Originally Posted by Rick Green
Hello to the group. I rarely post myself, usually my reports are
sent in via Ram.......however the latest incident has prompted me to
get a little more involved.
I have been living and guiding in Escalante for 10 years and was the
first to arrive to the surviving hikers last Wed night. The scene
was emotional and unpleasant to say the least. The following morning
myself and two SAR team members performed the final task of victim
recovery, extremely unpleasant as well.
When you find a person/people in that state, you cannot help but ask
how the hell did these people end up here, at the bottom of the
canyon waiting to be placed in a bag? Freak storm? I don't think
so. It was completely obvious that this was no day to be in E3.
The sky was BLACK over area. ANYONE claiming that this storm was
unpredictable or that the skies "didn't look that bad" over Escalante
is kidding themselves into a false sense security. Can you really
look from Bryce and tell me what the flood potential is in
Escalante? And does the monsoon season end on the last day of
August? I will answer both questions for you. NO. Regarding
monsoons and floods, have a look at the video from a few years back
of a flood during one of my trips....a March monsoon? Risks for
flooding exists ALL YEAR LONG. Was it they're age that put them
there? They were the oldest members of the guided tour, yet in my
experience guiding folks, I've found that mature guests are by far
the easiest and safest to work with. They generally listen, follow
instructions, work hard and stay focused. They are also likely to
make a more mature decision on whether or not to enter sketchy
situations. So, IMO age is not a problem. Physical conditioning
plays more of a role than age. If your butt don't fit, it's hard to
pick up the pace. For the record, both victims looked to me to be
in pretty good shape for being 60.
IMO, people portraying this incident (from loosely gathered facts) as
a freak accident or as something unpredictable are being incredibly
disrespectful to the deceased and to they're families. What if some
of your family members had hired a guide and ended up in the same
position as the deceased? Would accept people describing it as an
unavoidable accident? I don't think so.
This has been the busiest season, by far, regarding SAR down here.
Boy Scouts without compasses/maps climbing out of the wrong side of
Coyote Gulch (totally stupid), "experienced hikers" huddled under a
bush (30 plus hrs) in Egypt with no food or water, wearing flip flops
and lots of blisters, "canyoneers" in E2 taking 40 hrs to complete
because "they know what they are doing" and "don't need any help",
lost guide service vans, people heading into technical canyons without
ANY equipment,etc, etc, etc. And now this. IMO this is total
Bull@#$% and completely unacceptable. This is not my town and this
is not my desert, however myself and a few others are the ones who
have volunteered to to come out and assist the folks who are getting
themselves in trouble here, so I feel my opinion here bears a little
weight here.
Penalty points are high here in Escalante. If you have not seen the
Egypt canyons flood, you should, before you start leading people in there.
Bring a compass and map to accompany your Kelsey's guide to
canyoneering for dummies. Bring a shovel to dig out your stuck
vehicle. Seek out and accept advise and information on the
conditions down here. Don't blindly trust your "leader", use your
natural instincts and don't be afraid to verbalize them to your
group (most times people report "not feeling right" about the
decision that put them in the predicament). And don't believe
the "facts" that show up on websites. For instance, ALL of the
Egypt canyons flooded during the last event, not just E3. What if someone
starts down in there thinking its dry? Tease out beta from as many
sources as possible to try and get the clearest picture of the
situation.
If this message upsets you, then it is designed for you. If you are
an experienced canyoneer then I am just beating a dead horse, but it
won't bother you much. If your one of the many "experts" I am
running into down here in trouble, then I'm sure your ego must defend
itself.
I'm not here to assign blame to the latest tragedy, despite KSL's
attempt to make it sound that way. The lawyers can fight that one
out. What I am trying to do is send a STRONG signal to the
canyoneers with a few years of experience who may be visiting
Escalante in the future.......have your sh#$ in a pile when you get
here. Ram and I have been talking for months about the dramatic
increase in visitors/problems down here. Please lets do our best to
inform family and friends of the risks of canyoneering here. We
love visitors and there's plenty of room for everybody, just respect
the remote nature and potential risks of these canyons.
Pardon the typo's as well as the "off color" language, recent events
have heightened the emotions here a bit.
Regards, Rick Green
PS We are glad to provide current information on the canyons to
anyone who has the need, just call 1800 UEXPLORE and ask for me.
