Bark

Aaagggg--not again: 02-27-14
ANCHORAGE, Alaska - An Alaska Air National Guard helicopter crew has rescued three snowmobilers who got stranded in the Talkeetna Mountains.
Alaska State Troopers were unable to rescue the trio Tuesday night due to darkness.
bla bla bla--now to the good part.
The unidentified trio had said by cellphone that they didn't have any survival gear or means to start a fire.
They were cold, wet and tired when they called for help.

-We keep getting more and more people around here who carry no survival supplies. Just a cell phone.
Not even a candy bar or water. They just hop on a machine and ride 20 or 30 miles not thinking about getting stuck and how far it is if they need to walk back.
-These guys were lucky, Cell phone service in that area is spotty at best.

-My favorite part is "they didn't have any survival gear or means to start a fire".
Let me see, there is fuel in the tank, and I have some cloth from my shirt to put a little fuel on.
If only I had some magical way of making a little spark.
Wonder why they call them things sticking out the top of my engine spark plugs?
I'm getting really cold, better call for help again.
`

chaikwa

They should refuse services to idiots like that. Of course, that wouldn't be politically correct, but they at least ought to charge them for what it cost for the scores of rescue personnel that rescued them.

This kinda crap is going to continue to get worse until people start re-learning personal responsibility again. The threat and/or possibility of death is a REAL good way to learn that, but seeing as how we can't do that, hitting them in the wallet is the next best way.

Tallguy67

This whole concept of encouraging bad or stupid behaviour is going to get me to chime in.

Compared to 20 years ago, there are now a whole bunch of safety features in cars. First we made seatbelts mandatory, then we had air-bags, now we have so many air-bags that if you get in a collision it looks like you getting a hug from the Stay-Puffed Marshmallow Man from Ghostbusters. We are starting to put technology in cars that beeps at you if you are drifting out of a lane or if the computer detects a potential collision situation up to 2 cars ahead of you. Despite all of this, fatalities in collisions continue to happen. Why, because we are encouraging complacency. I have a better solution to the problem. Make seatbelts, airbags and all of the anti-collision technology illegal and force it to be removed from every vehicle on the road. Then make it mandatory that every singe vehicle must have a razor sharp 6 inch blade sticking out of the middle of the steering wheel. Now let's see if drivers pay attention to what they are doing.

Ok, end of rant for Friday morning.

Chrisreyn

Scott
Last time I was out in Utah at Canyonlands Nat Park, Zion Nat Park
And at the north rim of the Grand Canyon there were signs posted at the trailheads detailing the cost of a air rescue and warning that the rescued would be billed for the expense
That was in the late 90's but I would hope that policy hasn't changed

cougar

I have friends in the Civil Air Patrol here in AK. The real stats for people dieing in AK from exposure are never reported. Mainly because it would shock people. The large majority of those who die are totally unprepared. It's not just hikers, skiers, off roaders and the like. It's also people drive down an Alaska highway and breaking down or getting stuck. Now that the lower 48 (as we call it) is experiencing the weather we are so use to, the same is happening there. No one is prepared. And if you think it is just because of the cold, guess again. You can die in the desert from exposure just as easy.

Danderson

Nationwide,unprepared folks need to be charged for moronic moves. It's just another example of the plague of personal irresponsibility invading the nation.

NE frmhnd

Yep, it gets cold at night.
TG- that's not just in driving, but everywhere. "Safety first" and all the signs and stickers and having a safety director "in charge of" making sure things are safe, all breeds complacency. Til people realize that in the end, it's up to them to make sure they don't die, lose an eye, etc, today, it will only get worse. That's Mike Rowe's argument for "Safety third", which many people understand, but most do not, especially safety directors.
When they said that, sitting beside 3 sleds, the operator should have said "sorry, we can't help you, you can't fix stupid" and hung up. Heck, they could have taken the cover off the engine, and used the engine and exhaust pipes to warm their fingers and feet and probably started a fire on the pipes, too.

railroaderone

This is another reason why this country is on a massive decline. We were once a people who could take care of our selfs. If we let some of the stupid people die we wouldn't have people like Obama and peloisy in office

SIXSLUG

Gotta be extreme, dude!

I had a kid that used to try to go out of bounds at Mt. Baker on the worst days. I asked him to show me his beacon, shovel, water, probe, survival gear etc. His pack was stuffed with crumpled newspaper to "make it look full"!!

Colo_River_Ram

I say stand back and let Darwin get some overtime in.. We have an election coming up, it is time for some culling.

Justwannabeme

growing up in a city with three raging rivers, cold n snow, jumping trains to avoid race riots, cheap cars and pushing our luck in Canada; you learn real quick how the karma bug bites...

part of any plan off road, and heck yeah- we got a wake up call as to how biting cold it can get in high desert.

as a responder for 27 years, people are so insulated or think that what they see on tv won't affect them, they are permanent 18 years old and bulletproof. farming, boy scouts, army, vol ff, were all great teachers of safety always. in NY I see liability closing down so many opportunities to be responsible and aware.

since we started charging (insurance companies cause you can't bill welfare)
the state police have now stepped in/ straight dispatched. four hours later, they may decide to engage in an operation that avoids actually getting their boots on the ground, shipping in exhorbitant vehicles. victim who survived fall into the deep gorge at Letchworth state park near me; died from exposure waiting for rescue from state police. is this where we have come?
I understand 'me first' in rescue, but it has been impacted by lack of common sense on both sides of the fence.

railroaderone

Amen

Lary Ellis (Top)

We have become a Nation of single parent homes where the Father no longer teaches the children responsibility and for the families that do have fathers the laws prevent them from trying to make their children responsible for their actions.

Now all they learn is the Liberal agenda laid out for them in school which does NOT include any usable, common sense survival skills.

cougar

Heat can kill you just as dead as cold. I was caught on an Arizona highway one day for 6 hours because of an accident. People started abandoning their cars for any shade they could find. Most people had no water or hat. People were calling 911 for help.

Scotty

I noticed Bark mentioned a candy bar. Now I'm hungry. I need a Big Turk. Yum!
I'm certain that most folks are so dependent on the gov that they just a$$ume someone will save them. Remove all common sense and you see what we get. Dorks.

-55 breeze here right now. The cell phone is way down the list on my survival list. Rarely have service here outside the city.