[pct-l] SPOT messenger vs McMurdo PLB

[Ken Powers]

We had a local police officer ask us to please carry a Spot device to make 
his rescue work easier. The request was made on a sidewalk outside a 
presentation we had just made on long distance hiking.

We have been carrying one since, but more for the at home notifications than 
for rescue.

Ken
----- Original Message ----- 
From: <enyapjr at comcast.net>
To: <pct-l at backcountry.net>
Sent: Sunday, March 27, 2011 11:12 AM
Subject: [pct-l] SPOT messenger vs McMurdo PLB


> ...only a fool would not bring one, or some other reliable rescue 
> signaling device.

Sorry, MendoRider, but I definitely have to disagree with that statement!
With a moderate amount of experience, sufficient or adequate gear for the 
conditions
expected or possible, and the common sense to know when to hunker down or 
bail out or
not try something too 'extreme' - one wouldn't have any need for "rescue"...
Not having a SPOT or PLB does not necessarily mean that one is stupid or a 
fool!

> The successful TV program "I Shouldn't be Alive" would not exist if all of 
> those
> people had had a way of calling for rescue.

And how did many of those people get into such 'situations' that they needed 
'rescue'?
Sometimes it's the opposite - one goes ahead and does something one normally 
wouldn't
because they do have a rescue device with them...  Plus ask some SAR folks 
what they
honestly think of these rescue devices - too many times that 'rescue' button 
is pushed
without THINKING over the situation first - or developing skills needed 
ahead of time...
The most important piece of 'gear' one carries? - the gray matter in one's 
skull - it's
seems amazing that so many people nowadays don't use it (but makes for 
"successful TV"
programs, however)...

There's also another 'popular' TV program - "A 1,000 Ways to Die"; and let's 
not forget
about the annual "Darwin Awards", either...  I doubt a rescue device would 
have helped
the majority of those people...

What was my 'rescue device' carried many years ago (before 'electronics') & 
never once
used as such - the mirror in my small sighting compass...
All that said - I'll probably carry a SPOT - but as a COMMUNICATION device, 
NOT as a
'rescue' device...  It will be for the family & friends 'peace of mind', and 
for me in
the sense of 'sharing' my trek with them daily...
YMMV, HYOH, ad infinitum etceteras......

Happy trails!!!
Jim (PITA)
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