[Philmont] How you do it?

John LeBlanc wrote:
>
> Reading from the news lately, I wonder how in the world do you and
> your three kids get lost for three days while going to get a Christmas
> tree.
>
> Instead of posting my usual self, I decided to try to find out what
> mistakes this guy made and list them in hopes of sharing with new
> people introducing kids to the wilderness.
>
########################

This happened about 75 miles from me. In mountains that we spend some
winter time exploring.

It is not uncommon for things to go from overcast to near whiteout in a
matter of minutes. Visibility can easily be reduced to less than 50
feet and then all the trees look alike.

Seems that these guys were not well prepared from a clothing point of
view (Tennis Shoes and Lightweight dark color Coats) and they started
the trip close to dark. Not very smart but they were only planning on
being out for a few minutes.... maybe an hour if they were really having
fun.

When they knew they had a problem they tried to get to the car and
headed off in the opposite direction. Again not the best of plans.
Remember that all trees look alike and not everyone has a good sense of
direction.

What they did that was smart and kept the from the Darwin Awards list
was that they stayed together and found\made shelter that kept them
alive.

What they did that really saved their lives (according to the Helicopter
Pilot who found them) was that the build a sign in the snow out of
branches that said HELP

Seems that the dark blue coats made these guys harder to spot. From the
air in the snow pilots pretty much see all dark colors as black and the
snow as white. Wearing dark blue, green and brown is the same as
wearing cammo and hiding in the trees.

We will be discussing this story at our next troop meeting where we will
continue to prepare for our snow campout. Got a lot of people with
limited experience in this area including myself, who with less than 20
nights of snow camping, probably does not qualify as a Tenderfoot
compared to most of you.

Mark

-------------------------------------------------------
Scouting E-mail Discussion Lists @ usscouts.org
Listserv Commands at http://usscouts.org/lists/lc.asp
-------------------------------------------------------
Send listserv commands to: listserv@troop47.com
Send postings to: philmont@troop47.com
List FAQ found at: http://usscouts.org/lists/faq.asp
List Administrator: philmont_owner@troop47.com
-------------------------------------------------------
To Unsubscribe send text email to:

     To: listserv@troop47.com
     Subject: unsubscribe
     Body: unsubscribe philmont@troop47.com
-------------------------------------------------------

As you gather around this virtual campfire with fellow
Scouts and Scouters, do your best to be trustworthy,
loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient,
cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean and reverent.
-------------------------------------------------------

 
Received on Thu Dec 20 13:10:29 2007