Jeremiah Was A Bullfrog
December 17th, 2006 at 11:28 pm by Smantix
I’m not saying you’ve got to quit building Frosty the Snowman but….goddamn. What are you trying to prove? Who, exactly, are you trying to impress?
HOOD RIVER, Ore. – Rescuers looking for three missing climbers on Mount Hood found a body Sunday in the area where one of the climbers made a distress call last week, authorities said.
The dead climber had not yet been identified, said Pete Hughes, a spokesman for the Hood River County Sheriff’s Office. The victim was believed to be one of the three missing climbers, authorities said.
The body was found in a second snow cave near another such cave where rescuers found a sleeping bag, ice axes and rope, officials said.
I spent this Sunday Christmas shopping. You spent it:
Weather conditions have been harsh since the three were reporting missing eight days ago, with heavy snow fall and wind gusts of up to 100 mph. The snow stopped Saturday, but wind up to 50 mph blew the fresh snow, hampering visibility. Skies were blue Sunday, the wind was still, and temperatures at the summit were reported near zero degrees.
Though I’m refraining from busting out the soundtrack to The Big Chill, I can’t help but feel ineffectual to those who purposefully Houdini themselves into the icy tundra and then expect a miraculous rescue in this latest “story of the hour”.
Darwin was wrong. It’s not survival of the fittest. It’s survival by accident. The sooner you realize that, the sooner everybody can stop doing stupid shit that kills them and makes them household names for 10 minutes.
I’m just saying.
December 17th, 2006 at 11:40 pm
THANK YOU FOR SAYING THAT!
Not to be an insensitive asshole (though I’ve been told that’s my strength), but who is going to pay for this? Costs for this “rescue” mission now exceed 6 figures.
Listen, if you are an aspiring mountain climber, do us all a favor and go to http://www.weather.com BEFORE you decide to lose yourself in the elements.
Or can we have future X-game wannabees sign a waiver that basically says, “We realize we are taking a stupid risk for our personal adrenaline rushes. If we are not home by Sunday at 6pm, please assume we are frozen like a wooly mammoth and don’t waste your resources looking for us.”
Or something like that.
December 18th, 2006 at 3:27 am
Agreed, I never understood the whole “because it’s there” mentality. Prayers to the family of the found hiker. If the other two are found alive then they and their families need to pick up the cost of the rescue effort. Mean-sprited…maybe…but why should the taxpayers of Oregon pay for their mis-adventure. If they don’t make it then obviously the families will have suffered enough.
December 18th, 2006 at 7:06 am
And don’t forget Steve Irwin. There were quite a few insensitive gloats about him even though he had literally dedicated his life to helping educate the world about dangerous animals.
There’s the rub. One person put themselves at risk for something. Others put themselves at risk for nothing.
December 18th, 2006 at 7:24 am
Ha! That was my initial reaction – what did they expect, trapsing around the Himalayas looking for the Yeti? Even when you’re an experienced climber, it’s a calculated risk – you roll the dice and sometimes you get snake eyes. But at least they gave Fox News something to do for a week or so now that Chandra Levy’s long out of fashion.
December 18th, 2006 at 7:54 am
Great work!
Now we just need to work on the “insufferable” part.
December 18th, 2006 at 8:36 am
Chandra Levy, hell…Natalie Holloway!!!
December 18th, 2006 at 10:07 am
Hey T-Bone…you’re one hell of a Prick. You gonna hang out here more often?
December 18th, 2006 at 10:35 am
Prick???…Pragmatic???…six of one…
I’ll hang here till I piss someone off and get blocked. Hopefully that won’t happen, but…
December 18th, 2006 at 1:42 pm
Where the hell are the St. Bernards?? You can pay them in Alpo and that doesn’t cost much.
Course, the St. Bernards are probably too smart to start hiking up THAT mountain! Hello!
December 20th, 2006 at 12:02 pm
Q: Why not require the use of EPIRBs for climbers?
This is proven technology, relatively inexpensive, and, when registered can actually tell the rescuers ‘who’ they are going after as well as where they are anywhere in the world.
>>>>>>>>>>>
EPIRBs
Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacons (EPIRBs), devices which cost from $200 to about $1500, are designed to save your life if you get into trouble by alerting rescue authorities and indicating your location.
>>>>>>>>>>>
Duh?
December 20th, 2006 at 12:39 pm
A: Well, because that would require common sense.
How much common sense does one have when climbing a mountain peak during a winter storm?
And who pays for the rescue authorities if they had to be used?
Maybe mountain hikers should have to take out insurance to pay for rescue missions as well as carrying these EPIRBs…would that cut down on the moron factor?