People talk about harsh environments and I think a cold snowy winter beats pretty much anything out. It at least ties with the desert. One could think long and hard about the pro’s and cons of each but I don’t feel like doing that. In any case simply put a cold snowy winter leaves little to no margin for error or bad luck.
Last night during land navigation a young man almost died.
We were supposed to be back by 8 o’clock. The young man in question has not back by 9:00 so a search party went out. At 10:00 higher ups started getting alerted. At 11:00 everybody lined up so we could walk the entire course at double arm intervals with white lights. Exactly like you see in the movies and on TV. Some folks found this guy at about 11:30.
What happened was that he got a bit wet. Somehow or another he got into some water that was moving and thus not frozen. At this point he started going into shock. I believe he failed to realize the severity of the situation he was in and went to get his last point before heading back. Personally I would have ran back to the start point. The course is roughly 4000m X 4000M and bordered on all sides by two lane hardball roads. You could not cross one by accident.
He was found about a mile out of the course. They found him face down in a snowy field. He was conscious but not verbally responsive. They got him to a hospital and there will be no effects which last more than a few days.
He was wearing the right gear. People knew he was out and when he should return. We had a pretty good idea of where he should be. He knew how to land nav. Heck a guy who could run decently wasn’t 15 minutes from a gas station or a fast food joint.
If nobody knew when he was supposed to be back or in what area he was he would be dead. If there hadn’t been a whole bunch of people right there to look for him he would be dead. Tonight it is a lot colder than last night. Had it been low 20’s instead of 28-32 he would likely be dead.
The winter does not forgive.
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