Denver Post on SAR overload

[Matt]

Opinion: Search and rescue overwhelmed by a generation “expecting to get rescued”

Click here if the paywall is an issue.

Discuss, if you like.

[k_fergie]

I've seen similar articles regarding satellite communicators increasing the number of rescues for SAR, but I'm not sure that modern equipment is actually driving the increase in more SAR missions. It probably is, but I want some data to back it up. I'd be curious if there is hard data about the number of rescues per user-hour increasing in recent years. That metric, or something similar would be extremely valuable in driving the discussion. Rescues have certainly gone up, but so have number of people getting outside, does it net out to people becoming more expecting of a rescue? Hard to say without data. This article feels a little "old man yells at cloud" and anecdotal rather than data driven. My counter-anecdote is that I am a millennial and know that myself and other millennial friends have walked out of potential SAR situations (while in cell service or carrying a Garmin/SPOT) with broken bones and other injuries and we didn't call in SAR because we felt that our situation did not deserve a whole team of people.

In either case, SAR volunteers and teams have it rough and deserve better. The system does need some sort of assistance or overhaul simply due to the patchwork nature and how rescues have increased with the increased usage of public lands for recreation with no significant change to the system to help with the load.

[12ersRule]

Interesting article. I passed it along to a person who does SAR in pretty much all her spare time, amazing what qualifications they need to have to be able to help folks like us.

Appreciate them now even more than I did before.

[ICantHearYou]

I'm with k_fergie on this. It is disappointing to see this written as an opinion article. It seems very easy to turn it into an actual story backed by data. That would have introduced interesting discussions. This article seems like an excuse to rag on our generation.

[climbingcue]

I think it is a number of things that are causing the increase. Hike any 14er in the summer, look at the people still heading up the mountain when the clouds are not looking good at all. They are in shorts and have only one 16 oz water with not even a jacket or backpack. I think it is all down to there are so many more people are using the backcountry, as with anything. The more people in the backcountry the more calls for help you are going to have. I am a Gen Xer, but every one of my hiking and backcountry partners are millennials and they are all well versed and skilled in the backcountry.

[NovaDevi25]

I think it is a number of things that are causing the increase. Hike any 14er in the summer, look at the people still heading up the mountain when the clouds are not looking good at all. They are in shorts and have only one 16 oz water with not even a jacket or backpack. I think it is all down to there are so many more people are using the backcountry, as with anything. The more people in the backcountry the more calls for help you are going to have. I am a Gen Xer, but every one of my hiking and backcountry partners are millennials and they are all well versed and skilled in the backcountry.

Remember about 14 years ago on Grays with my parents, we topped out on Grays but skies were starting to look like the clouds were going to grow into thunderheads and we went ahead and skipped Torrey's, by the time we were about halfway back through that valley to the upper trailhead those clouds were getting darker and there were still a ton of people headed up. Couldn't believe it since it can take a minute to get into the trees even off of either of them so people were going to be exposed. Sure enough, as soon as we were at the car see a lightning bolt seem to go into the valley and just KA-BOOM super loud thunder. Was grateful the next day not to read about anyone getting killed up there.

[maff]

I agree with what k_fergie said. I'd also add that it's weird to see this presented as a difference between generations of people, as opposed to a difference in the era. For instance, if it was the case that today's young people expect to be rescued, you might expect to see some data reflecting that young people call for rescue at a higher rate than people who grew up in that bygone era of self-reliance (even then you would have to find some way to control for other factors like years of experience as driving the rescue calls). I don't see any such data in this piece, or even any reference to the ages of any of the people in the few anecdotes.

It's frustrating because this framing distracts from some real issues that there ought to be broad consensus on, such as the burden shouldered by volunteers that need more support and resources, and instead tries to create a division within a community about which generations are better or worse outdoorspeople.

[Snow_Dog_frassati]

Two thoughts

1) Lotta judgement seemingly in this article, which is probably why it got done as an opinion piece. I honestly don't really see a lot of value in the take. Not saying we aren't responsible for our safety etc but I know some extremely well qualified and diligent skiers and backcountry users who have needed SAR. Needing rescue doesn't necessarily mean you're irresponsible it could just mean we're all participating in dangerous activities. Mountains are inherently dangerous and more people in them doesn't make them less so

Kinda devil's advocate. My take wouldn't be blaming the recreationalists so much is figuring out how to increase SAR capacity.

2) There's definitely a crowd of people who Don't have the slightest idea everything that needs to go on for a SAR mission to be successful. Maybe a piece bringing that into the light would be more productive than this "The millennials have broken yet another system that was perfect before" article. Cy Whittling was on Blister and I think that podcast was pretty great as far as educating folks on what SAR is, what they can and can't do and how that should maybe effect our decision making in the mountains. Linked to that below

https://open.spotify.com/episode/5msaJV ... It6Y3ks5FA

[k_fergie]

To be fair to the author, it was clearly marked as an "Opinion Piece." It wasn't trying to mask itself as some sort of real/hard journalism in a nefarious way. I just think the opinion is old and tired and in need of some data to actually move the discussion forward

[aholle88]

Don’t take it personally that this article rags on the younger generation if you aren’t one of the idiots. Let’s not forget, there were THREE, yes three rescues in ONE WEEK on Quandary this year for morons without freaking shoes. This is the problem. Those types of rescues need to be curtailed somehow. The education and information is out there and available, but do people actually do their research? Seems not in a lot of these cases.

As far as actual rescues for real issues and not idiots, I doubt that number has gone up much or has gone up proportionally to the increase in numbers of people in the mountains. Real situations happen, even to the most experienced. It’s just a shame that SAR has to deal with so many stupid calls on top of the serious stuff.

[TomPierce]

The anecdotes shared in the article are disturbing (canyoneer who apparently didn't know how to prussik up her rap line, etc.) and I've seen similar descriptions of "are you kidding me?" rescues of what seem to be wimpy entitled hikers. But I share Fergie's desire for more data to draw accurate conclusions. It's just too easy to rely on stray anecdotes and throw rocks.

Besides, if people didn't use beacons, wouldn't that soak up even more SAR resources while they exhaustively searched for lost hikers?

-Tom

[montanahiker]

What’s the solution? In Colorado, you can buy an inexpensive SAR card that reimburses a county for the cost of your rescue. Or what about diverting some tax revenue to equip and pay teams?

If the editor would have just moved this paragraph from the bottom to the top it would have saved everyone a few minutes of their day. The author is just lobbying for more taxes for SAR. There's no room for education/communication, just more money via taxes.