扫一扫，手机访问本帖 
|
ZT：Senior lost in woods burns his money to stay warm
An experienced snowshoer and the group of people he led into the Washington State mountains are lucky to be alive today.
Yong Chun Kim, 66, fell down a slope on Mount Rainier and became separated from the rest of his snowshoeing adventurers. The rest of the group managed to find their way out of the woods and get help, no thanks to Kim.
Kim was forced to spend two days and nights alone. He had fire starters with him and burned some handy fuel sources at first: leaves and then his socks. He was eventually forced to burn the paper money in his pockets.
The nights brought temperatures around -9 C and 20 centimeters of new snow in the area on Saturday. Kim kept moving in an effort to stay warm.
Because of bad weather, helicopters couldn't help in the search for Kim, and the group couldn't provide a very accurate idea of exactly where he fell. That led to the considerable delay in locating him with a ground search.
The extreme location is evident when you consider that when Kim was found, it took nine hours to get out of the woods to safety. Because he is in good physical shape, the ordeal didn't cause him any ill effects and he skipped a trip to the hospital and just went home with family.
Kim is lucky on many counts. He survived, and so did the people he led into the wilderness. There were also no reports of injury to the rescuers.
A news report indicates Kim had the right equipment for a day trip but had no gear for an overnight stay. That lack of planning and the evident lack of any emergency beacon or transmitter say Kim was taking chances with his own life and the lives of his fellow travellers.
People look to a leader to have a plan for all contingencies. Losing the leader is a possibility, and it's not clear if Kim designated a second in command or prepared anyone else to take over if he was incapacitated.
It's also rudimentary that anyone heading into the wilderness always prepare for the chance of having to stay overnight. Emergency gear, extra food – and hopefully some form or emergency technology – should be in the group members' kits.
Kim put others at risk with his lack of preparation, including the people whose task it is to rescue the unprepared.
If the weather had been even worse, and ground rescuers couldn't reach him, Kim would have become another sad statistic. Hopefully he'll learn from the experience and the people who followed him will carefully check out anyone else who offers to lead them on a walk in the woods.
Is Kim a hero or was he just lucky? Should a hike leader be liable for the safety of his group members or at least pay for the cost of rescue? |
|
IP卡
狗仔卡
发表于 2012-1-19 06:37:14
提升卡
置顶卡
沉默卡
喧嚣卡
变色卡
显身卡