A cautionary tale

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docinco
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Re: A cautionary tale

Post by docinco »

rperth, having a bad day?
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Wentzl
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Re: A cautionary tale

Post by Wentzl »

Sean. Can you give a little more detail about your tent, color, make, location?

While your offer to give the gear to whoever retrieves it is generous, had you considered the possibility that some good intentioned person might gather up the wrong camp? Seems not improbable to me.

I would like to get up there and send that stuff back to you, but that is not in the cards for me for a couple weeks at least. Between now and then, it would be a shame if someone, thinking they were doing you a favor, cleared out someone else's camp.

So, please either edit the comment about taking a tent down from S Colony Lakes or provide some detail about what you left up there.

Sorry to hear your trip was a wash out.
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Urban Snowshoer
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Re: A cautionary tale

Post by Urban Snowshoer »

How many people on here who aren't keyboard warriors and actually have some peaks under their belt can legitimately say they've never made a mistake in the course of their outdoor endeavors?

Over the years, I can think of at least a couple of instances where, had things gone just a bit differently, the result would have been a Search and Rescue mission, or I might not have even lived to tell about it.

The best thing to do in a situation like yours is to do exactly what you're doing: i.e. realize you made some mistakes but also figure some lessons learned. Learning from your mistakes goes a long way in developing good judgment and experience.
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daway8
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Re: A cautionary tale

Post by daway8 »

Thanks for posting this - I've primarily been a fair weather hiker but I've been slowly starting to push the boundaries more and more - stories like this are a good reminder of how quickly things can go south and will give me some additional points to ponder the next time I'm considering squeezing through a weather window...
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cottonmountaineering
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Re: A cautionary tale

Post by cottonmountaineering »

Urban Snowshoer wrote: Tue Aug 03, 2021 2:10 pm How many people on here who aren't keyboard warriors and actually have some peaks under their belt can legitimately say they've never made a mistake in the course of their outdoor endeavors?

Over the years, I can think of at least a couple of instances where, had things gone just a bit differently, the result would have been a Search and Rescue mission, or I might not have even lived to tell about it.

The best thing to do in a situation like yours is to do exactly what you're doing: i.e. realize you made some mistakes but also figure some lessons learned. Learning from your mistakes goes a long way in developing good judgment and experience.
everyone makes mistakes

usually accidents happen while combining multiple mistakes at once
derekpetrie
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Re: A cautionary tale

Post by derekpetrie »

Wentzl wrote: Tue Aug 03, 2021 2:00 pm Sean. Can you give a little more detail about your tent, color, make, location?

While your offer to give the gear to whoever retrieves it is generous, had you considered the possibility that some good intentioned person might gather up the wrong camp? Seems not improbable to me.

I would like to get up there and send that stuff back to you, but that is not in the cards for me for a couple weeks at least. Between now and then, it would be a shame if someone, thinking they were doing you a favor, cleared out someone else's camp.

So, please either edit the comment about taking a tent down from S Colony Lakes or provide some detail about what you left up there.

Sorry to hear your trip was a wash out.
I’ll be heading up this Saturday and have a good description of the tent and contents, with the intent to pack it out after Humboldt.

Will leave it to nunns on what he wants to share publicly, but if someone has plans to head up sooner it would be good to share. In either case, I will update this thread after my hike.
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kingshimmers
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Re: A cautionary tale

Post by kingshimmers »

TomPierce wrote: Tue Aug 03, 2021 10:46 am IMO the only thing that works well in such a setting is pit zips, bigger the better. And hike up with a light poly layer underneath, which is changed as soon as you cool off at the end of the hike. On goes the dry long sleeve top.
I agree with this 100%. In actual rain, the outer layer of a breathable jacket will wet out and become non-breathable anyway. Go for more waterproof, less breathable, with giant armpit zipper vents. Also, a simple pair of waterproof rain pants are a must with a rain forecast like this (sometimes gaiters are useful as well). I also always pack an emergency blanket/emergency bivy and at least one pair of chemical hand warmers in my first aid kit. Sounds like you had the bivy and just didn't think it through, but those things are literal lifesavers in wet/hypothermic conditions.

Also, one note about navigating in the rain in the dark. If it's raining heavily (and if it's at all foggy), trying to use the white light of your headlamp can be a bit like using your brights when driving - lots of scattering and not too helpful in seeing very far ahead. The red light is more helpful, but makes it harder to see obstacles you might trip over. Something to keep in mind when thinking, "I could just hike back to the car in the dark in a downpour." It may be far more time consuming and miserable than you think. I once had to backpack 8 miles out of Haleakala's crater in a freezing downpour in the dark because I got to camp and realized I forgot my tent - I had adequate rain gear and stayed dry, but navigating out of that was miserably slow (as in, I got back to the car to see sunrise slow)

Thanks for sharing your experience. I think these discussions are extremely beneficial for everyone. We should have more discussion of mistakes.
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HikerGuy
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Re: A cautionary tale

Post by HikerGuy »

cottonmountaineering wrote: Tue Aug 03, 2021 2:29 pm everyone makes mistakes

usually accidents happen while combining multiple mistakes at once
Bingo! Everyone makes mistakes. I'm too am a firm believer that most, not all, bad accidents happen after compounding mistakes/poor decisions. Mistakes are going to happen. What's important is recognizing them and their input on potential outcomes and then being able to adjust your ongoing decision making so as not to make additional mistakes which could lead to accident, injury or death.
nunns
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Re: A cautionary tale

Post by nunns »

Wentzl wrote: Tue Aug 03, 2021 2:00 pm Sean. Can you give a little more detail about your tent, color, make, location?

While your offer to give the gear to whoever retrieves it is generous, had you considered the possibility that some good intentioned person might gather up the wrong camp? Seems not improbable to me.

I would like to get up there and send that stuff back to you, but that is not in the cards for me for a couple weeks at least. Between now and then, it would be a shame if someone, thinking they were doing you a favor, cleared out someone else's camp.

So, please either edit the comment about taking a tent down from S Colony Lakes or provide some detail about what you left up there.

Sorry to hear your trip was a wash out.
Good catch; thank you. DerekPetrie has offered to bring down the tent and contents. However, if he isn't able to go, or whatever, here is a brief description of what to look for:
The tent is in "the clearing" just before SCL's. This is about 1 mile after the trail splits off right from the "road" at a wooden sign for SCL's. My guess is that just about everyone who camps at SCL's would camp in the clearing I am referencing; it is an obvious clearing with some tree cover and lots of flat spots to put up tents.
The tent is 7'x7', standard cheap dome tent. I believe it has some maroon trim. As we left it, the rainfly was on and the tent was zipped. If you see something that looks like that and you aren't sure it's the one, give a verbal and if no one answers, unzip the tent slightly. There are 2 flat light green inflatable sleeping pads (el cheapos) and an old grey Kelty backpack, as well as one or two long sleeved red uppers with "RS" or "Ray-South" on them.

The only item that I care to retrieve is a small New Testament in a ziploc bag. It was my father's and has great sentimental value. I will gladly reimburse postage and them some to anyone who would be kind enough to send that back to me.
As for everything else, including the tent, it would cost more to send them back to me than they are worth, so if you put in the work to pack up the tent and contents, keep the "gear" as payment for your trouble, with my thanks.

Sean Nunn
8622 East 84th Street
Raytown, MO 64138
816-299-9133
"Thy righteousness is like the great mountains." --Psalms 36:6
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polar
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Re: A cautionary tale

Post by polar »

Sean,

I don't post here anymore, but you have always been a voice of reason on this forum, so I wanted to say that I'm glad you and your daughter are safe. Since your intention is for this to be a learning opportunity, I want to share some tips.

I have become a big fan of bothy bags in recent years. They're relatively cheap and lightweight, and serve a slightly different purpose than a bivy bag. They're very easy to use, and in bad weather they give you a dry and warm place to take a break or just evaluate the situation. I don't know if the rain died down after you set up camp or not so not sure if it would've help or not, but at least it gives you some options. I almost always carry one these days if there's any chance of bad weather.
Image

I don't know if you use a ground cloth. If not, having extra layer underneath your tent definitely keep things drier. If you do, make sure it's smaller than your tent floor and does not stick out anywhere. A lot of tents have what they call "bathtub" design where the floor is not completely flat but goes up at the edges and corners, so even with factory ground cloth, it's possible for it to be sticking out and collect water. I also see people cut their own ground cloth much larger than their tent. So rain water will collect on top of the ground cloth and the tent will be sitting in a puddle of water in a downpour.

If your tent doesn't have full coverage rainfly, it's not going to keep you dry in heavy rain. If it does, and depends on how the ground cloth and tent fly attaches to the pole, you may be able to set up the fly and ground cloth without the tent body attached. Some older Sierra Design tents have this feature. Even without this feature, with two people you can sometimes get the same result. After you get the fly and ground cloth up (maybe with one person trying to hold everything together), you can set up the tent body inside. It's a trick to set up a tent in a downpour while keeping it relatively dry. Best to practice and work out the technique when it's not raining though.

Anyway, glad you're ok!
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madbuck
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Re: A cautionary tale

Post by madbuck »

Glad you and your daughter are OK, and thanks for sharing. One result of the "keyboard climber" aspect of this website is at least visualizing and preparing. No doubt, the investment and availability of the potential summit clouded your judgment (as it has for any of us!), and it's harder to make optimal decisions when faced with a series of new and unplanned situations.

People don't always agree with everything about everyone on this site, but I think as a rule even if someone you don't agree with makes and admits a mistake, it's inappropriate to attack that person for admitting it.
And despite my own feelings, if I had time and lived closer I would jog up to send you back your sentimental New Testament as quickly as I could!
But just to bust a little bit: did you read the first book where there was all that rain? :wink:

Hope you get back here on a nice dry weekend soon enough!
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Tim A
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Re: A cautionary tale

Post by Tim A »

Sean,

Thanks for sharing. I’m strictly a fair-weather hiker with respect to rain (I don’t mind cold but wet+cold=Type 3 dealbreaking fun) and stories like this remind me not just of the discomfort but real dangers that come with getting soaked in the backcountry.
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