You guys do not seem able to understand the issue of who gets to decide what is “stupid” because everyone has a different risk tolerance.
I’m sure you could find someone that thinks certain things you do are too risky, so why do you believe you get to be the authority?
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Do you have folks in your area who attempt to climb Rainier during winter storms, who have minimal winter climbing experience, and bring no ice climbing gear, no shelter, and no provisions in case they can’t reach Muir or get down before nightfall? That’s what we’re talking about here. Stuff like this happens multiple times every year. It is stupid, plain and simple.
I’d rather die on the mountain than in my bed is no excuse for it. If people truly thought that, they wouldn’t be calling to be rescued, now would they?
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In truth, no emergency treatment is free. The cost depends on your health care insurance, covered treatment and deductibles. Nothing is free. Dental is extra, if it isn’t included under standand care, and then it doesn’t typically cover everything. Extended automobile warranties are fine until the coverage reaches what you paid as the premium fee, then authorizing additional repairs becomes touch and go.
Nothing is free. @MohaveFlyer is correct. If you’re eating nachos and drinking beer while watching football in your recliner, you’ll probably get a free ambulance ride if you bump your head when you fall out of the chair trying to catch a pass. You might even get a free helicopter ride if a nacho chip blocks a blood vessel. But if you’re hiking a ridgeline and you fall over a precipice dodging a timber rattler, that might cost extra. I guess you should check the coverage/deductible, before you decide whether to watch football or climb the North Face.
Nothing is free. Check the coverage, and before you fret too much, check the mental health provisions in case the thought of being rescued becomes too worrisome.
For example, at the beginning of a John Wayne movie, he comes across cattle ranchers preparing to hang a sheep herder (sheep apparently crop the grass too short making it hard for cattle to graze the same land). Wayne offers to buy the sheep at a brazen price. The shepard protests vigorously that the offer is robbery. Wayne asks the shepard if he thinks he can get a better offer . . .
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The Adirondack Almanac devotes a story every few weeks on rescues that have had to be initiated. Many are legitimate such as sprains and falls, but there are a number of stunningly stupid people out there as well. Advanced hikes and climbs with no experience or proper clothing and equipment. Deliberately wandering off-trail with no knowledge of how to navigate, no maps, no compass, or GPS. No food or water. Depending on a cell phone where there is no coverage. Total failure to monitor the predicted weather. Etc., etc.
It’s gotten so bad that the Park Service has had to station people at some trailheads to turn away dramatically unprepared people. Of course they do not have enough Rangers or the budget to catch everyone. There have been a lot of rescues and a number of deaths and missing people and this year it seems worse than usual.
Darwin
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On the road biking forum we have a saying “cycling is dangerous but not as dangerous as not cycling “
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For every story of unimaginable stupidity that makes the Adirondack Almanac, Lake Placid News, or Adirondack Daily Enterprise, there are at least ten that don’t.
Darwin is working double shifts and still not keeping up!
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