Janet CollinsRescuing Adventurers
September 3rd 2009 10:58
The search and rescue operation for Victorian Water Minister, Tim Holding, this week has generated some discussion and commentary of its own.
It took two days for rescuers to find him and bring him to safety and commentary persists about the cost of such a rescue and suggestions that Holding was given preferential treatment will not go away.
Most of all it raises the question whether or not anyone should venture alone into isolated areas where temperatures are extreme or conditions are hazardous. Emergency locator beacons are available and a must for most adventurers, something Holding now says he won’t leave home without next time.
Holding is a seasoned hiker and it was not until the search had been going for two days that most of his relatives, friends and rescue workers started to fear the worst.
According to Holding, difficulties began after he started sliding on some ice on the Victorian Alps. Unable to slow himself down or stop, the slide went for hundreds of metres, leaving him with cuts and bruises and landing him to a spot that was hard for rescuers to find.
Holding has lived to tell the tale and some of the arguments about the rescue can be justified. Rescue teams need real practice in rescuing techniques and while this may have cost taxpayers quite a few dollars, dummy practice rescues may cost us just about the same. The device that eventually led them to him was supposedly a new device for Australian Federal Police purposes. Again, this incident gave the device a pretty good test run.
The two issues of more importance in the whole incident are simple ones – hiking alone in the alps and not having an emergency locator beacon, should an emergency occur.
I am a skier and when it comes down to skiing there are signs all over the mountain telling people not to ski alone. This is understandable should there be an accident but most people do ski in the vicinity of many others who, whether they know them or not, would see if an accident happened and be able to alert the medics.
Hikers however are usually nowhere near anyone. That is the beauty of it, they say – being alone. In the mountains, though, the weather can change rapidly and anyone can be caught up in hazardous situations without any notice. As in Holden’s case, all it took was a slip on some ice and he was lost in the snow for more than two days.
That is why local emergency beacons should be mandatory for anyone attempting to explore and wander into isolated places. They owe it to their family and friends and their fellow Australians, not to mention the ones who ultimately rescue them.
Sourced: AAP, news.com
Image of Victorian Water Minister, Tim Holding after rescue - credit: Julian Smith, AAP
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Comment by Morgan Bell
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lets face it, just turning on a helicopter costs thousands of dollars these days
i guess its just like a reverse lottery, we like having these "cost is no object" emergency rescue systems just in case we get trapped one day
oh well, im sure its good work experience for someone
Comment by Janet Collins
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Point taken and it is good work experience I just wish they would take the bloody emergency beacons with them to make it so much easier for everyone.
Thanks.
Comment by Jason King
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They should also be government subsidised (this would be way cheaper than the cost of rescue) and what a great way to introduce the new rules - by the same government minister who was lost without one.
I occasionally go hiking by myself but would NEVER go off into the snowy mountain area in winter unless I was grizzly adams himself.
Comment by Janet Collins
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Comment by Spring-Heeled Jack
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Individuals who purposefully embark on outlandish risks, for no apparent reason other than the danger itself, are a different matter. I'd be advocating that we think twice next time a millionaire 'adventurer' gets in a pickle in the Southern Ocean. At the very least they should pay for the courtesy, particularly when they reap large sums from the media for their story.
Comment by Janet Collins
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I always think it is rather funny that in some of the ocean races, the ones who end up capsized or in need of rescue get a lot more media attention than the ones who win the races.
That aside, I still think it should be pretty basic preparation to take an emergency locator beacon and in this case, taking off to the alps without one was pretty foolish, in my opinion.
Lovely to have you drop by.
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Comment by Janet Collins
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Thank you.
Comment by Chris Champion
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In this day of technological marvels, it's easy to make a case that anyone hiking alone in remote areas or hazardous conditions is "irresponsible" not to carry a locator beacon.
Personally, I've done a bit of hiking and I've never carried one, the principle reason being that I have never heard of the thing.
When I go hiking, I go for the exercise and the views and the peace. Technology is anathema. Tim Holding, a much younger and vastly more experienced hiker than me, must have agreed because he didn't use one either. He says he will in future, but then he'd have to say that, wouldn't he.
Oh yes, they have their place. So do satellite phones in case of emergency and GPS devices in case you get lost and thermal underwear in case it gets colder than expected and high-end first-aid kits to cope with any injury and extra baked beans in case ...
Sigh. I think I'll stay home and watch the footy.
Comment by Janet Collins
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I can understand someone going hiking in normal terrain not having any technology that will locate them. Holding went hiking in the snow, where there is ice and he did take his mobile phone.
So many people have been lost and never found in the snow. It is not like walking in the bush. Weather can change at the drop of a hat, not to mention it is so cold that it is at freezing point.
I still think that anyone wanting to venture into these kind of conditions should at least take a locator beacon with them. That is, of course, if they don't want to be on the missing persons list and it would save a lot of time and angst for those who have the job of rescuing them.
Thanks for dropping in.
Comment by Wilson Pon
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Comment by Janet Collins
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Thanks for dropping in.