Hacker News Reader

Comment by jschwartzi | Hacker News Reader

Yeah, people die taking selfies pretty much every year on one of our local hikes here in Washington. It's the easiest trail with a spectacular view(~1200ft of gain) in the entire metro area, so people flock to it in droves. It's a hike out to a cliff that looks down on a valley floor.

Every single "outdoorsy" girl on Tinder has a picture of themselves there, standing in front of the precipice.

There's also the easiest snowy mountain in the state, which everyone hikes up every year in tennis shoes as soon as the trailhead opens. One year Search & Rescue was called 4 times in one week because some hikers got stranded in the snow because they chose not to do any basic research about the conditions and assumed that since they wear tennis shoes during the winter, hiking through foot-deep snow in them is definitely okay. That week the county sheriff went on the news and asked people to please stop hiking that mountain for a couple of months.

View on HN

Rattlesnake ledge?

Hiking in Washington is... frustrating to say the least.

I've even seen whole families with small children show up to snowy trailheads in tennis shoes expecting to do the full hike while I'm walking out with an ice axe dangling from my bag. They don't check trail conditions ever. I'm surprised more people don't die or get injured around here especially in the winter.

Now I try to find hikes that require some route finding as the people you come across on those hikes are generally people who are actually into hiking and not ig likes.

/Pretentious rant

Happens all the time in Scotland - I assume people look at the height of the mountains and assume they are safe for a quick stroll if the weather is nice.

e.g.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-457...

"Cairngorm Mountain Rescue Team said the walkers' attire had included shorts and leggings, but no jackets."

I've never actually said to people I've passed that I thought they were inappropriately dressed (though maybe I should do) - but I have given people maps and directions when they admitted they had no idea where they were or their phone batteries had died (I take backup printouts of maps so not a big deal to give a copy to someone).

Yep that's a regular occurrence here as well. People assume that because it's in the high 70s on the valley floor that it will be the same temperature at the peak. Well, if you're gaining 3000 feet of altitude the temperature might be in the low 60s if you're lucky. And there will be wind chill as the air currents cut across the peak.

I've also seen a ton of hikers go 3 or 4 miles in without any food, water, or emergency gear at all.

I've heard of people on St. Helens doing the climb up the summer route in shorts and T-shirts with no other gear and becoming hypothermic at the top and requiring rescue. And that's a permitted route, meaning you have to win a permit lottery the year that you plan to do it.

What they need is a "stupid hiker fee". Some states require hikers to buy a hiking pass, and the fees for this fund rescues, but if someone doesn't get the pass and needs to be rescued, they can be charged the entire cost of the rescue.

They could do that and also require people get a card that says they're aware of the dangers and have a minimal set of equipment such as the 10 essentials to ensure that they can survive while they wait for search and rescue, which could be overnight in bad enough weather.

<squinty face>This sound an awful lot like insurance.</squinty face>

Basically, that's what it is. The park or local government is selling these "passes" which really amount to insurance, so that that government has the money to pay for rescues if they need to (or if rescuees don't/can't pay), and maybe also for other expenses involved in park upkeep. "Use fees" for public parks are not uncommon. Virginia State parks generally charge such fees for parking, for instance, as does Grand Canyon NP.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com