[Philmont]: RE: Cellphones/walkie talkies

Just my opinions on cell phones and walkie talkies

There is a cell tower located in Cimarron. I'm not sure who owns it, but
my guess would be PlateauTel Wireless

http://www.plateautel.com/wireless.cfm

They are the company that Philmont has its cellular service through. From
my understanding, other cell companies can buy/lease space on towers to
provide servcie there. The two companies I have seen not work there are
AT&T and Sprint. I think it would be a good investment in time if someone
were to find out the owner of the tower and see what companies have leased
space on the tower to provide service.

Now on having these phones on the trail. Some people (not all) who carry
cell phones in the backcountry get a false sense of security as to this
being a lifeline to the outside world. Its not like a communicator in
Star Trek where the injured person in your party can be beamed right out
once the need for help is communicated. If the cell phone works and you
can get contact with Philmont, it will save some of the time needed to get
help to your location. It should be well noted that working with
wilderness medicine typically removes what is known as the "Golden Hour"
from medical care. This "Golden Hour" is what is used to describe the
first hour after injury where successful treatment can occur. After an
hour, chances of successful recovrey deminsh greatly.

I will outline an example time period of a serious injury.

12 PM - Injury Occurs
1215 - Emergency procedures has been enacted and 4 people have been sent
for help.
1300 - The nearest camp with a radio has been reached
1305 - Health Lodge has been notified by radio of injury
1320 - Strike team (consisting of 3rd year med student, driver, veteran
ranger) is en route
1420 - Strike team has driven as far as possible and will now begin walking
1505 - Strike team has reached injured subject
1515 - Strike team has assessed subject and called Basecamp for carry team
1535 - Carry team has been assembled and departs from Basecamp
1635 - Carry team has driven as far as possible and will now proceed on foot
1720 - Carry team has reached injured subject
1730 - Carry team has begun extracation
1930 - Carry team reaches backcountry ambulance
2030 - Backcountry ambulance reaches paved road where Raton Hospital is 45
min or Taos Hospital is 90 min away. For more urgent care, Santa Fe is
about 2.5 hours

This is only an example and times can vary drastically. As you can see,
there will be much time involved with getting the injured person to ALS
(advanced life support). The Cell phone would only take off about 45
minutes from the time frame. And that is only if the Cell phone has
service there. Although that 45 min might be what saves the person.

I have however seen where a cell phone has helped the rescuers get to the
scene more quickly. I was involved in an off Ranch search that was called
in by a cell phone. It would have taken hours for those people to get to
help to start us looking for the person without a phone because they were
loacated deep in public land. The cell phone was then used to help us
locate these people once we got into the backcountry so we could get to
the PLS (Point Last Seen). So it can help.

That being said, if you choose to take a cell phone, don't let it lure you
into a false sense of security.

As for walkie talkies, I've seen them help and hurt. Some crews think
that if they have 12 people in the crew, they can split up and hike as 2
separate crews (the slow ones and fast ones), one each with a walkie
talkie. This is dead wrong. The ONLY time a crew should split up on the
trail is 2 reasons:

1. Going for help (emergency procedures)
2. Taking a side hike

These 2 reasons are different because the location of 1 part of the crew
is absolute. The location of the other part of the crew isn't completely
known, but their direction of travel and time away from their PLS are
known.

I have also seen where having a walkie talkie allowed Philmont Medics to
get in contact with an injured person before arriving on the scene. This
allows for a better picture of what is going on and can help get the ball
rolling faster.

I think too much time is being focused here on emergencies. They are the
exception and not the rule. Ask more questions about how to have fun at
Philmont, good places to take pictures, locations of good
sunrises/sunsets, and other such happier topics. The staff is well
prepared to handle any problems that may arise.

Jason
><>
Retired Ranger

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Received on Thu May 1 12:24:09 2003