Dartmoor Trip - Gone Wrong!

[Edwin]

What I do think is a problem with modern life is that people are becoming dominated by thoughts that they are doomed, unless.....
Take dehydration, nothing wrong with being thirsty and learning self-control. We are designed for feast and famine of both food and water. I have waited longer in the snow for a lift than three hours as have many people one way or the other. Think of the business of survival times in water and the pessimists claiming how short it is then see people taking a swim off Swanpool beach every day of the year.

I do not deny that cold, lack of food, wet etc are killers but what about the poor homeless on a park bench in this weather? A few die, very sadly, but most wake up to another miserable day.

Shackleton never lost a man on his expeditions and I doubt that they were all exceptional.

[JonnyP]

What I do think is a problem with modern life is that people are becoming dominated by thoughts that they are doomed, unless.....
Take dehydration, nothing wrong with being thirsty and learning self-control. We are designed for feast and famine of both food and water. I have waited longer in the snow for a lift than three hours as have many people one way or the other. Think of the business of survival times in water and the pessimists claiming how short it is then see people taking a swim off Swanpool beach every day of the year.

I do not deny that cold, lack of food, wet etc are killers but what about the poor homeless on a park bench in this weather? A few die, very sadly, but most wake up to another miserable day.

Would you like to take the chance..?

[Edwin]

Would you like to take the chance..?

Of what? Believing that the human body can take it or curl up and die?
I don't say to leave emergency kit and survival bags at home but are we sure that, for example, the Dartmoor Challenge kids are safer wieghed down with so much kit than if they travelled lighter and faster and probably safer?

[Matt]

Your up on the moors with a good bag of camping-gear to keep you fed, watered & warm. Snow has unexpectedly comes in, covering the terrain making it hard to see your footing. You slip & fall, you've injured your ankle and can't stand up! You look at your mobile and typical there's no reception!

- How do you think you would react?... (isolated & injured)

- What would you do?... what actions would you take?
[/QUOTE]

Are we not straying from the thread. Surely every scenario's different...is there a house or road in sight?, did you have reception 1km back? etc etc.
If the afformentioned weren't an option then I would sit tight and make the most of the equipment and supplies I'd taken.

Matt

[leon-1]

Shackleton never lost a man on his expeditions and I doubt that they were all exceptional.

No Shackleton didn't.

However I have spent 4 and a half months on South Georgia based at King Edward Point, I have also travelled around parts of the Island. South Georgia is 100 miles long and 25miles wide, it is 75% glacier and an extremely inhospitable place.

Injuries have a nasty effect on people. You have an injured ankle and footing has become treacherous / uncertain. Don't exacerbate the problem by making the issue worse, if you walk on there is a good chance you will make the problem worse.

Get shelter, get a brew on, asses the situation and the damage / injury to your ankle. DO NOT remove your boot, if the prevailing weather conditions continue to deteriorate, stay where you are, you are warm, dry and out of the worst of it. It is not worth moving until your footing is more certain and you know the extent of the damage to your ankle (after a period of time will it take weight, does it require strapping or more support).
If you have a communications schedule and you have left a trace with people, they will be aware that you are out there, if they cannot contact you and you do not contact them then they will alert the relevant parties. They will find you doing the right thing.

Shackletons trip from the south of the island to Stromness was regarded as somewhat of a miracle even back in the golden age of Antarctic exploration. It would be 40 odd years before someone else attempted that trip and they marvelled at what the three men that crossed the island had achieved with "50 foot of rope and a carpenters adze"

Shackleton was liked by his men, he was down to earth and what he did he did pretty much as a last ditch effort to get his men home, he would not have attempted the walk that he did where nearly all the footing is treacherous with a damaged ankle and he wouldn't have expected any of his men to either, they would have stayed as a member of the shore party.

I visited his grave in Grytviken, it is only a short trip by ski from KEP (Shackleton died in on another exped starting from South Georgia from a heart attack at a later date).

[BlackMartlet]

I was rethinking my first post. For me, it would depend on the distance or stretch I'd have to cover to get back. If it was fairly lengthy I'd stay put, but take care of my rolled ankle.

If you could find a icy cold (if the temp is what you say it was) stream or pool near by and soak my ankle for atleast 20 minutes for each hour, for several hours. This would cut out most of the pain and reduce the inflammation drastically. Ibuprofen wouldn't hurt either.

AND, definitely stay hydrated and fed enough so you had the energy to make it out, whenever you decide it may be.

... you don't know exactly what you'll do, until you're in the situation and then it matters whether you keep your wits and carry through, but I wouldn't stick around any longer than I had to.

[delboy]

I`d find some temporary shelter and get a brew on...I think a lot clearer when I`m comfortable and rested. Next on the list would be to check the ankle damage, if thats pretty bad then I`d sort out something more permanent in the way of shelter, get a fire going and rest the ankle. As long as it isn`t broken then I`d sit it out for a few days until its healed enough, then if I hadn`t been rescued I`d think about walking out of it. All depends on the severity of the injury really.

[MikeWilkinson]

Some interesting responses.

My take - Assuming that I've fallen in the worst area possible - exposed, difficult terrain, miles from any in-habited building then, I think my number one priority would to be find somewhere a little less exposed, even if that is just a depression out of the wind. Next, get a brew on, pain coupled with exposure will probably see the onset of shock - nice hot sweet brew should help counter that. Whilst brew is heating up examine ankle, take painkillers and assess situation. Is the ankle so bad that I cannot walk/hobble to safety. If I cannot walk out, can I get to somewhere well out of the weather and set up shelter. Can I get to the last place I had reception on my phone, my course of action would depend on the answers to these.

Once again assuming the worst - i.e Ankle is broken, Strap up ankle and crawl to somewhere I can setup shelter, leave direction markers as I go - stack rocks, arrows etc... Set up shelter and put on another brew, get marker bag out and setup in most visible spot possible, keep trying 999 or 112 and text messages. Expect rescue after I don't turn up home when I said I would and better half has contacted the rescue services and given them my route card. 3 days max. Sit in shelter and don't panic.

[Bernie]

... I think my number one priority would to be find somewhere a little less exposed, even if that is just a depression out of the wind.

You've either been on the Moors in foul weather or you imagine it well. In cold howling wind I've looked longingly at those depressions when out walking.

[MikeWilkinson]

I Live in the west pennine moors, Gets really cold and really windy - peat bog, so also stays really wet. Any dry depression is a god send. I'm out on it every night and Morning with the Dogs - regardless of weather.