https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-52819043 Good morning all, Per ... 2 hikers (British English: "walkers") went on a week-long planned hike and experienced obstacles, getting lost in fog, both got injured. In thread title I used word "prudent" because, even with the headaches they experienced, they did 2 big correct things from the SAR perspective: 1. "and stayed put" 2. "made themselves visible" Definitely wear even warmer, weatherized clothing even if starting out in hot, humid climate.
tell somebody where your going and when you intend to be back. stay put and wait to be rescued , put out signs, light a signal fire-green wood , damp grass, or anything that smokes. if you have a vehicle and you've broken down stay with the vehicle.
They did the right things and as Lonewolf said, always tell someone your route and trip times. I've had a sat phone for about 10 years just to keep in touch with me lad if I can't get a cell phone signal or internet access away from the UK (very rare these days) and always take it on my hill walking trips...never need to use it in an emergency up to now (memo to self: charge sat phone).
What's the chances of both injuring themselves? I wonder if they would have stayed put had they not sustained any injuries. An EPIRB would be a handy bit of kit.
Have you heard of Murphy's law? in my experience, Murphy was an optimist. If I was going to go high tech I might think about a satellite phone and a good GPS so that I didn't get lost in the fog. I have one on my boat for that very reason. At night in the fog you can't see anything but with the GPS I can stay right in the middle of the river and know exactly where I am. They did a lot of things right. When you are totally lost even if you aren't injured you need to quickly accept this fact and find a good place to play the waiting game. You want shelter BUT you want to be visible from the air. by sitting still you don't burn many calories and can stretch your food supplies out for a LOOOOONG time. Even as little as 200 to 400 calories a day will keep you alive and reasonably healthy for a month or two. You also reduce your chances of injury. as you weaken and begin to struggle you will be more and more prone to making misakes and hurt yourself. I carry a homemade signal mirror, a whistle, and a couple of smoke bombs in my travel kit just in case. I used to wander around a lot in the National Forrest. I wasn't worried about getting lost but a broken leg can immobilize you. I have a small kit in a fanny pack that I always have when hunting or wandering that will keep me alive and kicking for a few weeks if necessary.
Oh yes, I know Murphy and his Law very well. There's a baffling case in Aus at the moment about 2 campers who have mysteriously disappeared. A puzzling part of the case is that their campsite was found completely burnt to the ground, yet the gentleman's car was found intact. After seeing the article about the couple in NZ, I'm wondering if they too ended up both injuring themselves leading to their demise and Murphy had a hand in the burnt out campsite whilst they were missing and possibly already deceased. https://www.youngwitness.com.au/story/6731010/grave-fears-for-missing-vic-campers/
in England we don't have any wilderness, I think the closest is one of the national parks but such places tend to well frequented and well used so the chances are that anyone lost or injured would be found within a couple of days- although I suppose there will be exceptions. carrying a mirror and a loud whistle would be two good additions to anyone's gear in such circumstances. one trick I was told many years ago if one is lost but uninjured is to find a river, lots of rivers in Devon, follow it downstream, eventually it will lead to a road if only a minor one, that road will lead to some hamlet or village where they can get help.
If your in the mountains DO NOT FOLLOW STREAMS, streams are governed by gravity and look for the easiest flow route and the last thing you want especially in heavy mist or white out is find yourself peering over the edge of a long drop or steep incline.
Plenty of them, by definition a mountain is at least 610m, Scafell Pike is over 900m, I've walked up most of them, camped on many them
that's debateable and open to interpretation. I don't doubt they are high but mountains? nothing down here that compares that's for sure.
"In the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, a mountain is usually defined as any summit at least 2,000 feet (610 m) high,[3] which accords with the official UK government's definition that a mountain, for the purposes of access, is a summit of 2,000 feet (610 m) or higher.[4"
like I said, we sure haven't got anything like that down here. I certainly wont be climbing any mountains.
This same-ish sort of scenario happened back in 2016. Mother-daughter constructed a giant HELP sign on some open field (gonna find that image here in a moment). Back then, brought to attention of physician with whom I work -- I knew she had been to NZ visiting prior to med.school. She said she knew the park well and that it was sooooooooooooooooo beautiful. Shame NZ has those volcano thingies going on, bad earthquakes and such. https://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/n-mom-daughter-rescued-new-zealand-park-article-1.2619996 Found it! .... Found a bunch: https://duckduckgo.com/?q=mother+da...and+park+2016&atb=v140-1&iax=images&ia=images "Though experienced day hikers, the pair became disoriented on the course. Instead of following the orange trail markers, "we saw blue markers and thought this must be another track to go down the mountain," said Carolyn. "Actually, the blue markers were in place for opossum tracking." Great! Wow. How special.
