

Poll: Who should cover the cost of rescuing a lost hiker?

Here is a comment from that article:

"To say the rescue cost $160,000 is disingenuous. Were those people not going to be working anyway? They were just sent to do the job they were already paid for.

Search and Rescue organizations almost uniformly oppose making people pay for rescues because they know if people fear having to pay the will postpone calling for help, putting themselves and their rescuers in far greater danger.

This should be a service of tax dollars, just like fire and police
services. It's what we get for living in a civilized society. Be grateful we have this; one day someone you love may need assistance and you'll be thankful we care enough to find them"

Ok, the people are working but they could be doing something else more productive. Then, there is equipment and the costs associated with it. If we take that position, there was no cost to the any of our recent wars since these people already in our employ.

Should people be charged? I think they should, if there is negligence can be proven. Why should we bear the cost of some morons going off trail with a lighter, some water, cell phone and control substances, someone going into a blizzard by hisself Nordic skiing or some walks off the north side of a mountain with 40# of rocks in their pack but no compass. These idiots put others at risk because they expect to be saved from their stupidity.

People will be a lot more careful, if the government can take their assets. Maybe they would even insure themselves for such an event.

Maybe we should charge people when their house catches on fire. Maybe we should charge families when swimmers drown. How about charging to clean up the streets and repair the light posts when there is a car accident? Put up toll booths at every freeway tollway entrance. How about charging admission at the emergency room? Paying the police to investigate a burglary?

Pretty soon it gets ridiculous.

One cannot tell by the media alone, but it seems to me that for all the numbers of folks on the trail, the incidents of "stupid caused" rescues are fairly low. Mostly, I read about falls, injuries, heart attacks, etc, that require evacuation of the patient. I have seen many 'victims' of their own undoing on the trail, but almost all of them were willing to tough it out and take their lumps (I have done my fair share of sharing with those folks, because someday it might bee me)

Steve,

I stated proven negligence as the trigger. I, also, used as examples cases I know that caused the use of SAR.

If they won't call if there is a charge is a valid argument, then if they won't do something stupid, if they know there is a charge is also a valid argument.

If it is an accident...like slide down the side of mountain off a 4' ledge into a creek when an arrest was missed, I do not believe this person should be charged.

I would even be open to community service as a charge or mandatory participation in a WTC type course. Something that says stupid behavior has a cost.

Bee,

Almost half my outdoors time is in the snow. My friends and I save people most winters from themselves, saving the taxpayers thousands of dollars.

Last winter, there was a woman up on Baden-Powell summit ridge in white out blizzard conditions by herself, prepared for a summer day hike only colder, whereas my friends and I were hauling around about 30# of this and that. We got her down off the mountain but not without her freaking out once because a slick traverse. She told us she would have never have made it off the mountain without our aid. I would like to say this is the only time this has happened but it seems to happen at least once a winter. Mostly from people following us to some way off the grid spot where they can't descend safely or are hopelessly lost without neither map nor compass.

I believe, if SAR was called out on this there should have been some type of penalty.

Doesn't this make the cost of the rescue $520,000?

Injured Rescuer Sues Missing Orange County Hiker.

Interesting! (The link didn't work, but I Googled it & found this: http://www.inquisitr.com/1326165/missing-hiker-found-alive-getting-sued-by-rescuer/) I wonder why he only sued the female hiker & not her male companion? And I wonder why his last name has an apostrophe in it?