Posted on 04/29/2015 10:01:39 AM PDT by Theoria
When a college student disappeared in Costa Rica last summer, his father — legendary Alaskan adventurer Roman Dial — went searching in Central America's deadliest wilderness. He's still looking.
Early last April, a 27-year-old biology student named Cody Roman Dial set out into the remote jungle of northern Guatemala. Equipped with a crude map and a compass, he planned to traverse the Petén, a lowland rain forest teeming with snakes, illegal gold miners, and cocaine traffickers. His biggest concern, though, was dehydration — save for jeep-track mud puddles, the area lacks ready sources of freshwater. Cody had spent the previous week preparing for the trip, talking to locals and poring over maps. He had bought a machete and commissioned a local tailor to stitch together a tent of his own design. His plan was to spend about 10 days in the Petén, bushwhacking through the jungle to a sprawling Mayan ruin called El Mirador. But, he emailed his parents shortly before beginning the trip, "I expect I'll spend a couple days out there, eat a snake, get scared, and turn around."
A bright, quiet introvert with a sharp wit and passing resemblance to Harry Potter, Cody had taken a hiatus from his graduate studies in environmental science at Alaska Pacific University to boot around Mexico and Central America. Having grown up exploring Alaska's wilderness, he was an experienced outdoorsman and a competent navigator. He was also the son of adventure royalty. His father, 53-year-old Roman Dial, a National Geographic explorer and a legendary figure in Alaska, had pioneered dozens of first ascents in the state's mountain ranges. Dial was considered the father of packrafting, a mode of river travel using inflatable kayak-like boats, and in the 1980s had helped found a grueling backcountry footrace called the Alaska Mountain Wilderness Classic. The race, which usually covers several hundred miles and prohibits outside support, is called the most difficult wilderness challenge in the world — and, more simply, life-threatening. Nearly every year, several participants require helicopter evacuation. In 2004, 17-year-old Cody, with his father as teammate, became the second youngest person ever to cross the finish line.
“teeming with snakes, illegal gold miners, and cocaine traffickers.”
I think the latter two would be the biggest problem...
Hopefully it’ll turn out better for him than Michael Rockefeller.
That is true. Taste like chicken; perhaps.
“The son of adventure royalty”
Must be nice.
“Too salty” according to Idi Amin.
Guatemala is not in the USA. Expecting it to be a welcoming community just bursting with love for liberal Americans is an act of pure, unfettered idiocy.
This moron should get a Darwin Award.
“Guatemala is not in the USA. Expecting it to be a welcoming community just bursting with love for liberal Americans is an act of pure, unfettered idiocy.”
Most people around the world don’t give a damn about politics and are friendlier to outsiders than the average American. Flashing money does attract bad people but that is true anywhere in the world.
This guy probably just fell somewhere and ended up as jungle food. That’s the biggest danger when hiking alone.
I agree with the award, but his father obviously didn’t teach him well enough to know not to go through such dangerous terrain alone.
Agreed. Wolves and bears in Alaska are no comparison to the two legged predators.
What could possibly go wrong?
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