Hey Mohave ! Keeping well I hope. (I was on the Colorado for a few minutes last Monday. La Paz.)
2016 I bought a 3 month policy for helicopter evac. I do not remember where, name or how, so you would have to do the research. It is available. Medical helicopter evac has gotten to be big business, and frighteningly expensive. My nephew is an air EMT/nurse. Most insurances do not cover he flight charge, 50k to 150k County, state, emergency flights are often unpaid, but at auto accidents sometimes two or more choppers show up, The new ambulances chasers are the ambulance for profit.
1 Like
I go there, knowing the risks, and accepting them. I have shared campsites with bear, elk, moose, horses, wolves, coyotes, rattlesnake, scorpion, bobcat and cougar. The cougars have scared me. I know I am on their dinner invite list. The weather and the water are sometimes killing cold. I would FAR rather die in the wilderness than in a hospital bed. My job is to relish this heaven as many days as I can.
Imagine: Laying in the shade of a tree 50 miles from the nearest light bulb, birds above, paperback book to read, canoe beached, or sleeping cowboy at 6,500 feet, warm as the sun comes up, only eyes and nose poking out. Heaven is here.
Truth, you cannot save a life by being āsafeā all the time. I choose to spend my life. I suspect, Roma was out there for the same reasons.
2 Likes
Sometimes we must face risks to truly feel alive.
1 Like
I really donāt plan on dying in a hospital and the problem is that once you go in, often you can never get out. That means one has to think everything through very carefully. Iām still haunted by the people that had Covid and said their goodbyes to families and soulmates on IPads.
I guess Iām off the reservation at this point.
1 Like
Years ago, I flew with critical patients from the Caribbean islands back to Jackson Memorial in Miami or San Juan. It was usually tourists having moped accidents with head injuries or old people put off cruise ships and left on some dock on an island nation. The company I worked for demanded 20 k up front in a cashiers check before transporting them. Point being, it was somewhat true even back then. Itās surprising to me how little people that take cruises realize about what happens if they have a problem like chest pain.
Never been on a cruise and donāt plan to go . Iāve got several lakes and bays close by and can cruise anytime I want.
3 Likes
Nobody with common sense climbs the White mountains solo in winter when the forecast calls for high winds, single digit temps, and snow. He attempted the Pemi loop, which is 31 mile trail with 8 summits. Very strong hikers can do it in a day in summer, most take 2-3 days. He planned for a day hike in winter, packed light, didnāt bring snowshoes, or a PLB, or equipment and supplies to survive overnight if he couldnāt make it out. Christopher Roma was stupid and left his 2 year old son fatherless.
Bad judgment trumps experience.
1 Like
I cannot disagree with your final statements. I AM a bit different, but it is proving hard to explain. I absolutely do not go into the wild places to challenge them, challenge myself. I go because it feels good, it is there I relax. My blood pressure goes way down. I eat bad food, my ācookingā ??? Awful what I eat. Cliff bars apples and oranges, and canned stuff little better than dog food. I absolutely do not try to cover 31 miles with 12,000 feet of vertical in a day. Nope. I am the lazy sot camped along the river or well off the trail, basking in the sun or reclined in the shade reading. I have spent entire days watching ants, learning how they find food, leave a trail, muster the numbers required to move the crumb I placed. Watching a bald eagle nest building, talonning a fish from the river on the fly. I am where I belong. I travel with my own self rescue, repair gear. I have traveled with the park rangers when it became a clear choice of would they be hauling me out warm or cold because of failed gear, unrepairable. Even that, I just waited for the next scheduled tour to ride out.
I am a lazy sot 11 days to cover a length others do in three days, because, they have a one week vacation and must be back to work on Monday. What a waste.
āā¦a lot of time people who donāt climb mountains assume it is about this great heroic sprint for the summit. And somehow this great ego-driven ambition. But actually itās the reverse. Itās about supplication and sacrifice and humility, when you go to these mountains. Itās not so much a celebration of oneself but the eradication of oneās self consciousness. And so on these walks you lose yourself, you become a vessel of energy in harmony hopefully with your environment.ā ~ Julian Sands
Another practiced outdoorsman who was lost climbing Mt. Baldy when the weather turned bad, although the cause of death could not be determined.