Almost there & kicking myself

I was recently on a search mission for an overdue female hiker. She had been out for three nights after the weather came in on Saturday dumping about 2 to 2.5 feet of snow. We had several teams in the field and the team I was on was assigned to hike up and over a pass then hike up a drainage to a lake and then loop back to base.

We had four in our group and we hiked up to the pass. Along the way we put on snow shoes since the snow was up to our thighs in several places. We noticed lots of wind blown snow and several bare spots where the wind had blown the snow off the ridge. As we gained the ridge and made it to the pass, we had quite breezy conditions and noticed several cornices had developed. Looking down the pass we could see a couple of spots where cornices had failed and slid down the open slope. We evaluated the conditions and were concerned for possible wind slab avalanche conditions as well as the cornices. We traversed the ridge looking for a better way to drop down into the valley floor, but we didn't find any good spots. We then returned back to the main trail and got reassigned.

On the drive home, I started wondering if we could have made it down the NE side of the pass. Sure the NE slopes are classic for wind slab, but perhaps if we had had a rope one of us (me) could have explored the slope to see what the conditions were like.

Fortunately, the weather broke enough to get a helicopter in the valley and they were able to spot the missing woman who had created a shelter under a poncho. Where they located her would have been close to our planned route, but not sure if it would have been within earshot of a voice check of not.

Anyway, I'm still thinking about that slope and wondering if we could have made it down. BTW, the other three team members didn't think it was safe either so I guess that makes me feel a bit better.

Need to figure out what food to take in my pack

I was recently at a safety fair for a local company where they had various "safety" agencies. One of the booths was for fitness, blood pressure and measure fat. Since I wasn't getting much interest in my booth filled with rescue equipment, I strolled over to the fitness booth. I talked with one of the personal trainers about the types of foods I should be carrying in my pack. I pulled my food back out of my pack and reviewed the contents.

• a couple Power Bar gels
• Cliff Bar shot blocks
• Snickers bar

The personal trainer gave a bit of a groan and then gave me a look. I gave a curious look back, "What" not nutritious enough? Apparently the foods I had in my pack are basic sugars that will last me for a while, but will then burn out quickly. The trainer mentioned a couple of things to consider like coconut water (yeah, coconut water). I've never heard of it, but I'd be willing to give it a try. We then got interrupted by attendees and I didn't get a chance to talk with the trainer more, but I've got their email and plan to find out more on the ideal foods.

The whole conversation got me thinking about what to carry in my food back for hiking and climbing. I've typically been find with Pilot Bread (big saltine crackers w/o the salt), chocolate and a Cliff Bar or Odwalla bar. I plan to find out more from the trainer and figure out what to do next.

If you have any favorite hiking foods please let me know.

More on 911 calling from the backcountry

So you have a good reason to call 911 in the backcountry, your are injured and are not able to self-rescue, you are significantly lost or you forgot your flashlight and are not prepared to spend the night outdoors. You call 911 even though you don't have a carrier signal. You are able to get out on the e911 network and get help started. You give the 911 operator details of where you think you are:

• The trailhead you started from and the route you are on or planned to go on
• If lost, were you left the trail
• If injured, the best location of your injured party and condition
• Details about if you are prepared for a night outdoors

When the 911 operator dispatches the Search and Rescue (SAR) unit the 911 operator will likely share these details with the SAR unit or Sheriff. Many times, a person from the SAR unit or Sheriff will want to call you back to get further details that may help them locate you.

Here is where it gets interesting if you called 911 without a carrier signal. Neither the 911 operator nor the Sheriff/SAR unit will not be able to call you back to get further details. The reason is that your phone does not have a carrier signal and cannot receive incoming calls without a carrier signal. Essentially, this is the same as if one of your friends were trying to call you and you are out of coverage. The only reason you are able to make a call to 911 is that all carriers are required by law to carry a 911 call. You phone is essentially a radio programmed to a specific frequency (your carrier), when you call 911 however, the phone uses a universal frequency that all carriers support (a specific 911 frequency if you will).

Keeping this in mind, you may want to give the 911 operator a call back after an hour to see if they need any further information on your location. This may or may not work as you call may be seen as a new "service ticket" or might be able to be sync'd or merged with the ongoing "service ticket."

Finally, after you have called the 911 operator back, you probably should try to preserve you phone's battery by turning it off. With no bars, your phone will continue to search for a network which requires additional battery power.

Hopefully you will never need to call 911 from the backcountry, but if you do it is helpful to have some ideas about how phone systems work and that you may be able to call 911 without having to hike for a signal.

Calling 911 in the backcountry

A friend of mine recently asked me about 911 calls from cell phones and was referencing Steph Abegg's recent accident on Vesper. His question was regarding having to hike to find cell service and the FCC’s 911 law that carriers have to allow 911 service over their network.

I spoke with a contact, who works for T-Mobile about this and her response was essentially, even if your phone does not show a signal it may be worthwhile to try to make a 911 call before leaving an injured person. Your carrier may not have an agreement to provide service in the area but another carrier may and a 911 call may be able to get out. Certainly, there are areas where there is zero cell coverage, but it could be worth it to try a call even if your phone shows no signal.