[pct-l] Fw: Choices and Completion Rates

[ned at mountaineducation.org]

>From Meadow Ed:


Ned
Well you might be on to something here with your ? to greg... lets ask  some 
other 70 hikers if they know the # of folks they saw on the trail then and 
who finished to get an understanding of the old #s game....
I think it was a different mind set back then even without all the new 
gadgets hikers have.... I know back in 96/97 if folks reached as far north 
as KMdws most of them finished... even in this post today you  and Brick are 
coming up with different %s of finishers..... also keep in mind that well we 
read that folks get off the trail for one reason or another we rarely see 
when in a year or two they do indeed complete their hike hense the thru hike 
#s are always off to a degree.....

Are the new hikers less apt to stay the course these days in spite of all 
the high tec gear they carry and is the mentality of the latest class of 
hikers changed then a decade or so ago..... i can say i didn't hear much 
about fires stopping hikers back in the mid 90s either....It used to be the 
only record was kept in the 7o/8o/90s was the depth of the snow in 
relationship to the # of finishers....

You still see some folks will post that the # of finishers are up into the 
70/80 % but i always ? that #... Most but by no means all of the old hikers 
did not skip around the trail unlike today where folks skip ahead for almost 
any reason.... lets be real and see how many folks went all the way this 
year to Keneddy Meadows without skipping around Fuller Ridge....


Ned my Computer is messed up and well i can answer your post i cann't get on 
PCTL so maby you can repost my comment.....

Meadow Ed



--- On Thu, 9/2/10, ned at mountaineducation.org <ned at mountaineducation.org> 
wrote:

> From: ned at mountaineducation.org <ned at mountaineducation.org>
> Subject: Re: [pct-l] Choices and Completion Rates
> To: "Brick Robbins" <brick at brickrobbins.com>, "PCT MailingList" 
> <pct-l at backcountry.net>
> Date: Thursday, September 2, 2010, 3:29 PM
> Please realize that I'm talking about
> how hikers prepare, which is only in
> part the tangibles, gear, food, clothing and the like, and
> the rest is the
> intangibles, research, understanding, experience, training,
> and mental and
> emotional preparation.
>
> Another question I have is, of those who hiked the trail
> border to border
> pre-1980's, was there a greater completion rate or the
> same? There were
> fewer of them, but did a greater percentage finish each
> year, say in the
> '70s? If so, why?
>
> Hey, Hummel--do you have any records on this?
>
>
>
> Ned Tibbits, Director
> Mountain Education
> 1106A Ski Run Blvd
> South Lake Tahoe, Ca. 96150
> P: 888-996-8333
> F: 530-541-1456
> C: 530-721-1551
> http://www.mountaineducation.org