[thunderhead]

Yikes. Id like to think she gave her remaining layers to the stricken guy and they had more to start with...

[wolffie]

MRNP used to provide an 8x11 paper with the Paradise-Muir compass bearings. It's a good idea to keep your bearings in your head. I've been lucky; I've many times been at the mercy of good weather. I know several people, myself included, who've spent unplanned nights out with extremely light summer clothing (shorts, T-shirt).

[Nancyann]

I am sorry to hear of this tragedy. Condolences to the victim’s family and friends. This summer I have encountered more trail runners than previous years in very remote backcountry, and I have to admit, I find their lack of survival gear worrisome. Earlier this month we met a couple of guys in the Napeequa Valley who were doing a 40 mile loop and just wore water bottle vests and little tiny knapsacks, heading for High Pass, Spider Gap, etc.. Earlier in the summer, we helped another couple in a remote area who had lost their way in the middle of a 22 mile loop who had a long way to go before dark. Any thoughts from other trail runners out there?

[fourteen410]

It's awful that this young man suffered and died. It's also tragic that this likely could have been prevented by checking the weather forecast. Wednesday was no day to be up there.

[seattlenativemike]

Looks like similar wind related suffering that day in the Enchantments: https://www.wta.org/go-hiking/trip-reports/trip_report-2020-09-25-1077591795

[graywolf]

[MangyMarmot]

Strong wind is not to be underestimated. Several of us were in the Chiwaukums earlier this year in strong wind and low clouds. All of a sudden the wind picked up and the clouds moved in creating a whiteout. Things went from "This is kind of miserable" to "This is getting dangerous. We have to get out of here right now!" amazingly fast.

[Mikey]

Altitude sickness might have played some part in this situation. I recall climbing Mt Rainier with 5 other young (22-28 yr old) climbers. We stayed overnight at Camp Muir. At about 1am as we were getting ready to depart Camp Muir, one guy said he did not feel OK and stayed at Camp Muir. So 5 of us started toward the summit. In about an hour 2 other guys said they felt poorly and decided to go back to Muir. We remaining 3 followed another 4 rope team group to the summit. So in this climb, 50% of our group probably did not continue onto the summit because of altitude sickness. John M. Rutland did his Business Administration PhD at the U of Washington on the topic of decisions made by Mt Rainier climbers (with the assistance and permission of the Mt Rainier National Park). John's PhD Dissertation title is "Performance and Intra-Group Conflict: A Study of Mountain Climbers" 1988. I skimmed through John's dissertation looking for information on altitude sickness because I recall it being discussed at either John's PhD general exam or his PhD Dissertation presentation. I did find a section of climb group size which mentions larger climb group size is helpful in case one climber is unable to continue. I see that John has the Mountaineer's Climbing Code on page 37. "A climbing party of 3 is the minimum". Years ago I led a climb of Mt Adams (2 day climb) and a strong 6' 4" climber got altitude sickness at the false summit (11,500 ft ?) and was unable to continue up or descend. A climber (nurse) with experience hiking in the high areas of Nepal (she was the nurse on guided treks) gave this incapacitated climber Diamox. In about an hour he was able to descend to high camp at about 9,500 ft. There is an article in the Journal of Wilderness and Environmental Medicine Dec 2017 Volume 28, Issue 4, Page 366 “Oral L-Tyrosine Supplementation Improved Core Temperature Maintenance to Whole-Body Cold Exposure in Older Adults” James Lang, Moines University, Des Moines, IA, USA In a randomized, double-blind design, 8 older participants (aged 68±4 years) ingested either 150 mg/kg (10.9 gms Tyrosine for 160 lb person) of L-Tyrosine or placebo before commencing 90 minutes of whole-body cooling to decrease skin temperature to ~30°C. The thermal measurements showed the Tyrosine supplementation successfully increased the body thermal parameters of the older participants. The bottom line is that one should consider having tyrosine capsules in their first aid kit. Tyrosine is in-expensive. Swanson L-Tyrosine 100 500 mg caps $4.19 ($0.042/cap) 30% off $5.99 7/23/2020. Tyrosine C9H11NO3 is an amino acid which the body uses to convert the thyroid hormone Thyroxine (T4) to T3. When Tyrosine increases your Body Temperature, it infers that your Body is not able to manufacture adequate quantities of Tyrosine from the essential amino acid Phenylalanine.

[hbb]

[wolffie]

[fourteen410]

[Nancyann]

hbb wondered what the connection to trail running was. On page one of this thread, The Zachster mentioned that she watched a Q 13 news article that said the survivor was seen wearing shorts and running shoes when she was coming down the trail.

[Brushbuffalo]

[Mike Collins]