Yuppie 911 devices can take the Search out of Search and Rescue

TRADITIONAL MOUNTAINEERING ™
www.TraditionalMountaineering.org ™ and also www.AlpineMountaineering.org ™

TraditionalMountaineering Logo - representing the shared
companionship of the Climb ™

Search this site!
Read more:

Yuppie 911 devices can take the "search" out of Search and Rescue

EXTRAORDINARY ELECTRONIC DEVICES CAN AID SEARCH AND RESCUE
OpEd by Robert Speik, Guest Columnist
Published in The Bulletin
November 25, 2009
Editors of The Bulletin recently chose to print a clever story by Associated Press Writer Tracie Cone titled, "Tired from a tough hike? Rescuers fear Yuppie 911".
I believe the Bulletin Editors hoped to provoke a conversation in Central Oregon, about two facts: that a Rescue is not initiated through 911 until called for and that an ordinary Cell Phone and an ordinary GPS, (and/or two extraordinary electronic devices, the PLB and /or the SPOT-2) can alert 911 and can reliably take the “Search” out of Search and Rescue (SAR).

AP Writer Cone recounted a humorous report about inexperienced backpackers who called 911 for un-necessary Rescue Services, and later stated "we would never have attempted this hike (in the Grand Canyon) without a PLB”.

According to the AP story, increasingly affordable electronic rescue beacons have prompted a California SAR Coordinator to coin the term "Yuppie 911 devices".

AP Writer Cone also noted other examples of "misuse" of 911 call devices which, in my view, were inaccurate or had little to do with the message: that inexperienced folks may take chances in the backcountry, only because they can reliably call for Rescue Services.

What are these easily available, “increasingly affordable, 911 devices”?
Devices designed only to call for Rescue are the Personal Locator Beacon (PLB) and the SPOT-2 Satellite Messenger (SPOT).

Devices designed for two way communications to SAR are the mobile Satellite Telephone, the Amateur Radio Service Hand-held Radio and the ordinary digital Cell Phone.
The Satellite Telephone is comparatively expensive and rather heavy. Amateur Radio operators must be FCC licensed. Also, Hand-held Radios connect on line of site to repeater towers similar to Cell Phones. (Note that Family Radio Service handy-talkies have very limited line of site range, and someone must be listening on one of several optional channels. Avalanche beacons and Mt. Hood Locator Units are very specialized short range radio beepers used to find folks buried in the snow.)

How does a PLB work and what does it cost?
The PLB, recently authorized for use on land, can call a system of seven international rescue satellites and trigger a search through the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center. Unless equipped with an optional GPS receiver, coordinate accuracy can be up to two miles. This COSPAS-SARSAT system has been used for decades by EPERBs on ships, boats and life rafts and I have never heard that these devices encouraged inexperienced boaters to take more chances.

PLBs cost from $299.00 to $850.00. Cost, size and weight are coming down. They require the deployment of an antenna. Some require manufacturer service to install new batteries. They must use an optional GPS for essential accuracy. They cannot be tested for contact with 911. While service is free, only the owner’s basic information is stored by the government.

How does a SPOT-2 work and what does it cost?
The SPOT-2 Satellite Messenger contains a GPS receiver which reports its latitude and longitude from Department of Defense satellites, in an email or Cell Phone text message to your Responsible Person, family, friends and/or the nearest SAR Unit. The message includes a Google map with your exact position.

The SPOT-2 can send three different messages, one to relatives and friends saying “I am having fun, right here”, and/or one to experienced friends saying “I need a little help, right here” or one to 911 and designated others saying “I need Rescue Services right here and now!” Before a particular big adventure, additional information for 911 about the owner and specific information about the trip, can be uploaded free and easily from the home computer to the SPOT user web page. The accurate GPS coordinates sent with the emails are reported and also displayed on a Google Map sent with the reporting email. If calls to friends go through in a typical location, so will a call to 911, thus the device can be tested in many situations (slot canyons, tree cover, etc.) by the user on prior trips.

SPOT’s latest version, SPOT-2, has several improvements. Internal antennas have been upgraded. Inexpensive, light at 5.3 ounces, waterproof and as small as a pocket camera, the new SPOT-2 costs about $149.00, plus a yearly commercial satellite communication link for $99.00.

Why is the ordinary Cell Phone best of all?
The Cell Phone is ubiquitous, can cost as little as $10.00 per month (good free digital Cell Phone included) and can be tested in different locations by calls to home. Cell Phones work well on the urban facing slopes of our Oregon Cascades.

Under FCC E911 Regulations, service providers, using pings from two or more cell towers, are required to provide accurate lat-lon coordinates to 911 Operators from a "listening" cell phone!

More importantly, the caller can dial 911 and with simple skills, provide SAR with his or her exact lat-lon coordinates from a simple $99.00 hand held GPS or from their $7.00 USGS Topo map.

Best of all, you can talk to the Rescue Coordinator on your Cell Phone, explaining the problem, the conditions and discussing your plans. The Coordinator may ask you to stay put and to call him every hour. He may even provide information to guide you back.

What if the Cell Phone will not connect?
If Cell Phone coverage is not available, you should activate your SPOT-2 911 function, stay in place, keep dry, warm and nourished using your personal seasonal "Ten Essential Systems" and listen for approaching Rescue Volunteers.

Remember, a Search and Rescue Mission does not begin until requested through a call to 911 by your mandatory Responsible Person (say, on Sunday afternoon) or by your Cell Phone call or message from PLB or SPOT-2 (on Friday, say at the time you found the ill prepared, hypothermic hiker or your own leg was broken).
--Robert Speik lives in Bend and writes for www.TraditionalMountaineering.org
Copyright©, 2009-2011 by Robert Speik. All Rights Reserved.

Copied below is the original AP story, re-printed in hundreds of newspapers

Wilderness rescuers fear 'Yuppie 911' makes calling for help too easy
Personal locator beacons have made it easier to call for help from the wilderness, and rescuers are critical of users who may risk rescuers' lives with sometimes trivial aid calls.
October 2009
By Tracie Cone
The Associated Press
The Grand Canyon can get hot. Hikers with a personal locator beacon recently prompted a helicopter rescue when they ran out of water.
Two men and their teenage sons recently tackled one of the world's most unforgiving summertime hikes: the Grand Canyon's parched and searing Royal Arch Loop. Along with bedrolls and freeze-dried food, the inexperienced backpackers carried a personal locator beacon — just in case.

In the span of three days, the group pushed the panic button three times, mobilizing helicopters for dangerous, lifesaving rescues inside the Arizona canyon's steep walls.

What was that emergency? After they ran out of water, the only water they had found to quench their thirst "tasted salty."

"Yuppie 911"
Technology has made calling for help instantaneous even in the most remote places. Because would-be adventurers can send GPS coordinates to rescuers with the touch of a button, some are exploring terrain they do not have the experience, knowledge or endurance to tackle.

Rescue officials are deciding whether to start keeping statistics on the problem, but the incidents have become so frequent that the head of California's Search and Rescue operation has a name for the devices: Yuppie 911.

"Now you can go into the backcountry and take a risk you might not normally have taken," says Matt Scharper, who coordinates a rescue every day in a state with wilderness so rugged even crashed planes can take decades to find.

"With the Yuppie 911, you send a message to a satellite and the government pulls your butt out of something you shouldn't have been in in the first place."

It's a growing problem facing the men and women who risk their lives when they believe others are in danger of losing theirs.

Technological help
From the Sierra to the Cascades, Rockies and beyond, hikers are arming themselves with increasingly affordable technology intended to get them out of life-threatening situations.

While daring rescues are one result, very often the beacons go off unintentionally when the button is pushed in someone's backpack, or they are activated unnecessarily, as in the case of a woman who was frightened by a thunderstorm.

"There's controversy over these devices in the first place because it removes the self-sufficiency that's required in the backcountry," Scharper says. "But we are a society of services, and every service you need you can get by calling."

Personal locator beacons, which send distress signals to government satellites, became available in the early 1980s, but at a price exceeding $1,200. They have been legal for the public to use since 2003, and in the last year the price has fallen to less than $100 for devices that send alerts to a company, which then calls local law enforcement.

When rescue beacons tempt inexperienced hikers to attempt trails beyond their abilities, that can translate into unnecessary expense and a risk of lives.

For example, when eight climbers ran into trouble last winter during a summit attempt of Mount Hood in Oregon, they called for help after becoming stranded in a snowstorm.

"The question is, would they have decided to go on the trip knowing the weather was going bad if they had not been able to take the beacons," asks Rocky Henderson of Portland Mountain Rescue. "We are now entering the 'Twilight Zone' of someone else's intentions."

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/travel/2010171491_trhikingemergency01.html

Copied below is the FOX News story, with a distinctive foxy conservative political twist-
'Yuppie 911' Calls Taxing Search and Rescue Teams
Tuesday , October 27, 2009

Last month two men and their teenage sons tackled one of the world's most unforgiving summertime hikes: the Grand Canyon's parched and searing Royal Arch Loop. Along with bedrolls and freeze-dried food, the inexperienced backpackers carried a personal locator beacon - just in case.

In the span of three days, the group pushed the panic button three times, mobilizing helicopters for dangerous, lifesaving rescues inside the steep canyon walls.

What was that emergency? The water they had found to quench their thirst "tasted salty."

If they had not been toting the device that works like Onstar for hikers, "we would have never attempted this hike," one of them said after the third rescue crew forced them to board their chopper. It's a growing problem facing the men and women who risk their lives when they believe others are in danger of losing theirs.

Technology has made calling for help instantaneous even in the most remote places. Because would-be adventurers can send GPS coordinates to rescuers with the touch of a button, some are exploring terrain they do not have the experience, knowledge or endurance to tackle.

Rescue officials are deciding whether to start keeping statistics on the problem, but the incidents have become so frequent that the head of California's Search and Rescue operation has a name for the devices: Yuppie 911.

"Now you can go into the back country and take a risk you might not normally have taken," says Matt Scharper, who coordinates a rescue every day in a state with wilderness so rugged even crashed planes can take decades to find. "With the Yuppie 911, you send a message to a satellite and the government pulls your butt out of something you shouldn't have been in in the first place."

From the Sierra to the Cascades, Rockies and beyond, hikers are arming themselves with increasingly affordable technology intended to get them out of life- threatening situations.

While daring rescues are one result, very often the beacons go off unintentionally when the button is pushed in someone's backpack, or they are activated unnecessarily, as in the case of a woman who was frightened by a thunderstorm.

"There's controversy over these devices in the first place because it removes the self sufficiency that's required in the back country," Scharper says. "But we are a society of services, and every service you need you can get by calling."

The sheriff's office in San Bernardino County, the largest in the nation and home to part of the unforgiving Death Valley, hopes to reduce false alarms. So it is studying under what circumstances hikers activate the devices.

"In the past, people who got in trouble self-rescued; they got on their hands and knees and crawled out," says John Amrhein, the county's emergency coordinator. "We saw the increase in non-emergencies with cell phones: people called saying 'I'm cold and damp. Come get me out.' These take it to another level."

Personal locator beacons, which send distress signals to government satellites, became available in the early 1980s, but at a price exceeding $1,200. They have been legal for the public to use since 2003, and in the last year the price has fallen to less than $100 for devices that send alerts to a company, which then calls local law enforcement.

When rescue beacons tempt inexperienced hikers to attempt trails beyond their abilities, that can translate into unnecessary expense and a risk of lives.

Last year, the beacon for a hiker on the Pacific Crest Trail triggered accidentally in his backpack, sending helicopters scrambling. Recently, a couple from New Brunswick, British Columbia activated their beacon when they climbed a steep trail and could not get back down. A helicopter lowered them 200 feet to secure footing.

In September, a hiker from Placer County was panning for gold in New York Canyon when he became dehydrated and used his rescue beacon to call for help.

With darkness setting in on the same day, Mono County sheriff's deputies asked the National Guard for a high-altitude helicopter and a hoist for a treacherous rescue of two beacon-equipped hikers stranded at Convict Lake. The next day they hiked out on foot.

When eight climbers ran into trouble last winter during a summit attempt of Mt. Hood in Oregon, they called for help after becoming stranded on a glacier in a snowstorm.

"The question is, would they have decided to go on the trip knowing the weather was going bad if they had not been able to take the beacons," asks Rocky Henderson of Portland Mountain Rescue. "We are now entering the Twilight Zone of someone else's intentions."

The Grand Canyon's Royal Arch loop, the National Park Service warns, "has a million ways to get into serious trouble" for those lacking skill and good judgment. One evening the fathers-and-sons team activated their beacon when they ran out of water.

Rescuers, who did not know the nature of the call, could not launch the helicopter until morning. When the rescuers arrived, the group had found a stream and declined help.

That night, they activated the emergency beacon again. This time the Arizona Department of Public Safety helicopter, which has night vision capabilities, launched into emergency mode.

When rescuers found them, the hikers were worried they might become dehydrated because the water they found tasted salty. They declined an evacuation, and the crew left water.

The following morning the group called for help again. This time, according to a park service report, rescuers took them out and cited the leader for "creating a hazardous condition" for the rescue teams.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,569672,00.html

A few of the simplistic inaccuracies in the above stories corrected:
1. For example, "When eight climbers ran into trouble last winter during a summit attempt of Mount Hood in Oregon, they called for help after becoming stranded in a snowstorm."
"Three Climbers Lost in White River Canyon, Portland Mountain Rescue:
At 12:30pm on Sunday, February 18, 2007 the Clackamas County Sheriff paged Portland Mountain Rescue (PMR) to assist in the search for three missing climbers. The subjects had been part of a larger group of eight when the three and their dog fell down a steep slope into the White River Canyon. White-out conditions and high winds prevailed at the time. The five subjects that did not fall called for help with a cell phone and were able to provide GPS coordinates of their location. Both subject parties had Mountain Locator Units (MLUs) and both parties activated them. Rescuers said that the MLUs were not critical in the Rescue; the cell phones were critical. MLUs, a technology used exclusively on Mount Hood, send out a locating signal but do not send any alerting signal to initiate a search."

-Webmeister Speik Notes that the eight original climbers carried cell phones and Mt. Hood MLUs, not PLBs or SPOTs. Five of the "lost" climbers phoned SAR and were escorted down, walking 45 minutes to the lodge across the groomed ski slope. The remaining three were in a small canyon and remained in contact by cell phone with Portland Mountain Rescue overnight, huddled with their large warm dog (and later featured on TV by Ellen in New York). (They had abandoned two of their three overnight backpacks to walk toward the Lodge, helping one of the three who may have had a concussion from a sliding fall into the canyon.) Rescuers stated that the Mt. Hood MLU was of little use as they followed the canyon up to the huddled novice climbers. Three hikers and a dog lost on Mount Hood

2. "Personal locator beacons, which send distress signals to government satellites, became available in the early 1980s, but at a price exceeding $1,200. They have been legal for the public to use since 2003, and in the last year the price has fallen to less than $100 for devices that send alerts to a company, which then calls local law enforcement.
-Webmeister Speik Notes that PLBs do not "send alerts to a company". Alerts are sent from the PLB through the world wide COSPAS-SARSAT rescue network and make their way to local Sheriff's SAR Units through the Air Force or Coast Guard. The lowest price for a PLB is $399.00. What is a PLB (Personal Locator Beacon)

3. "With the Yuppie 911, you send a message to a satellite and the government pulls your butt out of something you shouldn't have been in in the first place."
-Webmeister Speik Notes that Search and Rescue in this country is largely done by volunteers, not by The Government. OpEd: Electronic locator beacons, a mountaineer's viewpoint
Copyright©, 2010 by Robert Speik. All Rights Reserved.

The rest of the story

Deschutes County Sheriffs Search and Rescue Volunteer Coordinator Al Hornish, a 12 year veteran of DCSAR, stated the following in an interview published on January 26, 2012 in the Bend Oregon Source Weekly: "We have grown a lot over the past decade. The nature of missions has changed as well. There are more Rescues and less Searches, mostly because of the better technology available."
Read More. --Robert Speik, January 26, 2012

FIFTEEN WEEKS
Wednesday, July 7, 2010, or nearly four months since my fall off Mount Temple. After so much time, there is much to dwell on. The negatives: the pain of so many fractures, the sleeplessness, the drugs and the messed up things they do to you. It’s easy to get stuck in the negative; yet some part of me is drawn there by some morbid fascination.
How big am I then? Not very. I made a mistake, a pretty small mistake. Or more honestly, I made a series of pretty small mistakes. I almost died for these transgressions. I would have died if it had not been for a cell phone and the chain of events it was able to put into motion. (I’ve owned a cell phone for barely six years.) I might not have died that very day, March 25, 2010, but from where we were, we were a long, long way from the medical care my injuries demanded: a trained trauma surgeon in an Emergency Room. Perhaps I would have lasted one night. Maybe not. It changes my perspective about what a day means. Carpe diem no longer seems some frat-boy cry to party. Today, means everything. The Steve House Training Blog

Deschutes County Sheriff's Search and Rescue Deputy Jim Whitcomb, assistant SAR coordinator reports on a recent 911 "false alarm". He notes that the inadvertent activation happened in a pack with an older SPOT-1 device. Whitcomb said it was a first-generation version that’s easier to accidentally set off while in a pack. “It is important to remember that technology can be a great asset, but can just as easily be a liability,” the deputy said in a news release, urging users of such devices to regularly monitor such gear. SAR will respond to all SPOT activations, treating them as an emergency, unless contact can be made with whoever is carrying the device, to confirm otherwise, Whitcomb said. Read More, --Robert Speik, July 22, 2012.

WARNING - *DISCLAIMER!*
Mountain climbing has inherent dangers that can, only in part, be mitigated

Lost and Found
Three climbers missing on Mt. Hood, all perish
Missing California family found, dad dies from exposure and hypothermia
Missing man survives two weeks trapped in snow-covered car
Missing snowmobile riders found, Roger Rouse dies from hypothermia
Lost climber hikes 6.5 miles from South Sister Trail to Elk Lake
Hiking couple lost three nights in San Jacinto Wilderness find abandoned gear
Expert skier lost five days in North Cascades without Essentials, map and compass
Climber disappears on the steep snow slopes of Mount McLaughlin
Hiker lost five days in freezing weather on Mount Hood
Professor and son elude search and rescue volunteers
Found person becomes lost and eludes rescuers for five days
Teens, lost on South Sister, use cell phone with Search and Rescue
Lost man walks 27 miles to the highway from Elk Lake Oregon
Snowboarder Found After Week in Wilderness
Searchers rescue hiker at Smith Rock, find lost climbers on North Sister
Girl Found In Lane County After Lost On Hiking Trip
Search and rescue finds young girls lost from family group
Portland athlete lost on Mt. Hood
Rescues after the recent snows
Novice couple lost in the woods
Broken Top remains confirmed as missing climber
Ollalie Trail - OSU Trip - Lost, No Map, Inadequate Clothing

Your Essential Light Day Pack
What are the new Ten Essential Systems?
What does experience tell us about Light and Fast climbing?
What is the best traditional alpine mountaineering summit pack?
What is Light and Fast alpine climbing?
What do you carry in your day pack?    Photos?
What do you carry in your winter day pack?     Photos?
What should I know about "space blankets"?
Where can I get a personal and a group first aid kit?    Photos?

Carboration and Hydration
Is running the Western States 100 part of "traditional mountaineering"?
What's wrong with GORP? Answers to the quiz!
Why do I need to count carbohydrate calories?
What should I know about having a big freeze-dried dinner?
What about carbo-ration and fluid replacement during traditional alpine climbing? 4 pages in pdf
What should I eat before a day of alpine climbing?

About Alpine Mountaineering:
The Sport of Alpine Mountaineering
Climbing Together
Following the Leader
The Mountaineers' Rope
Basic Responsibilities Cuatro Responsabiliades Basicas de Quienes Salen al Campo
The Ten Essentials Los Diez Sistemas Esenciales

Our Leader's Guidelines:
Our Volunteer Leader Guidelines
Sign-in Agreements, Waivers and Prospectus     This pdf form will need to be signed by you at the trail head
Sample Prospectus    Make sure every leader tells you what the group is going to do; print a copy for your "responsible person"
Participant Information Form    This pdf form can be printed and mailed or handed to the Leader if requested or required
Emergency and Incident Report Form    Copy and print this form. Carry two copies with your Essentials
Participant and Group First Aid Kit    Print this form. Make up your own first aid essentials (kits)

About our World Wide Website:
Information
Mission

Map, Compass and GPS
Map, compass and GPS navigation training Noodle in The Badlands
BLM guidelines for Geocaching on public lands
Geocaching on Federal Forest Lands
OpEd - Geocaching should not be banned in the Badlands
Winter hiking in The Badlands WSA just east of Bend
Searching for the perfect gift
Geocaching: What's the cache?
Geocaching into the Canyon of the Deschutes
Can you catch the geocache?
Z21 covers Geocaching
Tour The Badlands with ONDA
The art of not getting lost
Geocaching: the thrill of the hunt!
GPS in the news
A GPS and other outdoor gadgets make prized gifts
Wanna play? Maps show you the way
Cooking the "navigation noodle"