[philmont] Baldy Porch Talk

One lightning strike could in an instant easily kill every single member
of an entire Crew. As in, light's out, c'est fini.

Nothing at Philmont scares me like lightning.

Last year I felt that the crew wanted to go on when I called a 'lightning
break' coming down Tooth Ridge. We had a couple of crews pass through us as
we were scattered out among the scrub oak, and lightning hitting less than
half a mile (3 seconds) away. I guess we might have been around to do CPR
if it had been needed - fortunately it wasn't.

Having had at least 5 close calls - lightning strikes within 50 feet (at
least two less than 15 feet) of me lightning is one thing I DEFINITELY don't
mess with. Also fortunately, three of the strikes were in town and I was
reasonably protected by houses (one hit the chimney of a house when I was by
the fireplace).

Climbing Baldy on the same trek we were less than 200 feet from the summit
when I called the crew to turn around. Fortunately, another advisor on the
summit heard the same rumble I did and was able to identify it as an
airplane not thunder. The other advisors claimed to have not heard it. It
was a tough decision, but it only took about that long to make. I would
rather miss Baldy for another day than miss the rest of my life forever.

Happy Trails,

Roy Fisher

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Received on Tue Jul 31 20:27:45 2007