@Honora
Googling on Elon Oved's name takes you down a bit of a rabbit-hole doesn't it!
paradoxical undressing usually happens because one phase of hypothermia the blood returns to the skin, possibly to prevent damage due to restricted blood flow. when the blood returns to the skin the person then starts to feel hot as a side effect of the flushing of the skin, by that stage they are also confused and react to the feeling of heat by removing clothes.
More at http://www.stuff.co.nz/nelson-mail/news/71825004/search-and-rescue-volunteers-battle-rough-conditions-to-save-trampers-lives.html
Nice article from the SAR point of view. Does a good job of humanising the SAR teams, rather than them just being a fundamental service we have some right to have as I'm sure some people think.
yeah and highlights you cant rely on a helicopter to save you every time... you may need a well trained land SAR team to get you out of the crap...
What it should highlight is that in between the time you call for help and that help actually arriving, you need to be self-reliant and self-sufficient in equipment, skills and attitude to save yourself (and those around you).
In this case it was over 10 hours before help arrived. I was at a club talk recently where the speaker noted that it was two days before help arrived from when he set off the PLB.
And that point has been missing from all the safety messages in the media about carrying and using PLB's or other communication devices.
Where do you learn those skills? Well, not from the Mountain Safety Council with their carefully targeted safety messages...
This post has been edited by the author on 8 September 2015 at 15:47.
pure chance they had cell phone reception, the vast majority of nz's parks have zero reception, they were extremely lucky to survive
even with a cellphone but no plb they were lucky to be found. Im guessing here but my thoughts would be to windy for a helecopter to land a search party but not so windy or cloudy to prevent a flypast the previous evening and locate them. Even then had they not been located or if the conditions been worse it is possible that a decision could of been made not to search till the morning despite knowing the only likely outcome of that. There has to be a point that the welfare of the searchers has to override the likelyhood of a good outcome.
A very hard call to make I know but better to have 2 dead than 10
@nzbazza: intrigued about the MSC with their carefully targeted safety messages...
Any examples coming to mind?
I read Nathan Watson's wee articles sometimes but haven't realised they are targeted. Be good to hear and meantime I'll have a fossick through any Wilderness magazines I can get my hands on to note a trend.
cheers.
Their website http://www.mountainsafety.org.nz/About-Us/One-MSC.asp gives their reasons for wanting to change the approach of the MSC, and on reflection from when they first announced the change some months ago there appears to be some valid reasons for the different approach. The way people approach and use the outdoors for a variety of activities has changed.
http://www.mountainsafety.org.nz/Media/default.asp lists their press releases, but I don't recall seeing any of these either in mainstream mass media such as newspapers, tv, etc. or more targeted media such as magazines, or special interest sites/blogs.
So is their message getting through to the people they want to communicate with?
