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[pct-l] Re: Tent Colors
- Subject: [pct-l] Re: Tent Colors
- From: rice.craig at comcast.net (Craig Rice)
- Date: Tue Sep 6 14:41:16 2005
- In-reply-to: <20050906171107.3CEB31D97A@edina.hack.net>
- References: <20050906171107.3CEB31D97A@edina.hack.net>
Last year a couple of days south of Sonora Pass my hiking partner fell
and broke his leg. Fortunately (aka under duress from wives) we were
lugging along a satellite phone to contact authorities in the unlikely
event of an emergency or water landing (note: Federal government
agencies only operate 9-5 M-F these days; perhaps the reason for the
slow response to Katrina). After finally contacting someone, and
convincing them that the leg was REALLY BROKEN, they agreed to send a
helicopter rescue team. Their request: "go to a high, open point in the
forest and mark our position with something brightly colored". "No
problem" I replied. As we looked through our gear--forest green
tarptents; forest green sleeping bags; earth-toned clothing....
Fortunately we had our bright-white (well at least still somewhat
white) Tyvek ground sheets, which the pilot was able to spot. Bottom
line--as one other responder stated--it's good to have at least
something bright in your pack to spike up photos and signal pilots!
CW
P.S. Whatever they pay those chopper pilots, it's probably not enough.
The chopper was landed in swirling winds on a rock outcropping not much
bigger than the chopper itself.
P.P.S. Stay away from bright yellow, it apparently ATTRACTS sharks!!