Re: Stranded Hiker Rescued From Park’s High Country

On November 10th, rangers learned that a solo backcountry hiker was overdue from a hike to an unknown location somewhere within the park. Steve Frazier had begun what he’d planned to be a five day trip in perfect weather on October 28th. Over the next three days, Frazier hiked more than 20 miles into the heart of the park’s wilderness. He set up camp at an elevation of 9,700 feet near Red Devil Lake as snow began falling on the evening of October 30th. This was the first significant storm of the developing winter season and it continued for three days, blanketing the High Sierra under nearly two feet of snow. The snow obscured the trail Frazier had been following, effectively trapping him at that location. He spent the next twelve days hunkered down in his tent, hoping to be rescued and rationing his remaining two days of food. Since Frazier had not told anyone of his plans, though, the rescue was long in coming. It was only after a list of missed commitments and appointments began to accumulate (including a missed plane flight home on November 9th), that questions regarding his whereabouts began to arise.

Amazingly, searchers spotted the missing hiker and his camp from the air on their very first pass over the area and soon contacted a very happy Frazier, who was in remarkably good shape for someone who’d had almost no food for 12 days. Frazier made some initial bad decisions, particularly in his failure to leave a detailed route plan with someone who could report him overdue on an agreed-upon date, but made better decisions when the storm hit. He’d attempted to hike out, but didn’t go far before he realized that it was too difficult in deep snow and that he’d likely get into more trouble. So he stayed in his tent, rationed his food, stomped out an “SOS” in the snow, used his pot as a shovel to keep a clear area around the tent, and above all kept a positive attitude.

Sounds like an episode of "Survivorman". Does that guy every find food?!!??!

cthenn wrote:

> Sounds like an episode of "Survivorman". Does that guy every
> find food?!!??!


Anyone else as bummed as me that he is no longer filming "Survivorman" ?


Below from www.hikerhell.com ( I found this site from a thread here and I can't stop checking daily)



Les Stroud Retires from “Survivorman”

Although this isn’t a typical HikerHell story, the loss of Les Stroud’s Discovery Channel show “Survivorman” was news enough for me.

Stroud is currently filming his final adventure in Papua New Guinea this month. Unlike some other “cheaters” out there who use camera crews to assist in demonstrating survival techniques, Stroud was the real deal.

He always stayed a few miles away from help and forced to fend for himself for a week. He’s been chased through the jungle by a jaguar and nearly had to hit the panic button when he spent torturous 142-degree days in the Kalahari Desert.

"It takes a lot out of me as I really do what I do for real, with no camera crew, no nights in hotels like others do and it takes a toll on my body," Stroud told Reuters.

"You can only do seven days surviving without food a certain number of times a year … I've been copied around the world, but 25 times I've not eaten anything for a week while sleeping on rocks. I need to move on."

Stroud recently released the book, “Survive – Essential Skills and Tactics to Get You Out of Anywhere – Alive!.” Stroud is also planning a new TV series where he would follow in the footsteps of famous explorers.

I’ll miss “Survivorman,” but even that hole in my TV watching won’t drive me to watch the theatrics of the other “cheaters” who have their own survivor series.

---

Dan

Dan-O wrote:

> cthenn wrote:
>
> > Sounds like an episode of "Survivorman". Does that guy every
> > find food?!!??!
>
>
> Anyone else as bummed as me that he is no longer filming
> "Survivorman" ?
>
>
Yes, I am. It's a great show and is usually prett informative. I'm just struck at how little the guy eats and still has energy to do stuff. I go without my afternoon snack and I start pouting Some of the set-ups are pretty ridiculous, but I admire the fact he really is all alone, filming everything, and truly "surviving" as much as one can, knowing rescue (and a huge porterhouse steak) is 7 days away.

Bear Grylls' show....don't get me started! Just go to YouTube.

The guy made stupid mistakes. Be careful not to give him credit for still being alive.

---

Old Dude

Couldn't agree more Mike. A storm was 100% coming in on Halloween.
Even my crazy self stayed away that weekend.

There is an old saying that goes something like this:
'God watches over little children, animals, and fools.'

I noticed that he began his 5-day trip on the 28th in perfect weather. The special storm alert came the 29th and the snow actually hit on the 30th. Neither he nor the permit station probably had any way of knowing at departure time exactly what was coming.

Having said that, a 5 day trip on the Red Peak loop in late October is not very good thinking, especially camping 1/4 to 1/2 mile off trail at Red Devil Lake. On top of that, failing to provide anyone with your hiking plan and schedule is just dumb. In warmer weather somebody is bound to come along sooner or later on a popular trail who can help out but not in late October.

Also, at 9,750 feet a cell phone is likely to be able to reach somebody somewhere if you are smart enough to have one. It's possible Red Devil Lake might be an exception due to the surrounding peaks.; I don't know. I would be curious about that for my own purposes.

Jim

No way there is any cell coverage at Red Devil.
You might as well leave it in the car in nearly all of Yosemite.

I'm fairly certain that it is self registration everywhere on the 28th
so who know if he even talked to anyone.
It certainly was (self reg) at Wawona and Big Oak.

I've done Chiquito Pass/Post Peak/Red Peak/Merced Pass and back in
late October... it ALL DEPENDS on the weather.
... and JUST did Cathedral Pass w/ over 1 foot of snow.

This storm was not a surprise.
He bit off more than he could chew. I don't think he knew exactly what he was getting into.

Anyway, he made it out ok and thank goodness that another storm didn't
come barrelling thru right after the first one.

He should have read the forecast discussion before going. It was the end of October, right? Did he not remember all the news stories about the hikers who were trapped in the Sierra in 2004 in mid October? Or this year at the beginning of October the woman who died of hypothermia near Tahoe?

IMHO, if you're going out in October and the forecast discussion says there's the slightest possibility of precipitation, you assume it's going to be a big storm and just don't go. You don't wait until there's a storm warning and you don't rely on rangers, interpretors, etc.

Also, the guy planned a 5 day trip. What was he thinking? At the end of October, it doesn't matter what the forecast says on day one because a lot can change in 5 days. It might call for sunny skies for a week and then on day 3 change to winter storm watch.

Bottom line, the guy is lucky to be alive.

Bear's "Sierra Nevada" episode was particularily LAME!

"I'm lost... let's me jumpy on this log and float down the river..."

and

"I'm lost... I want to get down there... let me slide down this granite slope..."

Ridiculous(ly stupid)

"I'm lost...but I shouldn't drink the nice clear water from the stream becuase I could get giardi. Let me did a muddy hole and drink from that instead"

Fun thread!

About Bear, yeah, he slides down what looks to be the shoulder of Half Dome...and why? There's almost always a safer way around. His excuse for taking these incredibly dangerous routes is that "it saves time". Ooh, like it may take an extra hour or two, so instead I'll risk serious injury/death to save some time. It's gotta be one of the stupidest things you can do...risk injury when you are lost and alone.

Where was Bear for that Sierra episode? I know he always films his dangerous adventures within a quarter mile or so of some major road and his hotel. Kind of looked like when he first landed his parachute and was looking around, Mt. Watkins was in the background...but I doubt it was.

Was that the episode in which he drinks his piss and bites the head off a snake to take 2 bites out of the rest of it? Oh wait, that's every episode (yeah, I'm kind of a hypocrite...I watch his show, but mostly to laugh ).

>> Sounds like an episode of "Survivorman". Does that guy every
>> find food?!!??!


>Anyone else as bummed as me that he is no longer filming "Survivorman" ?

Yep. I'm bummed, too.

But you can't blame him.

Survival isn't much fun most of the time. OK. How many want to eat scorpions, because there is no other food? Hmmm. Tastes like chicken...

And by now he's hit a good variety of environments. His goal was to teach people, and he's done that.

Bear's show in the Sierra was in the SEKI area, I recognized some of the terrain when he was up high.

This article seems to affirm that. Between "survival" scenes he and the crew stayed at a cushy lodge on Bass Lake.

Grylls article in NY Post

Putting Bear's Sierra show up against Survivorman, Les is the clear winner. I thought his squirrel trap was hilarious!

Vince wrote:

> Putting Bear's Sierra show up against Survivorman, Les is the
> clear winner. I thought his squirrel trap was hilarious!

Was that the pringles can in the guitar, or the smashy smashy rock?

Righto... I completely forgot about the "wild horses"...

And I wanna know what River he boated down with a log.
I do know this... if my butt was in the river I'd be toast... I can barely
handle fording a river in the spring before my feet are in excruciating pain...

My guess was that he was north of Kings Canyon...

Anyway, dunno if anyone out there watches Survivor... some old lady
when they first got to Africa goes... "we can drink the water from
elephant dung"... too bad one of the other tribe-members didn't go
dunk it in the nearby pond and tell her "here you go... drink up".
This is what you end up with from this show.

Bear shoulda ate some of the dingleberries off the wild horses cause he
certainly didn't give any other "here's what you can eat in the sierras"
tips.

bill-e-g wrote:

> Bear shoulda ate some of the dingleberries off the wild horses
> cause he
> certainly didn't give any other "here's what you can eat in
> the sierras"
> tips.

I can see it now "They don't call these things 'road apples' for nothing, crunch crunch...mmmm'

---

Gary
Yosemite Photo Galleries: http://www.pbase.com/roberthouse/yo

I think Bear did tell you one can eat Manzanita berries. He also knelt down between a Yarrow plant and Hemlock and warn people that one can heal you, and one can kill you. I'm not sure I'd eat any "wild edibles" in the Sierra unless I had to. Too many killer plants/mushrooms!