Two hikers who got down to summit Mount Whitney needed a rescue once they realized too late that they’d manner an excessive amount of gear and couldn’t proceed as deliberate. Inyo County Search and Rescue (SAR) shared the story on its Fb profile, outlining what went fallacious, what went proper, and what classes different hikers can be taught from this incident.
“On Nov 2nd, Inyo SAR was known as out to assist two exhausted and ill-prepared hikers,” the group wrote in its Fb publish. “The topics had began their summit try at 6PM on Friday with 150lbs of newly-purchased gear plus 5 gallons of water. Their plan was to camp at Lone Pine Lake and summit on Saturday. After climbing 2.7 miles till about 3AM, they have been exhausted, and one topic had two blisters and a nasty headache, so that they camped on the path. Later, they woke as much as discover it snowing, and their footwear had full of snow. Utilizing their iPhone’s SOS through satellite tv for pc, they known as for assist.”
The hikers have been capable of descend after resting with some assist from SAR and a Good Samaritan named Bridget, who helped carry their gear.
Inyo SAR shared some tidbits of recommendation for different hikers, together with what went fallacious right here. The group wrote that making an attempt Mount Whitney or an identical peak with out prior expertise and correct preparation shouldn’t be a good suggestion. Additionally, Inyo SAR says the hikers have been “carrying extra water weight” and lacked information about water-filtration choices. (Be aware that the 150 kilos of drugs did not embody the extra weight from their 5 gallons of water.)
The rule of thumb for backpacking is to hold not more than 20% of your physique weight.
See Inyo County Search and Rescue’s full publish concerning the Mount Whitney rescue right here: