Three Men Rescued After Overnight Stay On Mt. Brown

Glacier National Park
Three Men Rescued After Overnight Stay On Mt. Brown

Three men who were stranded overnight on Mt. Brown on Sunday night made it off the mountain yesterday morning and are all in excellent condition. On Sunday, 18-year-old Dan House, 18-year-old James McCarthy, and 20-year-old Justin Newton, all from Kalispell, Montana, attempted to reach the fire lookout on Mt. Brown, which is located northeast of the head of Lake McDonald. The three men started out on snowshoes at about 11 a.m., planning to ski down before dusk, but ran out of light before they could get off the mountain. Around 6:30 p.m., one of the men was able to reach a family member via cell phone and report that they were stranded. The family member notified Flathead County dispatch about an hour later. The men were not able to provide an accurate location, so rangers and members of the volunteer Flathead County Search and Rescue team started searching for them around 9 p.m. Visibility was very limited due to wind and snow. Searchers covered high probability areas, scanned for signs of fire, and used whistles to try to locate the men. Ranger and search and rescue volunteers spent the entire night looking for them, but without luck. In the early morning hours on Monday, a ranger sent a text message to one of the men, asking him to call 911. The man did so, thereby making it possible for Flathead County dispatch to get a latitude and longitude pinpointing their location. The men reported that they had been able to make a fire, shelter in place, and were doing well. With an exact location, a group from the Flathead Nordic Ski Patrol and an NPS employee headed up to meet them. At 10:30 a.m., the ski patrol made contact and found that all three men were in excellent condition. Everyone was off the mountain by 11 a.m. Ranger Gary Moses was IC.

Men?

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The classic "old vs bold" conflict. Cell phone saves the day again in Montana. Story from earlier in the season:


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http://helenair.com/news/article_31452336-f9f0-11df-9a23-001cc4c002e0.html


Portable GPS unit directs rescuers to snowed-in hunters


The use of a portable GPS unit by a pair of hunters helped speed up a late night rescue in windy, subzero conditions Wednesday....

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Perhaps they need a version of the "word lens" that will translate bold and brash youthful exuberance into common sense. Regarding word lens see:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2OfQdYrHRs

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The cure for a fallacious argument is a better argument, not the suppression of ideas.
-- Carl Sagan

Frank,
Honestly, this kinda news pisses me off for various reasons one of which is
"Ranger and search and rescue volunteers spent the entire night looking for them".

Don't be a dodo

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chick-on
Frank,
Honestly, this kinda news pisses me off for various reasons one of which is
"Ranger and search and rescue volunteers spent the entire night looking for them".

Don't be a dodo

Dodos do not have a history of doing well. However, at some point we all can become victims of poor judgment and unfavorable circumstances.
Whenever someone ventures off the grid, there is the possibility of problems or need for a rescue. It might have been better if they had carried equipment to spend the night, but even those with gear for overnight survival can get into problems. Although ignorance of the laws of nature is no defense, I can't see how this sort of event can be fully prevented especially as more and more people use the backcountry in winter.

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The cure for a fallacious argument is a better argument, not the suppression of ideas.
-- Carl Sagan

Quote
Frank Furter

Quote
chick-on
Frank,
Honestly, this kinda news pisses me off for various reasons one of which is
"Ranger and search and rescue volunteers spent the entire night looking for them".

Don't be a dodo

Dodos do not have a history of doing well. However, at some point we all can become victims of poor judgment and unfavorable circumstances.
Whenever someone ventures off the grid, there is the possibility of problems or need for a rescue. It might have been better if they had carried equipment to spend the night, but even those with gear for overnight survival can get into problems. Although ignorance of the laws of nature is no defense, I can't see how this sort of event can be fully prevented especially as more and more people use the backcountry in winter.

Completely agree.

Probably the big mistake was far overestimating how far one can travel in winter compared to summer.
Mt. Brown Lookout is something like 4.5 miles. With FLAT condtions you need to budget 5 hours with
snowshoes on, if not more. Uphill ... even more still. And if you're sinking alot... more yet...
The boys were probably thinking "easy" and got smacked into reality... they probably ran up Mt. Brown
lookout in summer in a couple hours.
Anyway, sounds like everything came out ok and they learned a valuable lesson.

(aka The Blue Robbin)

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Strangely, Montana does not have an "outdoor education" program for all high school students (California used to have this, don't know if it still exists) that would teach some basic outdoor survival tactics and information. Like knowing that calling 911 would send their location information.

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The cure for a fallacious argument is a better argument, not the suppression of ideas.
-- Carl Sagan