By bringing the ten essentials of hiking, you’re taking responsibility for your own safety.
The ten essentials apply to all levels of hiking. Whether you’re a day or overnight hiker, at some point in your outdoor experience, the ten essentials will eventually prove to be a life-saver.
If you’re not familiar with reading a map and compass, learn how to use them before your next trip. The same goes with setting up an emergency shelter, fire starter or using an all-in-one tool.
Practice map and compass, emergency shelter, and fire starter skills, in your back yard under similar weather conditions you’d expect to find on your hiking trip.
A crevasse is an opening in glacial ice. Some crevasses are not obvious, since they’re covered with snow. Falling into a crevasse is a harrowing experience. Some falls may be fatal.
RocketMiner.com via Wyoming News Exchange 8/22/20 On the Teton Glacier, determined climbers save an Evanston man’s life, By Mike Koshmrl. This is the same story as above. It details the full story of how he fell into a crevasse, his rescue by fellow climbers, the helicopter rescue, and his hospital stay.
Hiking Death Stories Are Unpleasant To Learn About, Especially One Involving A Fit And Healthy Woman In The Prime of Life
The Pyrenees Mountains
In November 2020, Esther Dingley was a 37 year old British woman who went on a 3 day hiking trip alone in the Pyrenees mountains, near the border of France and Spain. When she failed to return, her family reported her missing. She never came back. Her body was found at the bottom of a cliff, by her partner, who carried out an intensive search to find her. The cause of her fall was accidental: the result of wearing worn out boots that caused her to slip and fall off a cliff.
HIKING SOLO IS A RISK
As I’ve mentioned before in previous posts, hiking solo is a risk. If you get lost, injured, or sick there is no one there to help you. Electronic devices may not work in remote areas. This leaves you helpless. And even if you contacted help and got through, it may take hours for them to reach you. In that space of time, you’re situation becomes deadly.
34 Year Old Solo Hiker Jennifer Coleman Found Dead In Glacier National Park
GLACIER NATIONAL PARK, MONTANA
This story appeared in the media on Monday, September 5, 2021. A 34 year old hiker from Virginia was found dead in Glacier National Park, while on a solo hiking trip. Her family reported her misssing when they hadn’t heard from her for several days.
Park officials believe that Jennifer Coleman of Richmond, Virginia, may have been hiking at Highline Trail, or Dragon’s Tail, a dangerous ridge located within Logan Pass. There are reports that another hiker died after falling 500 feet from Dragon’s Tail in 2020.
The depth of grief when losing a child can make a parent very sick, or possibly kill them, because the stress of living with this event feels like a weight sitting and pressing down on your heart. The only fortunate aspect of this story is that her family had closure, which in many missing persons cases, there is none.
Samantha Sayers Nor Rachel Lakoduk Returned From Their Solo Hiking Trip
A VIEW OF MT. SHUKSAN THE NORTH CASCADES NATIONAL PARK IN WASHINGTON STATE
SAMANTHA SAYERS
Samantha Sayers was 27-years-old when she disappeared on August 1, 2019, while hiking solo in the Mount Baker–Snoqualmie National Forest, of the North Cascades mountain range.
Her plan was to summit Vesper Peak at 6,220 feet, and return by 6:00 PM. Her preparation included hiking poles, three sandwiches, chips and water.
The last time she was seen was 3:00 PM, when she had lunch with another hiker near the summit.
The trail to the summit is considered difficult and rigorous. Sayers had successfully climbed it before. But, after an extensive 8,000 hour search, not a trace of her turned up.
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RACHEL LAKODUK
9n October 17, 2019 Rachel Lakoduk set out on a solo overnight hike in the North Cascades mountains of Washington state. She was on her way to Hidden Lake Lookout, and planned to stay in a remote Cascades cabin located at 6800 feet. She was never seen again.
Two rescue attempts followed on October 19th and 20th. Both times rescuers faced imminent danger and had to turn back, due to extreme weather conditions, the possibility of avalanche, and 2 to 6 feet of trail snow.