For many people, “imagine being 74 years old and in good enough health and financial condition to retire in Arizona and go hiking in the mountains” is a proposition well beyond reach.

In the event I reach that age in good health and have those leisure options, I’ll get back to you.

In the meantime, if you are “frail” then might I suggest solo desert mountaineering is not your best option?

unblock

(52,257 posts)

4. maybe i'm missing some backstory here, but you're assuming she's well-off because she was... hiking?

Reply to jberryhill (Reply #3)

Wed Jun 5, 2019, 05:21 PM

Jun 2019

anyway, i think it's clear what was intended by "frail". one can assume she was probably up to the challenge of whatever the hike was, allowing for the fact that even strong youngsters can get injured and need a rescue; that said, the thrills she was seeking probably didn't include a little astronaut training, and i don't see why we shouldn't be sympathetic.

jberryhill

(62,444 posts)

6. "they do THIS to you"

Reply to unblock (Reply #4)

Wed Jun 5, 2019, 05:43 PM

Jun 2019

As if they were inept or doing it intentionally even.

I avoid putting myself into places where the only place I can be pulled out is by helicopter. Heck, I was picked up off of the side of the road by EMT's just this last August. My heart stopped. I fucking died. CPR failed, and they brought me back with the paddles. I think I might avoid places where an ambulance can't get to.

Going after that crew like that, as the OP has done, is shameful.

unblock

(52,257 posts)

7. wow, welcome back from the dead!

Reply to jberryhill (Reply #6)

Wed Jun 5, 2019, 05:53 PM

Jun 2019

you were very lucky they got to you in time, and the outcome is obviously great. as a former emt, i can tell you most of the time the outcome in the field is not so good, mainly due simply to the time it takes to get to the scene.

with this backstory, i much better see where you're coming from in your post. i think there's plenty of room for sympathy for the patient regardless. but i agree there's certainly no reason to think they did that deliberately and i don't think that was the intent of the o.p., they were probably just seeing it from the patient's perspective. i trust there was no negligence involved. other articles i've googled on this topic suggest that the stabilizing line just didn't work, without clarifying why.

Coventina

(27,123 posts)

8. I live in the area and your assumptions are all wrong.

Reply to jberryhill (Reply #3)

Wed Jun 5, 2019, 08:11 PM

Jun 2019

The "mountain" in question is in an urban area. The path is extremely well traveled to the point that sometimes it is a continuous flow of people going up and coming down. I've hiked it many times myself. It's not "solo mountaineering" at all.

People of all ages hike it all the time, including small children. It is not particularly arduous. It's an easy climb if you are in any sort of reasonable health.

With the weather heating up, there will always be these sorts of incidents, we are very used to them. A person of ANY AGE can become dehydrated very quickly in the heat. Rescues are not limited to the elderly, in fact, it's most often college age people that grossly underestimate their need for water that run into the most trouble.