Hiking

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Coz Hikers Can Get Into All Kinds of Trouble

. . . with or without their hiking boots on! Hiking is a bit of a national obsession, well, it is amongst my family anyway, but hikers do come in all shapes, sizes and types. Some “weekend hikers” like to hike for a couple of hours on a Sunday afternoon (which others would call a “walk”), and some “serious hikers”  like to hike miles into the wilderness, far away from the traditional hiking trails and really pit their wits against all that nature can throw at them for days on end, with nothing more than a back pack full of survival gear (only the lightest survival gear of course).

Hikers Emergency Electronics

Some “old school” hikers might not embrace the idea of taking electronic gadgets with them on their hiking adventures, after all, it’s supposed to be a hike back to nature not a geeks and gadgets convention, but there are some pieces of electronic equipment which can help to make back packers and hikers feel much more safe and secure in their surroundings . . . maybe even give them the confidence to go that one step further afield from the hiking trail. Accidents happen when you least expect them (that’s why they’re called accidents . . . they happen by accident) and even the most experienced hiker can take a tumble and break a bone or twist an ankle, which could put them into a very dangerous situation unless a rescue party can be alerted and find them in good time. What sort of hiking gadgets are we talking about here? Well, let’s just take a look at a choice of three:

• Satphones for Hikers - your usual cell phone or mobile phone, depending on your network and their towers etc is very unlikely to work in many of the remote locations in which hikers and back packers find themselves, unlike Satphones. Okay, a Satphone would be rendered pretty useless in your “town life” when you’re surrounded by cell towers, but are well worth the effort when you regularly take to disappearing into the wilderness for any length of time.  Satphones can make a call from almost any location . . . if you can see the sky you can make a call, so whether you are injured, have found yourself in a dangerous situation or have just remembered that it’s your Moms birthday and you didn’t call before you left home (another type of emergency but still an emergency) then a Satphone could be a real life saver.

• Satellite text messengers – mean that you can keep in touch by text with family, friends or the emergency services when you find yourself in an emergency situation. Being able to have constant contact with a victim can be a real boost for the angels who work in search and rescue, as well as providing a constant source of encouragement and hope to the hiker they are searching for to rescue. Satellite text messengers have great functions to help you keep in touch with the outside world too – with an “SOS/911″ function for when you find yourself in a critical emergency situation, a “Help” function when you need a little non emergency assistance, a “I’m ok check-in” function to let the outside world know that you haven’t fallen off a cliff, and “route-tracking” which marks waypoints which can be viewed on Google Maps.

Thanks Katie . . . that’s handy to know!

• Personal locator beacons – are a fantastic idea for those who really do love to take risks well off the beaten hiking track. They are a powerful electronic device with one purpose only . . . to initiate rescue. They’re actually very good at it, so if that sounds like you why not invest in one . . . it could save your life.

Hiking Emergency Electronics . . . But What Is An Emergency

Hikers are all different, just like everybody else in this world, and while some people are very good at making the proverbial mountain out of a molehill and everything in life is deemed as an emergency from a broken fingernail to being 10 minutes late for dinner, it’s important that you know the difference between a real emergency and a situation which is nothing more than a slight inconvenience or annoyance. Calling out a search and rescue team is a serious business, and you should never contact them if all that’s needed is a little self-rescue and resilience (fortunately, the majority of hikers are a pretty resilient lot).  Let’s look at some examples;

• Broken femur – emergency . . . call the search and rescue
• Ate too many energy bars and feel a bit sick . . . do not call the search and rescue, sit down, have a sip of water and stop being such a hog
• Had a tiff with other hikers . . . do not call the search and rescue
• Been hit by a fallen rock and knocked unconscious with blood trickling down your chin . . . hope that you have a friend who can call the search and rescue

Are you getting the picture?

And don’t call them so you can have a ride in a helicopter . . .