Offroader missing
 

I saw this posted over on Expo too I believe, but I just received this email from Sierra Expeditions where I have bought some expedition gear from.

Saw on another forum that his truck and later his body had been found.

bummer=(

wow. Anyone know where his truck and he was found? if it was death valley, its handled by our local chp and pd offices. this sucks. anyone know anymore info?

Thats the worst. Goes to show, if you go out alone, anything is possible. Make sure you are prepared for the worst, especially in the winter months.

He was prepared to a degree after all he was going camping. Hypothermia is a killer. This was a situation the knowledge and common sense were his best survival tools.

http://www.princeton.edu/~oa/safety/hypocold.shtml if you scroll down to signs and symptoms you'll see in moderate hypothermia that judgement and desiscion making go out the window. Prevention is key

I think one of the main questions is, did he have a soft top for the jeep? I have gotten stuck and had to sleep in my old chevy before, wasnt fun, but I had a full tank and 5 gallons extra, just bundled up and slept in the truck for a night. Shoveled her out in the morning, taking breaks inside the warm truck. but we dont know if he was carrying a top. If so, hypothermia could have been avoided.

Even if he had no top, he had a tent. Hypothermia is terrible as ppl think "I'd never act that way or do that." But hypothermia sneaks up as the core temp drops. There has been case were the lost person ran from rescuers only to later die.

All im saying is, what caused the hypothermia to set in. He had a newer, it had to of had a heater, just let it idle till the sun comes out. I dont deny hypothermia will kill you or make you dillusional, but rather, what steps could he have taken to avoid such a thing happening. The way i see it is, if its colder than a well diggers butt outside, dont go into it. take all steps to keep you warm, and wait it out. But, we may never know why he didnt stay with the truck.

I think a soft or hard top but no doors from what I heard.

Also, having spent a lot of time in that general area, distances there can be deceiving. After all you are in a valley and from the area he was in he could probably see Mono Lake and likely the highway along the west side of the lake and even cars/trucks. But that valley is huge, you can spend the better part of an hour driving from one side to the other. And Mono Lake is huge (~70 square miles). But with the scale of the size of the valley and the height of the surrounding mountains, it looks like you could walk to it in a few hours, but in reality it may take a few days.

I think this is interesting as it can be scary for many. This guys had equipment and obviously had enough experience that the family thought nothing of him going out solo. Of course there were conditions less than favorable, be it soft top, hard top, doors or not, running motor, fuel level. Reguardless mankind has been surviving the worst of weather with less the optimal conditions from the dawn of time forward. I think we as a ppl have gotten so accustom to an atmosphere where everyone is a winner, that even the loosing team gets a trophy. That we forget that there is a thing such as Darwinism that there is no second place in survival. And all that the latest and greatest of gear and technology can and will not replace knowledge and commonsense.

When this guy, who I am sorry for his family's loss, probably no longer felt cold, probably his thought process had been effected to the point that walking away seemed like the thing to do. But the worst mistake he made took place probably 30 to 90 minutes prior to walking away from the jeep. When he didn't take steps to prevent hypothermia, because by the time he was in hypothermia he had started loosing the battle for survival.

We as outdoor enthusiasts need to look at these many cases of death that have come from ppl outdoors when this last storm hit. Yes rescue teams will look for you but it is your personal responsiblity to live long enough to be rescued. That start before you go out in the woods. Tom Brown Jr is an awesome source of information and even runs a school on the topic, though I've only read his books. Check out REI, or whatever classes may be availible in your area.

As this post was posted in the anouncements if I stepped on toes by using it a platform to learn from, oh well.

:good: Muddpigg!

Not at all, http://images.ibsrv.net/ibsrv/res/sr...s/goodpost.gif as toyo said,

It would be nice to see info like this posted in the First Aid / General Medicine section too.

Muddpigg- Very good posting. I guess I was hung up too much on the preventative that I didnt Think of when it actually set in for him. Thanks.

Its a bad situation and really all we can do is learn from the situation.

sean: think I missed one of your post above, I'm like you prevention of hypothermia is key.

just too add, we can all learn from this. I am a Boy Scout leader in utah and we make sure everyone knows what can and cannot happen. I know scouts aren't cool anymore, but the buddy system has never let me down.

Maybe to *SOME* scouts are not cool anymore...

A friend of mine was hunting years ago. They headed out dressed lightly, and got on the trail of a great bull elk. He skipped lunch. Then in the afternoon a cold snap hit, but because he was hiking his body temps were up. Not for long.

When he finally got back to camp, he sat down near the fire, but his friend looked up to see him fall out of the chair. When he came to, he found himself in a sleeping bag with his friend, both in their underwear.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING??!?" he says.
"Saving your life. You almost died. I was five minutes from loading you up in the truck and taking you down to the emergency room." (which would have killed him; their borrowed truck would have gotten stuck, and did the next day).

He never went hunting unprepared after that.

You know what the biggest problem with the scouts are? They blacklist female! X's are all I produce. My wife and I volunteered with the adventure group with the older scouts so our girls could attend while I was stationed in Tx. But now the girls can go cookie making with the Girl Scouts or snow shoing with me.

After all the reason the scouts was formed was to provide a basic knowledge. So young men could successfully serve in the military and service their country with honor. Females were not of concern at the time. Guess those guys never witness a woman rack the charging handle of a M-2 .50 cal machine gun and realise that life was better for it. I've trusted my life to a woman behind a machine gun and will do it again. Wars aren't fought by men only anymore, till the Scouts change. To hell with the scout leadership, my knowledge will go elsewhere perhaps my daughters will save your Scout.

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