Posted on 03/07/2005 12:30:03 PM PST by Ramonan
MONTPELIER, Vt -- Four Pennsylvania men who were lost in the woods for 30 hours in December after going out of bounds at Killington Resort were sent bills Thursday for the cost of their rescue by state police.
Each of the men was assessed $4,177.87 to cover the cost of the rescue, said Lt. Donald Patch, whose barracks was in charge of the search Dec. 20, a night when temperatures plummeted to between 20 and 25 below zero.
"Let's face the facts: Some people get lost accidentally, things happen, they make a mistake and that's one thing," Patch said. "When you're purposely skiing out of bounds, knowing you're going out of bounds, that's a different story, especially when you're not prepared."
"It's one thing when you get a bill from the (ski) area ... It's another when you get one from state police: 'And here's your bill for being ignorant.'" - Killington Resort spokesman Tom Horrocks
State police say the men from Perkasie, Pa., north of Philadelphia, were negligent because they ignored at least three large, fluorescent orange warning signs that they were off the trails.
The four men -- two on skis and two on snowboards -- from Perkasie, Pa., survived on gum, breath mints and snow melted over a fire they built with a lighter and some wet sticks of wood wrapped with a headband.
Michael Styer, Jared Raytek and Thomas Arnold, all 23, and Jared Rush, 22, were treated at Rutland Regional Medical Center after their ordeal in December. On Thursday, they got their bills.
A message left for Arnold, the only one of the men with a telephone listing in Perkasie, was not immediately returned.
The group skied out of bounds at the Killington ski area around 12:15 p.m. Dec. 19 and finally were reported missing by a friend 15 hours later. State police organized three dozen rescue workers and launched a search at 4:30 a.m. Dec. 20.
A Vermont National Guard helicopter finally spotted the men's campfire about 3 p.m. that day. The men and their rescuers emerged from the woods about two hours later.
Killington Resort, which contributed personnel, snowmobiles and a snow tractor to assist in the search, did not bill the men, spokesman Tom Horrocks said. The resorts have given up responsibility for searches and rescues to state police, he said.
"It's one thing when you get a bill from the (ski) area," he said. "It's another when you get one from state police: `And here's your bill for being ignorant."'
Killington posts signs warning skiers and snowboarders when they're approaching resort boundaries. There also are a series of signs beyond the border to tell people that they've crossed out of bounds and to turn back unless they're experienced in backcountry treks and are prepared for an emergency.
"There's plenty of warning," Horrocks said.
Three or four searches and rescues typically have to be organized each year, said David Dillon, president of the Vermont Ski Areas Association. In the past, when the resorts themselves were responsible, the ski areas would occasionally bill people who got lost in the woods. Often, though, the bills went unpaid, he said.
The total $16,711.48 represents overtime for state police and the costs incurred by two local search and rescue teams that were called in, said Maj. James Baker. The cost of the National Guard helicopter was not passed along to the four men.
"We're reviewing one other case from this year. We're looking at that case to determine if we're going to do it," Baker said of a January rescue, also at Killington. "In this case we determined that we believe their behavior put a lot of folks in danger and they knew what they were doing and as a result of that we billed them."
If we're going to make stupidity a crime, let's at least run it through the legislature.
Most people think they'll die after two or three days of not eating. I took a National Outdoor Leadership School class in 1978 in the mountains of Wyoming, and they made us pack out the last four days without food. Teaches you the relative importance of food in a survival situation.
This isn't stupidity. It's wilfully reckless behavior which wastes taxpayer resources and endangers the safety personnel.
The fines are an excellent idea (if you don't like "fines" call them "user fees"), and the principle could be applied in a variety of circumstances where we save people from the consequences of their own deliberately irresponsible actions.
Maybe these guys will grow up and use their heads next time.
For a schmoo like me who doesn't do the back country in winter, the best thing to do is stay within ski area boundaries, both alpine and cross-country, because they do active remediation.
From now until snowmelt begins is the most dangerous because snowpack levels will be at their peak.
I'm sure you're right about those yahoos. I just don't want somebody else to "think twice" before calling for help - a situation can go from manageable to life-threatening real fast in the back country this time of year.
Slow elk! Good eatin'.
LOL! It' what's fer dinner . . . .
food does keep you warm and hypothermia is nothing to mess with.
Well said!
It's about time.
Most of these "lost in the woods overnight" stories start with eerily similar stories: "we hiked into the woods for six hours, and then, when it started to get dark, we turned around, but we couldn't find our way back in the dark..."
Apparently, flatlanders are all taught that regardless of how long you walked INTO the woods, you should expect to be able to walk out in 15-20 minutes.
We have any number of stupid people who challenge the ocean during hurricane season.
We also have stupid people who cause great danger to the Coast Guard risking their lives to rescue them.
If you are informed of the danger and refuse to heed it, I say make them pay.
Lack of food does not cause hypothermia. Cold and wetness causes it. You can have plenty of food and still die from hypothermia.
It is much more important in a survival situation to either find shelter or build a fire. In a snowy setting in the open, you also need to clear down as close to the ground as possible and then cut evergreen boughs or branches to sit on so the cold snow and ground doesn't hoover heat from your rump. You also need a wind shell, and a space blanket works great as a reflector that you can place near a fire and place yourself within the warmed zone. And have a water bottle that you can melt snow in from the ambient heat - you will die of dehydration long before you starve to death, and dehydration causes far worse disorientation than hunger.
If you can build a fire and keep it going, you should stay put so you can be spotted, and not worry about food - your body can survive for days without it. If you need to keep moving, work your way downhill. Most people who die when they get lost die because they try to get back to their starting point, instead of just getting to help. In the lower 48 states, you can work your way downhill from just about any point and reach a road or house within a day's walk, max.
There was a real sad case over near Grand Junction. Mom and daughter stayed put and were rescued. Dad went for help and his body won't be found until Spring.
"Back" is the operative word here. Most people who get into trouble when they get lost compound the error by trying to find their way back to where they want to be, instead of immediately working their way downhill. From just about any point in the lower 48, you can reach a road or a remote house within a day's walk - if you just start going downhill.
You are probably right about the level of stupidity. However, exactly which state in the Union do you say is absolutely 100% flat??? PA has great mountains. GA has mountains. Even FL has hills. Flatlanders???? Yeah, you Vermonters will make lots of friends castigating people from other states.
Having climbed in Wyoming, Montana, New Hampshire and Vermont, I'll whip your butt on any face you choose!
Mountainputz!
A friend of mine from high school set the record for fastest climb of all 50 highest points. He found Delaware's high point to be particularly treacherous - it is in the middle of a busy intersection, and he almost got hit by a bus reaching it.
Your point is well-taken, as plenty of natives get into trouble in states such as Vermont and Colorado. However, your case, coming from a less-treacherous state, is the exception rather than the rule. There was a story on the other night about a guy and his son from Illinois driving through Colorado, getting off I-70 in Georgetown and deciding to take a little impromptu hike up a mountainside. It wasn't even a significant mountain by Colorado standards, but they tried hiking up a scree slope, fell and almost died of exposure before rescuers could find them. You have to respect mountains, because they sure as heck don't respect incompetence and punish it when they get the chance.
Yeah, and some of ours are Superfund sites at that!
I agree. I lived in Tucson for years, and saw the damndest stunts pulled by people who had no respect for the desert, and the terrain, and had to be rescued from themselves at great public expense.
I believe though that incidents like this, in which the consequences for recklessness should be widely publicized as a public service, would cut down on the numbers and save lives in the long run.
Of course there is always the "Watch this--here, hold muh beer" crowd, who survive only by the grace of God. These guys actually come pretty close to that "jackass" category.
I take it you've never been to the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness in Idaho, eh? ;-)
I was in Tuscon last weekend. What's with all the rain - I thought that was supposed to be a desert???
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