Worst hiking partners ever
NorthCascades
Posts: 10,968 Member
https://bc.ctvnews.ca/worst-hiking-buddies-ever-rescued-woman-was-left-behind-by-companions-1.4618807
VANCOUVER - North Shore Rescue is strongly criticizing a group of hikers who abandoned an exhausted woman who injured her ankle on a challenging trail Sunday afternoon with no intention of calling for help.
Search manager Allan McMordie, who's been part of the all-volunteer team for four decades, told CTV News Vancouver that while it's common for groups to separate, he's never seen a case where fellow hikers left someone behind and didn't go for help.
VANCOUVER - North Shore Rescue is strongly criticizing a group of hikers who abandoned an exhausted woman who injured her ankle on a challenging trail Sunday afternoon with no intention of calling for help.
Search manager Allan McMordie, who's been part of the all-volunteer team for four decades, told CTV News Vancouver that while it's common for groups to separate, he's never seen a case where fellow hikers left someone behind and didn't go for help.
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As a BC resident, oh the shame!
How could any group of people not secure the safety of all.
Cheers, h.4 -
Yikes, horrifying! Suggests it's a better plan to avoid personally challenging things with very new and unvouched-for "friends"? Wondering if there's more to the back story, but it's inexcusable regardless.4
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That's shocking! I used to lead hiking groups in New Zealand. Sometimes my hikes would be too tough for some of the people who turned up so we would either all stick together and go at that persons pace until the end or there was a point they could get transport back if they wanted or there would be more than one experienced person in the group who knew the way and we would split into a slow and fast group. Never ever ever leave a person alone and especially not if they are injured! The rest of the group just has to put up with it.3
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No way! Fake news! That's too unbelievable to be true!
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Yikes, horrifying! Suggests it's a better plan to avoid personally challenging things with very new and unvouched-for "friends"? Wondering if there's more to the back story, but it's inexcusable regardless.
I can't even imagine leaving a complete stranger I came across on the trail in that condition
Everyone should be like Alex, the stranger who helped her down. 5 -
MySlimGoals wrote: »That's shocking! I used to lead hiking groups in New Zealand. Sometimes my hikes would be too tough for some of the people who turned up so we would either all stick together and go at that persons pace until the end or there was a point they could get transport back if they wanted or there would be more than one experienced person in the group who knew the way and we would split into a slow and fast group. Never ever ever leave a person alone and especially not if they are injured! The rest of the group just has to put up with it.
I belong to a hiking group. We do everything from 6 mile architecture viewing city hikes to challenging 20+ mile wilderness hikes. We always have a leader and a sweep who stays with the last of the group so nobody falls back too far (even with small groups). NOBODY is left alone when injured or becomes ill, even in the middle of a large city.
I know this isn't the same thing, just an interesting aside, but I remember a story where a woman was hiking alone and was injured and also got stranded by high flash flood waters. 2 hikers came upon her but left her as they went to seek help. This is a case where it was the best of 3 choices. She was comfortable and safe where she was after they loaded her up with firewood and more food (and a second book to read). Her injury was such that going for help was safer than trying to get her to hike out. The terrain was difficult (canyons IIRC) so if a lone rescuer also got injured all 3 were SOL. The 2 were roundly criticized for leaving her alone but the rescue people said they did the right thing in those particular circumstances. It also helped that the woman insisted they both go and defended the decision to the critics.12 -
Unfortunately, that is quite believable. We were backpacking in Yellowstone several years ago in the Bechtel region. It's quite remote and is grizzly country. There was a group hiking together, but one of the hikers was very heavy and very slow. He hiked alone. They would send him ahead in the orning, then pass him, then he'd trail in at the end of the day. When we met the group, about 2 miles behind the hiker, they were really rude about their companion, complaining that he shouldn't have come if he was going to slow the group down. I really felt for the guy. I also know someone who had a similar experience in Alaska. She was older and very slow, so was on her own, bushwhacking in completely unfamiliar country while the group went ahead. No responsible leader would allow that, but people can call themselves trip leaders without being at all responsible.6
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Not that uncommon I fear https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/367785/tongariro-death-people-need-to-start-listening-to-us And another article https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12136160https://nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12136160
Note that the call for help was for themselves not for their lost compatriot
I have done that trail and it is a pretty hard one though well signposted. But nobody in their right mind should to that trail in unstable conditions. When we were there they actually cancelled later busses the day after we walked it. A friend wanted to walk it a few years ago but got sent back before reading the top1 -
JohnnytotheB wrote: »No way! Fake news! That's too unbelievable to be true!
Unfortunately, not “fake news”. I live a few kilometres from where this happened & the story is true. The Search & Rescue team crossed paths with the group as they were walking in and the group was walking out. There has been a lot of news coverage as well as comments from North Shore Search & Rescue.6 -
Wow so sad to hear.1
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Insane. Sounds like some massive lack of communication and just thinking - it's someone else's responsibility. At least this one has a happy ending.
This was a common ethical question brought up in the climbing community. Would you stop an ascent attempt to aid another group in need of assistance? Most in Western cultures would, but this is not universal.1 -
JohnnytotheB wrote: »No way! Fake news! That's too unbelievable to be true!
CTV is a reputable news source....
Disgusting behaviour!
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We are living in the age of the narcissism epidemic with a highly inflated sense of self. We tell ourselves that what goes around comes around but I've never witnessed that. They go on and leave their comrade to eat their dust. Nice.
Lesson learned, you never really know someone until you're facing the fire. The worst ones are parents who mock their children on the trail, make fun and call them as slow AF and call them all kinds of names to get them to move faster. I grew up in the backcountry. This is believable and a reflection of self-centered people who will always swim in the shallow waters.1 -
Totally believable and disgusting. I mostly hike with people I know but if I were in a group like that I would never leave someone injured. The most telling part of the article is when the rescue people lecture the rest of the group at the bottom and they don't seem to care!2
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spiriteagle99 wrote: »Unfortunately, that is quite believable. We were backpacking in Yellowstone several years ago in the Bechtel region. It's quite remote and is grizzly country. There was a group hiking together, but one of the hikers was very heavy and very slow. He hiked alone. They would send him ahead in the orning, then pass him, then he'd trail in at the end of the day. When we met the group, about 2 miles behind the hiker, they were really rude about their companion, complaining that he shouldn't have come if he was going to slow the group down. I really felt for the guy. I also know someone who had a similar experience in Alaska. She was older and very slow, so was on her own, bushwhacking in completely unfamiliar country while the group went ahead. No responsible leader would allow that, but people can call themselves trip leaders without being at all responsible.
That is what happened to my friend and her father on the High Sierra Trail (on your way to Mt Whitney). "You're too slow!" Getting up 5 a.m. and you're hiking two hours ahead of the group. She was only female of the team and the group leader was spouting about her dad and her (who were not overweight, and she was quite a seasoned hiker). I would have pushed him down the hill.2 -
Diatonic12 wrote: »The worst ones are parents who mock their children on the trail, make fun and call them as slow AF and call them all kinds of names to get them to move faster.
Sadly this is not restricted to hiking. I see it frequently at junior parkruns (a 2km run) with children as young as four, being "beasted" by their parents, who, can naturally run more easily as their legs are longer and stronger.
It makes me feel sick. Great way to put your children off being active.
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Madwife2009 wrote: »Diatonic12 wrote: »The worst ones are parents who mock their children on the trail, make fun and call them as slow AF and call them all kinds of names to get them to move faster.
Sadly this is not restricted to hiking. I see it frequently at junior parkruns (a 2km run) with children as young as four, being "beasted" by their parents, who, can naturally run more easily as their legs are longer and stronger.
It makes me feel sick. Great way to put your children off being active.
As nasty as my mother was in many things, she was never one of those parents even though she was a gym teacher. We were encouraged to be active which meant biking, swimming, walking, and organized kids leagues like Little League and Jr. bowling league. She carried her teaching philosophy over to family life: as long as you participate and try your best.
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