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Missing Man Sought in Boreal Ridge/Castle Peak Ski Area

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avatar Missing Man Sought in Boreal Ridge/Castle Peak Ski Area
March 04, 2010 12:12AM
Missing man sought in Boreal Ridge ski area

Published Wednesday, Mar. 03, 2010


Authorities are looking for a 28-year-old Tahoe City man who went missing Tuesday afternoon in the Boreal Ridge ski area after he went snowshoeing and cross-country skiing with a group of friends.

Nevada County Sheriff's officials said in a statement released Wednesday night that Kevin Bradstreet Davis was reported to be lost near Peter Grub hut in the area of Castle Peak on Donner Summit.

He was reportedly with three friends and became separated from them after the party spent the night at the hut and were returning to their vehicles.

Nevada County search and rescue workers launched a search, but the tracks they found and believed to belong to Davis were quickly obscured by the snowfall.

Authorities described Davis as a white man who is 6 feet tall and weighs 180 pounds. He has brown hair and green eyes and was last seen wearing a black jacket, black ski pants, green hat and a green backpack.

Many agencies, including the Truckee Police Department, the El Dorado and Placer County Sheriff's departments, the California Highway Patrol, the Air National Guard, the Tahoe Nordic National Ski Patrol and Cal EMA, are participating in the search. Agencies from as far as San Mateo and Contra Costa counties are also aiding the search.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the Nevada County Sheriff's department in Truckee at (530) 582-7842.

http://www.sacbee.com/2010/03/03/2581434/missing-man-sought-in-boreal-ridge.html
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avatar Re: Missing Man Sought in Boreal Ridge/Castle Peak Ski Area
March 04, 2010 02:36PM
He's been found.

http://www.kcra.com/news/22743572/detail.html


Old Dude
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avatar Re: Missing Man Sought in Boreal Ridge/Castle Peak Ski Area
March 04, 2010 05:21PM
lol what kind of news article was that?? there wasn't any details what so ever. lol
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avatar Re: Missing Man Sought in Boreal Ridge/Castle Peak Ski Area
March 04, 2010 05:32PM
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forrestranger
lol what kind of news article was that?? there wasn't any details what so ever. lol

You noticed that too?
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avatar Re: Missing Man Sought in Boreal Ridge/Castle Peak Ski Area
March 04, 2010 06:36PM
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eeek
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forrestranger
lol what kind of news article was that?? there wasn't any details what so ever. lol

You noticed that too?


Missing News Article Sought in Sacramento Bee Distribution Area
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avatar Re: Missing Man Sought in Boreal Ridge/Castle Peak Ski Area
March 04, 2010 07:16PM
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szalkowski
Missing News Article Sought in Sacramento Bee Distribution Area

Busy Bee
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AlmostThere
Re: Missing Man Sought in Boreal Ridge/Castle Peak Ski Area
March 09, 2010 09:47AM
Not really surprising - would you want all the blow by blow details of how you lost a toe to frostbite because you went around a rock to take a pee and then got turned around and headed the wrong way? Not that it's what happened, but I didn't realize how much papers don't publish about these things until I joined SAR and we got the lecture on how to avoid talking to media - all of the searches are treated with respect for the lost party and the family, with the details being confidential. Several of the ones hitting the papers over the last few months in our area had no (or inaccurate) details because of this.
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avatar Re: Missing Man Sought in Boreal Ridge/Castle Peak Ski Area
March 09, 2010 10:51AM
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AlmostThere
Not really surprising - would you want all the blow by blow details of how you lost a toe to frostbite because you went around a rock to take a pee and then got turned around and headed the wrong way? Not that it's what happened, but I didn't realize how much papers don't publish about these things until I joined SAR and we got the lecture on how to avoid talking to media - all of the searches are treated with respect for the lost party and the family, with the details being confidential. Several of the ones hitting the papers over the last few months in our area had no (or inaccurate) details because of this.

Seems like the incorrect details could be righted by better communication with the press. Confidentiality is one thing, but there is important learning to be gained by the details of emergencies and a public interest in disclosure (especially if the taxpayer is paying for the SAR).


The cure for a fallacious argument is a better argument, not the suppression of ideas.
-- Carl Sagan
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AlmostThere
Re: Missing Man Sought in Boreal Ridge/Castle Peak Ski Area
March 10, 2010 09:51AM
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Frank Furter

Seems like the incorrect details could be righted by better communication with the press. Confidentiality is one thing, but there is important learning to be gained by the details of emergencies and a public interest in disclosure (especially if the taxpayer is paying for the SAR).

The taxpayer doesn't really... there is a pool of shared gear, which is usually purchased with grant funds. We buy all our own camping gear, sometimes with discounts. At least we do in our SAR. All of us - the jeep crew, the mountaineers, the dog team, the posse (mounted SAR) are volunteers. I can write off gear and mileage but get my own gas. If we get called out midweek and I go, that's unpaid time off work. The only thing we are provided is food - bologna sandwiches and coffee aren't really setting back the taxpayer a whole lot. The only paid SAR I am aware of is the Yosemite team. The costs involved are going to be the sheriff's administrative efforts and use of the helicopter if that comes into play, and the trainings that involve hiring someone external to the department. This year our uniform and gear budget will be minimal since one of our major grants did not get renewed, so we are looking at a slim year.... Lots of peanut butter.

You can always learn safety and prevention by just going to wilderness courses, no need to dig into other people's lives. We do not, for example, need to publish when a person is missing because he is suicidal and goes out to find a mountain to jump off of - people who are suicidal will not benefit from this. As SAR we frequently help out teaching boy scouts orienteering or doing other volunteer work. Trying to get people to be better prepared is hard, tho.

I think that it would be beneficial to mention when it's a dayhiker vs. a backpacker - which they typically do. It would also help if the ones lost due to relying on someone else's navigational skills were noted - people who do this can get separated from the group and lost very easily. Details of some of the cases however are not really going to educate. Some are suspected crime scenes. Sometimes the stories do include helpful info - like, do not rely on the GPS exclusively, or you will end up being helicoptered off a ridge after a snowstorm.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/10/2010 10:10AM by AlmostThere.
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avatar Re: Missing Man Sought in Boreal Ridge/Castle Peak Ski Area
March 10, 2010 05:56PM
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AlmostThere

You can always learn safety and prevention by just going to wilderness courses, no need to dig into other people's lives. We do not, for example, need to publish when a person is missing because he is suicidal and goes out to find a mountain to jump off of - people who are suicidal will not benefit from this. .

Here, here! I believe that there is a lot of voyeurism in general with the forums. Last year, on another board, a whole thread was built on speculating what happened to some old guy who made too many bad decisions in the mountains. It creeped me out, as people started wanting to contact the guys family and offer themselves up for some sort of "family" support, etc. (but, hey, I am the same person that just about decks strangers if I catch them taking my picture without asking...!)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/10/2010 05:57PM by Bee.
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avatar Re: Missing Man Sought in Boreal Ridge/Castle Peak Ski Area
March 10, 2010 07:00PM
For the sake of discussion, I will make the point that there are different ways to learn-- in an abstract fashion without examples, from other people's mistakes, and from one's own mistakes. The smartest people have enough information not to need examples. However, I find it very helpful and it tends to drive home particular points of information to have an example based in real life. I think most educators try to provide concrete examples to help students learn. For that reason, I favor some details to "flesh out" wilderness misadventures. I am familiar with confidentiality, but I think when a rescue is mobilized there is little expectation of privacy. In one sense, privacy is the last thing a lost person needs!


The cure for a fallacious argument is a better argument, not the suppression of ideas.
-- Carl Sagan
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avatar Re: Missing Man Sought in Boreal Ridge/Castle Peak Ski Area
March 10, 2010 07:03PM
FYI,
Recent story about body found near Glacier National Park, highlights possible danger associated with helium inhalation (although I think some details are missing and the implication that helium is toxic is incorrect):

http://www.keci.com/Authorities-Identify-Man-Whose-Body-was-Found-Near/6535597


The cure for a fallacious argument is a better argument, not the suppression of ideas.
-- Carl Sagan
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avatar Re: Missing Man Sought in Boreal Ridge/Castle Peak Ski Area
March 10, 2010 09:22PM
Quote
Frank Furter
For the sake of discussion, I will make the point that there are different ways to learn-- in an abstract fashion without examples, from other people's mistakes, and from one's own mistakes. The smartest people have enough information not to need examples. However, I find it very helpful and it tends to drive home particular points of information to have an example based in real life. I think most educators try to provide concrete examples to help students learn. For that reason, I favor some details to "flesh out" wilderness misadventures. I am familiar with confidentiality, but I think when a rescue is mobilized there is little expectation of privacy. In one sense, privacy is the last thing a lost person needs!

I am not sure what the correct answer is here, but I will tell you that I am a great consumer of any of those "What I Learned From That screwup Accident" books regarding all of my hobbies: Flying, Kayaking, hiking...etc. I do not believe that during or immediately after the search & (hopefully) rescue is the proper time to feed the information hungry hoard, rather, I believe that 1) the rescuee should be briefed as to how important it is to write a trip report (and given some sort of template to follow) 2) there should (and might be) an annual journal of accident reviews written up by SAR in a purely anonymous format, as it is of no importance that the indentities be revealed (none of the series of books that I have on this topic manner uses real names)
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avatar Re: Missing Man Sought in Boreal Ridge/Castle Peak Ski Area
March 11, 2010 10:42AM
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Bee
Quote
Frank Furter
For the sake of discussion, I will make the point that there are different ways to learn-- in an abstract fashion without examples, from other people's mistakes, and from one's own mistakes. The smartest people have enough information not to need examples. However, I find it very helpful and it tends to drive home particular points of information to have an example based in real life. I think most educators try to provide concrete examples to help students learn. For that reason, I favor some details to "flesh out" wilderness misadventures. I am familiar with confidentiality, but I think when a rescue is mobilized there is little expectation of privacy. In one sense, privacy is the last thing a lost person needs!

I am not sure what the correct answer is here, but I will tell you that I am a great consumer of any of those "What I Learned From That screwup Accident" books regarding all of my hobbies: Flying, Kayaking, hiking...etc. I do not believe that during or immediately after the search & (hopefully) rescue is the proper time to feed the information hungry hoard, rather, I believe that 1) the rescuee should be briefed as to how important it is to write a trip report (and given some sort of template to follow) 2) there should (and might be) an annual journal of accident reviews written up by SAR in a purely anonymous format, as it is of no importance that the indentities be revealed (none of the series of books that I have on this topic manner uses real names)

I agree. Bee referenced flying accidents which are a good example. Although it's unfortunate it's usually limited to the audience of Flying magazine or AOPA members, analysis of flying mishaps are a treasure of learning experience for pilots. The generally misinformed public might also benefit since the news media often come up short reporting causes for flying incidents. By the time the real causes are determined it's no longer front page news.
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AlmostThere
Re: Missing Man Sought in Boreal Ridge/Castle Peak Ski Area
March 11, 2010 05:48PM
Quote
tomdisco
Quote
Bee
Quote
Frank Furter
For the sake of discussion, I will make the point that there are different ways to learn-- in an abstract fashion without examples, from other people's mistakes, and from one's own mistakes. The smartest people have enough information not to need examples. However, I find it very helpful and it tends to drive home particular points of information to have an example based in real life. I think most educators try to provide concrete examples to help students learn. For that reason, I favor some details to "flesh out" wilderness misadventures. I am familiar with confidentiality, but I think when a rescue is mobilized there is little expectation of privacy. In one sense, privacy is the last thing a lost person needs!

I am not sure what the correct answer is here, but I will tell you that I am a great consumer of any of those "What I Learned From That screwup Accident" books regarding all of my hobbies: Flying, Kayaking, hiking...etc. I do not believe that during or immediately after the search & (hopefully) rescue is the proper time to feed the information hungry hoard, rather, I believe that 1) the rescuee should be briefed as to how important it is to write a trip report (and given some sort of template to follow) 2) there should (and might be) an annual journal of accident reviews written up by SAR in a purely anonymous format, as it is of no importance that the indentities be revealed (none of the series of books that I have on this topic manner uses real names)

I agree. Bee referenced flying accidents which are a good example. Although it's unfortunate it's usually limited to the audience of Flying magazine or AOPA members, analysis of flying mishaps are a treasure of learning experience for pilots. The generally misinformed public might also benefit since the news media often come up short reporting causes for flying incidents. By the time the real causes are determined it's no longer front page news.

I totally understand... those fascinate me too. I have been reading things like Deep Survival, a book that examines people's decision making in survival situations - totally awesome studies of people getting home against the odds.

There are very detailed stories on the Friends of Yosemite SAR (YOSAR) web page if you have not already discovered it. The story about the hiker who fell off the HD cables and survived with brain damage is told by another hiker who was present and is very well written. friendsofyosar.org if you are interested.

The sheriff's department treats all searches like a crime scene until proven otherwise - the YOSAR clearly doesn't operate under those restrictions. smiling smiley

The psychology of survival is fascinating to me.
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avatar Re: Missing Man Sought in Boreal Ridge/Castle Peak Ski Area
March 11, 2010 06:15PM
Quote

The psychology of survival is fascinating to me.

I get stuck on the preparing part of incidents that require a survival episode. What did the person do or fail to do that caused the situation in the first place? I think this is where the meat is.


Old Dude
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AlmostThere
Re: Missing Man Sought in Boreal Ridge/Castle Peak Ski Area
March 11, 2010 06:35PM
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mrcondron
Quote

The psychology of survival is fascinating to me.

I get stuck on the preparing part of incidents that require a survival episode. What did the person do or fail to do that caused the situation in the first place? I think this is where the meat is.

I'm noticing patterns in some of the local lost folks. A lot of lost folks are day hikers without gear or navigation skills, who assume it's an easy walk on a trail and don't prepare. A few very disturbing incidents involved experienced backpackers who relied on others in their usual group of hiking companions for navigation and did not have or know how to use a map - some end benignly with a late arrival, one ended very badly when the map reader suffered a head injury due to deciding that sliding down a very steep long snow bank (!) with a heavy pack on (!!) was a good short cut and he could not self arrest. His friend told him not to and he did it anyway. The friend made it down to him and even tho he was a medical doctor he was unable to do anything and began to hike out after making his companion as comfortable and safe as possible - but not being able to navigate he got lost. He pitched his tent to rest and when the helicopter flew by on search they thought he was just another camper - a few flybys later they landed to ask him if he had seen the lost hikers and discovered he was one. He led them back and of course his friend was dead.

We can all see the problems in this story - but every day there are people going out without navigation skills. I've done that a lot in the past. Stands my hair on end to think about it. And how many times I've balanced on a high place or done something risky and gotten away with it, I couldn't tell you.
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avatar Re: Missing Man Sought in Boreal Ridge/Castle Peak Ski Area
March 11, 2010 09:15PM
Quote
mrcondron
Quote

The psychology of survival is fascinating to me.

I get stuck on the preparing part of incidents that require a survival episode. What did the person do or fail to do that caused the situation in the first place? I think this is where the meat is.

It usually takes two dangerous conditions to produce a crisis. Running out of gas + Death Valley in the middle of summer, for instance. Standing on the edge of Mt. St. Helens crater + an unstable cornice. etc.


The cure for a fallacious argument is a better argument, not the suppression of ideas.
-- Carl Sagan
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avatar Re: Missing Man Sought in Boreal Ridge/Castle Peak Ski Area
March 11, 2010 09:22PM
Falling out of a perfectly good plane + forgot parachute.
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avatar Re: Missing Man Sought in Boreal Ridge/Castle Peak Ski Area
March 12, 2010 12:14PM
Three most useless things in aviation: The runway behind you, the altitude above you, and the fuel you forgot to put in the tank.
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avatar Re: Missing Man Sought in Boreal Ridge/Castle Peak Ski Area
March 09, 2010 09:24PM
Quote
AlmostThere
Not really surprising - would you want all the blow by blow details of how you lost a toe to frostbite because you went around a rock to take a pee and then got turned around and headed the wrong way? Not that it's what happened, but I didn't realize how much papers don't publish about these things until I joined SAR and we got the lecture on how to avoid talking to media - all of the searches are treated with respect for the lost party and the family, with the details being confidential. Several of the ones hitting the papers over the last few months in our area had no (or inaccurate) details because of this.

I completely agree that the feeding frenzy (particularly on the forums) that crops up around any of these "lost" stories is quite startling to say the least. This particular story caught my interest because the area covered in the search has been my backyard for about 15 years; I know the area trails and I utilize numerous X-country routes.

B
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avatar Re: Missing Man Sought in Boreal Ridge/Castle Peak Ski Area
March 04, 2010 08:05PM
Well, I DID just read a post by one of the SAR people that 1) the guy built a snow cave (do you think that he had a shovel, Old Dude??) 2) he stayed put immediately after realizing that he was lost (which explains why he was so close to the hut after all those hours)

b
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avatar Re: Missing Man Sought in Boreal Ridge/Castle Peak Ski Area
March 04, 2010 08:10PM
I hope he puts out a detailed report with all his musings from the time before he left the Grubb Hut up until the time he was found. There is a wealth of knowledge there.


Old Dude
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