[pct-l] Stealth on the Trail

[Mtnned at aol.com (Mtnned@aol.com)]

Switchback,
 
Just a note regarding colored equipment/clothing as they mat relate to ease  
of rescue or recovery:
 
During my 1974 trip, when I emerged off the trail onto the highway east of  
Mt. Rainier NP I was met by a father searching with a party for his missing  
southbound son. He was very serious when he questioned me about what I had seen  
and who I may have met along the last 15 miles of the PCT.  Seemed his son  
was out on a shorter trip in the area, but he was very experienced in snow  
hiking, climbing, and camping.
 
I told him that I had not seen anyone on trail in two weeks and no  
footprints in the snow the last 15 miles.  I had a snack on the bridge and  continued 
on after getting his name and number.
 
After finishing Sept. 2 and upon returning home, I called him to find out  
how things worked out.  The rescue helicopter spotted his blue "osolite"  foam 
sleepingpad still attached to his pack on his back at the bottom of a  cliff.  
He was dead.  It was apparent to the recovery team that he had  slipped on the 
snowbank above the cliff and tumbled out of control, unable to  self arrest - 
it was mid August, afterall, and the 3' drifts, he felt, didn't  warrant 
bringing an ice axe or poles with axe handles - and he slid to his  death.  The 
blue color helped the pilot see him against the white, black,  and green of the 
wet forest.
 
His father told me his son died doing what he loved.
 
Mtnned