29 April 2009
Eagle Scout Lost. Eagle Scout Found
Posted by admin under: hiking .
WCVB in Boston discusses how a Massachusetts Eagle Scout became lost in the snow and instead of hiking for a day ended up spending 3 nights on his own until rescuers found him.
Scott was found hiking toward the summit of Mount Washington. On Saturday, he set out alone on a one-day 17-mile hike along the Presidential Range. The warm temperatures — which helped him survive the elements — also accelerated the snow melt, which caused him to deviate from his planned route.
“He came down this trail, the Six Husbands Trail, and came across a river. He just could not cross the river, couldn’t get back up,” New Hampshire Fish and Game Department Maj. Tim Acerno said.
Over the next three days — as an aggressive search was under way — Scott put his advanced training and hiking experience to use.
“You hope they rely on all the training they’ve had, you know, how to make a fire,” Goldrick said. “Apparently, he made a fire one of the nights because he had matches with him.”
Scott was hungry, a little sunburned and was obviously limping, but he was alive after three nights in the wilderness. No one could sum it up better than his mother, Jory: “I feel like my heart’s been missing for four days and just couldn’t breathe. So, I just feel like I’ve got my heart back in my chest.”
She said her son knows how to build emergency shelters, but he had not hiked in extreme conditions with a deep snow. She said he had two cell phones, crampons, an ice ax, snowshoes, jackets and gloves, although he had never used crampons, ice axes or snowshoes.
Obviously I’m happy that the young man was found safe, but it brings up a number of questions. From reading SmokyScout’s blog when she was section-hiking the Smoky Mountains I know that the prudent course is to always have a hiking buddy with you, but Scott didn’t. The buddy system is also part of the Boy Scouts method of doing pretty much anything. However, the biggest issue to me is that the rescuers found him while he was hiking. Was he not lost? Was his location unsafe that he needed to move to a safer one? Why didn’t he hunker down and wait for rescue? That’s the Boy Scout way, too.
He tried to have the equipment he needed in case he found himself in icy conditions, but I’m not sure if he had food and a way to provide water for himself. Also, people knew where he was and what his expected route was so he did make sure people would be able to find him. It sounds like there was no cell service for the two phones he brought, but he did have matches so he was able to ensure he wouldn’t freeze. I’m glad he survived the low temperatures and I hope this encourages other hikers to have buddies when they go out.
There is video at the news site if you’d like to see Scott and his mom reunited after his ordeal.
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One Comment so far...
Eagle Scout Lost in Fog Stays Still and Safe | BoyandGirlScouts.com - News, Opinion, Advice Says:
28 June 2009 at 2:40 am.
[...] going hiking and getting lost. He could have easily become another statistic and becoming panicked resulting in needless delay. Instead, this man kept his cool and did not become another injured or deceased count over at Hiker [...]
