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Countrysue, I totally agree with you, here. Nobody can be ready for all disasters. We had an unprecidented ice storm here several years ago. Nothing like this had happened in over 50 years here. I was referring to people who go into what may very well become a dangerious situation for recreation without being prepared.
Emilybh, even if the fines were to be put in place I would hope no one has to pay it. I just think it may make people think about what they are doing and take precautions. I do not want to see anyone fined, but if the idea that they may be fined will help save someone's life, I am all for it.
Oh, yes, and can we add a flashlight to the basic prep items?
Please! Aren't we already out to our ears in laws and fines in this day and age? If he wasn't hurt and didn't need an air evacuation, the rescue couldn't have cost much. Why can't the person rescued pay for his own rescue or have it included in whatever admission charge he may have paid to the park? If he needed an air evacuation, decent health insurance has coverage for that.
The costs is huge when you start using choppers and that 500 dollars fine didn't begin to cover the costs.. for 2 choppers and what ever rescue teams were used. In the NH USA costs can easily run 10,000 bucks for a mt rescue with air support.
Countrysue yeah this is about stupid. Not what happened to you.. This sort of thing happens here in NH a lot..
People who don't know better go places with the wrong stuff and then get scared and leave that stuff and run, or call because they have a blister and want someone to come carry their stuff or something stupid.
I see people who know no better hiking in real cold +10 and colder in sweat soaked tea shirts who end up a problem and a serious problem to themselves, but if you say to chill out, slow down they will laugh at you until they discover too late the old hut master was right..
I have threatened people to make them get up and move again...... I wasn't kidding either. I am very willing to kick someone who is freezing to death with my hard plastic boots to make them get up and move. I become a mean rotten Royal SOB at times like that since i am not strong enough to carry some one myself.
I am not so mean and rotten as i will pretend to be, but the fear of death from me is worse than the fear of death from weather
I used to hate Boy Scout Leaders and SWAT. Both types are fools in my mountains. They are the kind to get other people dead, and brag as they do it.
Whoever manages the land and is responsible for saving your butt would make that decision. You know, the people who are knowledgeable about what supplies would be needed in their specific area. Many MANY locations require visiters to "check out" and sign forms before being allowed into certain areas. This way they can make sure you're prepared for what you intend to do, inform you of any predicted weather changes, and they know you're out there and know when to expect you back. If you don't check back in, they start looking.
Accidents can and do occur, and shouldn't be penalized. You trip and break your ankle on a well-marked day-hike trail, that's an accident. The weather suddenly turns in a way that wasn't predicted, that's an act of God. You bring sufficient equipment for your intended outing but it breaks, that's just bad luck. Even with adequate equipment, people experienced with the outdoors can still get lost.
But if you tell the ranger you'll be on the short well-marked trail to a popular overlook, but break your ankle five miles off trail because you decided to explore somewhere else, that's different. If you sign a form describing how strenuous the hike to the bottom of the valley will be, but get too tired to walk back out and call 911, that's a problem. If you ignore the "recommended provisions" for a certain multi-day hike, and require a rescue costing many thousands of dollars, you should pay for it. And as already mentioned, $500 isn't even close. That wouldn't even pay to get rescue helicopter cranked and hovering over the pad, much less flying for hours in adverse weather.
If he wasn't hurt and didn't need an air evacuation, the rescue couldn't have cost much. Why can't the person rescued pay for his own rescue or have it included in whatever admission charge he may have paid to the park? If he needed an air evacuation, decent health insurance has coverage for that.
The average cost of rescue in Banff Nat'l Park (one of our most accessible and well traveled) is about $2,500. If someone is lost, it costs approximately $4,500 per day to continue a ground search.
Our air ambulance service estimates their costs as approximately $1 for every second they spend in the air, or about $5,400 for an average evacuation.
I believe that the above mentioned Banff uses part of their admission fees as rescue insurance. This works well enough for them, a park that sees more than 3 million visitors a year. However, more remote or less popular areas do not have this option.
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