[pct-l] Circumstances that warrant hitting the SPOT 911 button

[Austin Williams]

I gave this a lot of thought when I got lost in glacier peak wilderness and
had to bailout.  30 miles of bushwhacking gets pretty tiring.

I had a SPOT.  I decided I wouldn't press the 911 button unless I had broken
something AND it was bad enough that I couldn't still keep stumbling along
with the help of my trekking poles.  But I'm young and somewhat stubborn.

An interesting side note: In that situation I couldn't decide whether or not
to hit the "okay" button.  I was lost in the wilderness (kind of...  I mean,
I knew where I was generally, and what direction I was heading.  I just
didn't know where civilization was due to the limited scope of my maps).  My
support person knew the "help" button meant "standby for a phone call, I
probably need some special supplies sent".  I decided not to press
anything.  It worked well.

Had I been lost for more than 2 days I would have pressed the "okay" button
(so there would be some record of where I was).  I'm confident in my
survival skills, so I would have given myself about 4 or 5 days of being
lost and trying to find civilization before I pressed the "911" button.  Or
sooner if I fell down one of the waterfalls I had to descend and broken
something important.... and managed to live.

I think whether or not I'd press the button for another hiker would depend a
lot on the other hiker and his/her state-of-mind.  If I thought we could
work together to get him/her to safety ourselves, then I'd let S&R sleep in
that day.



On Tue, Jan 26, 2010 at 5:28 PM, Len Glassner <len5742 at gmail.com> wrote:

> Generalized criteria?
>
> It almost seems that if you still have the presence of mind to use
> 911, then you're not in bad enough shape.
>
> I guess if you're unable to move (i.e., broken leg), then?  And have
> also fallen off the trail?  Or do you blow your whistle and wait for
> other hikers to come along for xx hours, and reevaluate?
>
> If you're really hypothermic, then SPOT won't occur to you.
>
> Lost for xx days?
>
> Use only for other disabled hikers, not for yourself?
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-- 
Austin Williams
PlanYourHike.com

"The mountains are calling and I must go."   -John Muir