>>865795 cont'd, 4/4>Be me, late summer/early fall of the following season>I teach avalanche education, group I teach with has a tent set up at a big snowmobile event in the flatlands out east>I'm under the tent, talking to passerbys, showing off gear, talking about sleds, talking avalanche safety, talking survival>Two guys come in, look around... see me... "You--!! You're the guy from West!">Immediately recognize the two as the two I had rescued>Introduce them to the other guy I teach with, I had told him the story since we're both educators and experience is a great teacher>Talk about the incident, turns out that event really made them realize how unprepared they were, and how lucky they had been to meet up with the crew I had been riding with that night>And they're not going to make that mistake again>So they're getting a lot more serious about backcountry safety, getting the gear, learning how to use it, and here I am... with the gear, and I teach people how to use it>Hang out for a while, chat over some beers>They thank me again, and head out>Caught up with them again that season, when I was back out in West with the crew>They had both bought GPS's, radios, were carrying a flashlight, maps, and enough gear to survive the night if they had to>This is why I do what I do. >In fact, I should be working on a GPS-navigation presentation for the show coming up next week, instead of posting on /out/.... Pic from Google Earth, the day after the rescue. "Stuck Sled" is where the rider thought his sled was, but it was actually further down the canyon at "Stuck Cat".
That tiny "Fire loc'n" waypoint on the left is where we were waiting that night.
White track is what he hiked up.
Blue line all the way around and into the canyon is where we had to go to get to where he was - no way even if he was able to get the sled unstuck that he'd have been able to make it out that night.
