Back in thread #1 Curious-A wondered if there was a GPS / Satellite phone being carried. That led me to re-read the equipment list in the dossier (
https://42cc80b7-be3b-41e3-a85b-18b...d/4addd9_d8c55b489c6f445b96d6324dd882f5a1.pdf). At first read it had sounded reasonable, well though out, light, and professional. It was ok for two or more hikers wanting to travel together fairly quickly on a route no more than a day or two walk from a supermarket.
But for a solo hiker, in the Pyrenees, a month beyond the season with winter approaching, it may have been the perfect storm. Let me explain.
A small accident that would be trivial when assisted by one or more companions, can immediately put a solo hiker in a serious survival situation.
Thinking about it, there were a few things missing from the equipment list for that latitude/geography/time of year.
1. What I would add:
Bright clothing. Flares. Space blanket. Survival rations. Extra stove fuel. Compass. Mirror. Whistle. 2 knifes, a Ka-bar and a Swiss Army penknife. Binoculars. Bubble pack of BIC lighters. Firelighters. Extra socks. Powerful torch with spare batteries. First aid kit with trauma dressings, tweezers and tourniquets. Accurate clockwork wrist watch with luminous dial. Water filter. Spare cellphone.
Luxury items - folding shovel, toilet paper, clockwork radio, duct tape, paracord lanyard, extra container for ‘dirty water’ collected that you want to filter later or just fill and leave for pickup on the way out.
2. Maps.me is OK but what about a device that shows current location, allows planning and navigating routes including all known trails, set and manage waypoints, see detailed up to date weather plus 3 day forecasts, 2-way satellite messaging and SOS facility, like the Garmin Inreach offers?
3. Expectations that a solo hiker will be dropping out of touch for a day or more when they don’t have some kind of immediate SOS ability are unacceptable, doubly so if the planned route is uncertain, since the panic line for the folks back at base to even start to ask for a search for the hiker can then stretch out to two or three days AT BEST, more like a week to get the LE/SAR on it since they too have to be convinced there is something wrong and already the hiker, presumably immobile, is getting close to the end of the likely survival time limit even as the search starts to spin up.
4. This major solo hiker vulnerability can be mitigated by either carrying a satellite device like Garmin Inreach or similar, or if connectivity is expected to be spotty, arrange definite 10 minute time bands at 4 to 8 hour intervals where a quick ‘solo hiker OK’ message can be sent, and plan the route around the available connectivity checkpoints. Two consecutive communication ‘misses’ and base gets LE/SAR right on it.
I have been told that SAR would rather go for a helicopter ride (that is the job they applied for and enjoy, by the way) to the stated time checkpoint location, spot red smoke nearby and find a happily waving trekker making broken cellphone gestures, than deal with a panicky base that is not really sure where the solo hiker is supposed to be, where they were headed, or when they would next call in, and this all days after the last known sighting.
5. So the perfect storm could have happened not only due to transitioning to a different light level - it was also the transition from a safe day hike for which she was equipped, into a potentially deadly situation with no communication and no other hikers around or likely to be around, and ED may not have spotted that change early enough to correct her route decision.
).
