[GeoHiker]

There is an account of the hike if you are a member of the Meetup group. I joined to see what was being said on the message board. I see the group leader has prominently posted in no uncertain terms that this post can not be copied or posted elsewhere???? Is this a valid statement to prevent public information to be reposted? I think it serves many with the what for's and what if's in a survival situation. I see this as being a postive and yes many mistakes were made, but many were not. Learn and grow from this experience and share it with others. Hey, we all screw up if we don't learn from that then it makes it even worse trying to hide from the fact. To kick people off the group and to act as a tyrant doesn't do anyone any good.

[jimmymac]

I take this to mean Chris's frostbite was a little more serious than he had hoped.

[grannyhiker]

Yes, I saw on the PCT-L (don't ask me how I started reading that, but it's addictive, especially when I've been laid low with a horrible cold) that he was going to lose a couple of toes. Argument for taking lots of dry socks and changing promptly when feet get wet!

[GeoHiker]

Same here, I signed up for the PCT feed and now I'm hooked. I'm even rethinking my long time dream of doing the full lenght of the PCT this year. I still don't think starting off with boots 2 sizes larger because your feet will swell is working for me!...... Poor Chris. He's lucky he's not ol no toes! Good thing he had "45 years" of outdoor experience to fall back on. Who knows what could have happened!......

[More Cowbell]

Growing up in Anchorage AK, us school kids had to watch gory frost bite movies. The image of a man's toes being sliced off one by one has stuck with me always.

[Lono]

If Mr. Cameron is really serious about protecting his trip report from non-members, maybe he shouldn't post it publicly - as in, where any non-member can access it. I'm not a member of the Seattle Meetup but can access this: http://files.meetup.com/232513/I%20have%20been%20back%20up%20to%20Deny%20Creek%20this%20week.doc Looks to me like he drew some good conclusions about things he wish he had / had more of in retrospect (food, food, clothing, good knives, sources of fire), though its questionable whether they could have fed a fire started with flares enough to make a difference. From earlier reports they were huddled in a tent, not in a snow/fire pit, and might have had some difficulty gathering enough fuel. Nothing though about getting trapped and what might have helped avoid that. But that's just idle speculation, the very thing he wants to avoid on nwhikers. Okay...

[Dayhike Mike]

[GeoHiker]

Sad to see he's ragging on NWHikers. If he'd spend a little time here he might not have gotten himself and others into a situation that came very close to death. Someone might be happy with the grand adventure and losing some toes, but others might not be. He's writing a book, so I guess that's worth the experience. Maybe there's a movie in the works and it's all hush hush, so they don't want to divulge the secret plot. If you read the account of the hike there was something secret going on. Maybe a love triangle, alien abduction or a sasquatch helped them survive!....... So women don't take knives hiking?.....Is this some kind of sexist statement? I bet Quark has a Rambo knife when she hikes. I know she sharpens her spork to a deathly edge...... We don't speculate here only facts don't you know!......

[Malachai Constant]

My wymen always tote a shank

[Carie Yawn]

[GeoHiker]

Where do people spend $300 for a knife?....and if they did they are morons to take them hiking! Give me a good Buck or Gerber and that's stretching it on a hike for $50. Go spend $12 and buy a fold up pruning saw. You can do the same thing as a knife and cut wood 100 times better. Fire can be made at any time durring the winter. It's actually easier because you can reach the dead wood off the ground. Flares would be nice, but aren't required.

[kbatku]

...though I understand that the "thing they can't talk about" is when, crazed with hunger, Cameron gnawed off his buddies toes.

[Carie Yawn]

In the interest of more informed discussion, it looks like the first installment is here.

[GeoHiker]

I wish he would log in here and man up to what we are saying. He must think he's better than that. If anyone on here hasn't done something stupid in their hiking life then they haven't been hiking long. We all do, that's how we LEARN. I'm not sure why he insists on a knife either. I take a pen knife that's razor sharp to gut a trout if I have too. Works fine for shavings building a fire. I have a SOG multi tool that's way too heavy and I don't bother carrying most of the time. You women do need a knife in case a squirell or psycotic killer were to attack you in the middle of the night. NWH is a perfect example why you should carry a knife........

[Carie Yawn]