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Family died in Rockies after trying to live ‘off the grid,’ official says
SF Gate ^ | 7/26/2023 | By Eduardo Medina

Posted on 07/26/2023 8:18:04 AM PDT by NohSpinZone

Last summer, Rebecca Vance talked with her family about a dream she’d had: She wanted to live in a land disconnected from the world, which she viewed as chaotic and dangerous.

She told her stepsister, Trevala Jara, that she could grow and gather her own food in a remote place, that she and her teenage son could be happy and safe away from the news, the viruses, the politics of modern-day America.

“I’m going to worry about you,” Jara told her stepsister. But Vance was resolute. “I’m going to live off the land,” she replied.

Her decision proved to be fatal. On Tuesday, a coroner said that he had identified three bodies that had been found earlier this month in Colorado’s Rocky Mountains as those of Rebecca Vance, 42, her 14-year-old son and her sister, Christine Vance, 41, who, Jara said, had ventured with them out of concern for their safety, believing an extra set of hands could be useful.

The coroner’s findings came more than a week after the Gunnison County Sheriff’s Office said that the bodies of the campers had been found near Gold Creek Campground, a discovery that drew national attention as officials sought to identify the victims and determine why they had apparently attempted to camp through a brutal winter.

Michael Barnes, the Gunnison County coroner, said on Tuesday that the family members were all from Colorado Springs and had lived “off the grid,” survived on canned food and sheltered in a tent before a harsh winter or malnourishment most likely led to their deaths.

(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; News/Current Events; US: Colorado
KEYWORDS: 10000feet; colorado; death; family; gunnison; gunnisoncounty; offthegrid; pitkin; rockies
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Two women and a kid. Clearly ill-prepared to deal with the harshness of a winter in the Rockies, especially with all the snow we got last season.
1 posted on 07/26/2023 8:18:04 AM PDT by NohSpinZone
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To: NohSpinZone

A little too far off the grid.


2 posted on 07/26/2023 8:18:59 AM PDT by Steely Tom ([Voter Fraud] == [Civil War])
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To: NohSpinZone

Clearly not bright. 🙄


3 posted on 07/26/2023 8:19:21 AM PDT by Georgia Girl 2 (The only purpose of a pistol is to fight your way back to the rifle you should never have dropped)
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To: NohSpinZone
sheltered in a tent before a harsh winter

Should have built a cabin with a wood stove.

4 posted on 07/26/2023 8:20:30 AM PDT by 1Old Pro
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To: NohSpinZone
Winter kills. Cold and starvation will get you.

People should be praying for the mild winters the climate hysteriaticians are prophesizing.

5 posted on 07/26/2023 8:22:56 AM PDT by Sirius Lee (They intend to murder us. Prep if you want to live and live like you are prepping for eternal life)
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To: 1Old Pro

Or at least found a cave, and snuggled with a bear!


6 posted on 07/26/2023 8:23:04 AM PDT by null and void (Intelligence has limits, while gullibility doesn't. ~ SunkenCiv)
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To: null and void
Or at least found a cave, and snuggled with a bear!

Yep a cuddly bear.

7 posted on 07/26/2023 8:24:31 AM PDT by 1Old Pro
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To: 1Old Pro

Women.


8 posted on 07/26/2023 8:24:53 AM PDT by EEGator
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To: NohSpinZone
They basically did a airplane crash in a mountainous environment, but without the urge to survive. Lots of people don't understand the hardship and requiremtnst to live in harsh conditions.

Even easy life anywhere can get difficult without electricity and water; very fast. A complete fantasy world to think you could have survived with zero planning.

9 posted on 07/26/2023 8:25:58 AM PDT by Theoria
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To: NohSpinZone

They should have practiced through weekend camping trips.


10 posted on 07/26/2023 8:26:28 AM PDT by Jonty30 (If liberals were truth tellers, they'd call themselves literals. )
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To: NohSpinZone

It was ill advised bordering on criminal to drag a 14 year old into that situation. A sad and avoidable death.


11 posted on 07/26/2023 8:26:34 AM PDT by lastchance (Cognovit Dominus qui sunt eius.)
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To: 1Old Pro

The Donner Party tried to survive a Sierra Nevada Mountain winter in tents and huts. They also failed.


12 posted on 07/26/2023 8:26:45 AM PDT by Robert A Cook PE (Method, motive, and opportunity: No morals, shear madness and hatred by those who cheat.)
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To: 1Old Pro

Even an igloo might have been better.


13 posted on 07/26/2023 8:27:37 AM PDT by lastchance (Cognovit Dominus qui sunt eius.)
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To: NohSpinZone

They prepared by camping in their Living Room for a day ?


14 posted on 07/26/2023 8:27:39 AM PDT by butlerweave
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To: NohSpinZone

You can’t just decide to “live off the grid” and then move to the wilderness. That’s not the way it works. You have to first be in shape both mentally and physically. Also, you have to already have some survivor-ship skills and some basic tools. People who have done it in the past already knew which wild foods could be eaten and which were poisonous. They knew how to obtain drinkable water, how to build and maintain a fire, and where and how to build a shelter. Also, taking an out-of-shape fourteen year old child with you is the height of irresponsibility.

There have been occasions in the past where people were stranded and managed to survive until rescued. Those instances are few and far between and they survived due to unbelievable luck, a bit of common sense, and God’s grace.


15 posted on 07/26/2023 8:28:03 AM PDT by CFW (I will not comply!)
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To: lastchance
It was ill advised bordering on criminal to drag a 14 year old into that situation. A sad and avoidable death.

Yes, criminal, but can't be punished now.

16 posted on 07/26/2023 8:28:23 AM PDT by 1Old Pro
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To: CFW

All great points. As a lifelong city slicker, my idea of roughing it is having to stay in a low-budget motel because rooms are booked otherwise.


17 posted on 07/26/2023 8:29:52 AM PDT by NohSpinZone (First thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers)
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To: EEGator

with a good and healthy husband they would probably be alive. The order of creation has great strength to survive.


18 posted on 07/26/2023 8:29:54 AM PDT by elpadre
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To: Steely Tom

People idealize nature. There are only a few places that are like the Garden of Eden. The Rockies for all it’s scenery ain’t one of them.


19 posted on 07/26/2023 8:30:30 AM PDT by xp38
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To: elpadre

Not many creatures live to old age in nature.
These women went from A to Z, without touching the other letters.


20 posted on 07/26/2023 8:32:53 AM PDT by EEGator
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