Six snowmobilers rescued in the mountains of southern Colorado
January 7 2008, 10:21 PM
CONEJOS, CO — Six snowmobilers missing in the mountains for 2˝ days while a howling blizzard swirled around them were rescued today — hungry and cold but unhurt — after taking shelter in a cozy cabin and calling 911 on a cell phone when the storm eased up.
The group, consisting of two couples and two teenagers, broke into the cabin, where they huddled around a gas grill and dined on popcorn and chicken bouillon they found inside.
"We counted 18 blankets. We were cozy," 31-year-old Shannon Groen said after rescue crews on snowmobiles brought the group to safety. "God was looking out for us. When we knew we were safe we began to worry about the rescuers and we prayed for them."
Groen and the others were trapped by one in a series of storms that killed at least three people across the West, unloaded as much as 11 feet of snow in the Sierra Nevada range, flooded hundreds of homes in Nevada and knocked out power to a quarter-million Californians.
At least three people — two skiers and a hiker — were missing in the snow-covered mountains of California and Colorado.
Two snowbound families spent more than two days in a cabin near an isolated train station in southern Colorado before searchers found them this morning.
"We just stayed in the cabin because it was safe," Jason Groen, 36, said when crews on snowmobiles brought him and five others to the top of Cumbres Pass at about 11 a.m, according to the Associated Press.
Groen, the owner of several businesses in Farmington, N.M, his wife and teenage daughter were snowmobiling with with another family near the pass about 30 miles north of Chama.
The group got lost and ran out of gas Friday night.
"The snow was so bad, they had gotten disoriented with the whiteout," Jason Groen's father, Larry, said in a telephone interview this morning.
They took refuge in a cabin near the isolated Osier Station, a small wooden building that serves as summertime stop on the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad, a tourist line.
Body of missing hiker found in mountains of northern Georgia
January 7 2008, 10:37 PM
The body of Buford hiker Meredith Emerson, missing since New Year's Day in the North Georgia mountains, has been found by authorities, her family's spokeswoman confirmed Monday night.
"We did find out just now, not that it was unexpected," Peggy Bailey said.
She did not confirm exactly where the body was found but said, "I know it was a place where they have been looking."
As search parties continued with a sixth day of scouring the mountains for Emerson, the man suspected of killing her faced a judge but made no comment.
Although the father of the young hiker went before cameras Monday to ask the public to "search their hearts and memories" for anything that might lead to his daughter, attorneys said that even if searchers had never found her body, Gary Michael Hilton still could have been charged with her murder.
Hilton was charged Saturday with kidnapping with bodily injury, felonies that carry a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.
The young lady apparently went hiking in Blood Mt area, very poular dayhiking area and the HP of Lumpkin county Ga. Very sad and a case worthy of the needle.
Killer says female hiker fought him to the end, according to confession
March 23 2008, 8:29 PM
As they struggled near the Appalachian Trail, Meredith Emerson disarmed her attacker of a knife and baton.
Hilton eventually subdued Emerson, kidnapped her and later killed her. She did not make it easy for him, according to interviews Hilton gave to investigators that were obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Speaking to Georgia Bureau of Investigation agent Clay Bridges only days after killing the young woman, Hilton said: "I think it was you probably, or one of the GBIs, said 'That little 120-pound-girl about probably came close to whipping your ass.' She about did."
Her life in danger, Emerson fought back using her strength, her wits and a large measure of courage and determination. In the four days after she disappeared on a Blood Mountain hiking trail in Union County, investigators said, Emerson never gave up.
Female corpse found on Mount Tamalpais, highest point of Marin County, California
January 15 2008, 1:48 AM
Authorities are trying to determine whether a body found Sunday on Mount Tamalpais, the highest point of Marin County, is that of missing IRS Agent Veronica Ruiz.
A Marin County Sheriff's Department search and rescue team found the body of a woman at 1:38 p.m. in Slide Gulch Ravine, sheriff's Lt. Doug Pittman said.
The body was "concealed by trees and shrubbery" about 30 or 40 yards from a trail, Pittman said.
"We are characterizing it a suspicious death," he said.
Veronica Ruiz was last seen Dec. 3, two days after she and her boyfriend of two years broke up. A message Sunday on a Web site maintained by her family said the coroner is using dental records to see whether the body is Ruiz's.
I know the article said the death is suspicious, but this has some earmarks of a cougar attack. According to the story, she was supposedly a solo trail runner and her body was found concealed by shrubbery and bushes. Are mountain lions common to this area?
Man survives wilderness ordeal in Canadian Rockies on rotting animal carcasses
January 21 2008, 10:24 PM
CROWSNEST PASS, ALBERTA -- Used to saving the lives of others, a Crowsnest Pass paramedic had to keep himself alive for a harrowing 96 hours after his ATV rolled on him.
Ken Hildebrand was riding his quad last weekend north of the Livingstone Gap, about 130 km southwest of Calgary, collecting animal traps when his vehicle struck a rock and ended up on top of him.
Hildebrand, who has a weak leg due to polio, ended up face down on the snowy ground with his machine pinning his strong leg.
"He was stuck there for four days and three nights -- almost 96 hours straight," says Troy Linderman, director of Crowsnest Pass EMS.
Hildebrand sustained himself by melting snow to drink and by eating the rotting meat of animals he had previously collected, which made him sick.
Peter Roux spent his work days in an office at the Memphis headquarters of International Paper and found his escape in hiking, his wife said yesterday.
The 39-year-old Lewiston, Maine, native and University of Maine graduate, who had twice scaled Mount Washington with his wife, Ann, came to New England on Friday to meet friends. He had been hiking alone in the mountain's Huntington Ravine when he failed to contact his companions as expected that evening, authorities said.
Authorities say the experienced climber's body was found atop a debris pile Saturday morning, the result of an avalanche, in the first hiking death on the famously treacherous mountain since 2004.
"He loved nature," said Ann Roux, 39, also a Lewiston, Maine, native who met her future husband when they were freshmen at the University of Maine. "He just liked the views, and he started [hiking] to get a workout."
Skier dies in avalanche in San Bernardino Mountains of southern California
January 26 2008, 12:52 AM
WRIGHTWOOD, CA - As the Southland braced for a weekend of more storms, rescuers this afternoon were dealing with two avalanches in the San Bernardino Mountains that left one skier dead.
"He was trapped in the initial avalanche," Wessel said. The man was one of three people who went missing after the first avalanche.
"Two of the people walked, but the man was still trapped and it took L.A. County search and rescue and ski patrol to find him. It took about an hour and a half to get him out," he said.
It appears that this winter is cold and snowy in many places, particularly in the western USA.
It feels like this winter has been cooler than normal in Arizona. According to Weather.com, the average high temperature for January in Tempe is 68° F, yet daily temperatures have reached or exceeded that figure on only 6 out of the first 28 days of this current month, and four of those days were the first four days of this month. The forecast high temperatures for the last three days of January will be in the high 50's or low 60's, so this means that high temperatures on 25 out of the last 27 days of January 2008 are below normal for Tempe.
Climate and weather are different; don't make the mistake of confusing the two. Climate deals with long-term trends; weather deals with the type of short-term observations you reported.
In Anchorage last week, we had a high of 42 and a low temperature above our average high. That is not evidence of global warming, though. Evidence of global warming would be the numerous glaciers that have receded over a mile in the last 40 years, the areas that had permafrost 10 years ago, but no longer do, and the late freeze-ups and early breakups on rivers and sea ice.
The evidence of global warming might be difficult to observe in many places, but it is very evident in locations where the warming trend has raised temperatures from below 32 to above freezing. The difference is readily observable in the change from water in a solid state to water in a liquid state.
To say that global warming is not occurring denies all of the climatic observations to the contrary.
People seem to prefer living in warmer places, as the warmer regions in the USA are growing faster than the colder regions. Arizona, the hottest state in the USA, is one of the two fastest growing states in the USA.
I expect that global warming should be good for Alaska. The glaciers may be receding but warming weather would allow more crops to be grown and people could participate in a wider range of outdoor activities. In a warmer Alaska, people should save on heating and clothing costs.
Global warming would be bad for Arizona, however. It is too hot here in summer. However, on the bright side this may help control Arizona's rapid population growth.
Global warming is unquestionably undeniable, but it must have some benefits. A warmer world wouldn't necessarily be a less hospitable world in all places. It may be better in some places but not as good in other places.
With higher overall temperatures, many of the current weather trends will either intensify, or cease altogether. Even if weather warmed in Alaska, the ground is generally too nutrient poor to support large-scale farming. The melting permafrost would create state-sized bogs and swamps. The large (and small) fauna there will be stressed and possibly go extinct... so it's not just a simple translation of 'higher' temperatures without taking into account the domino effect of this change.
Every dynamic system has its attractive state - the state at which it normally exists and functions. Any major deviations from this state are always brought under control quickly. However, a body blow to the system - something that changes it fundamentally - means the system itself will need to find a new attractive state. This means that all patterns that we have grown used to - planning our lives around - will change. The best 'small-scale' example is the El Nino/La Nina effect of the periodic cooling ocean waters off the west coast of South America. Just that little change has the tremendous effects of rain in North America and drought in Australia, for example. It doesn't take much to throw everything out of whack, and we will be hard-pressed to react in time to these changes.
As Scott said, the optimal climatic state is the one that has naturally been occurring. While there are changes to this state, they are gradual. Adaptations are more readily made in response to gradual changes than they are to abrupt changes. And some fauna will be unable to adapt to even these gradual changes and will become extinct.
There are certainly aspects of global warming that might be beneficial (opening up shipping lanes in the Arctic Ocean, for example), but it is difficult to say that these aspects outweigh the negative consequences of global warming. Already the State of Alaska has experienced tremendous erosion problems due to fall storms in coastal areas. Previously these storms occurred after freeze-up and little impacts occurred. Now, however, these storms occur at the same time of year, but the ocean has not yet frozen and the soil is no longer underlain by permafrost. The result is significant erosion of entire communities. The state and federal governments are picking up the tab for costly erosiion mitigation. And such spending will only increase as the consequences of global warming become more dire.
Global warming even has negative consequences to the oil industry in Alaska. Most oil exploration in Alaska is conducted during hte winter months when it is safe to drive on the tundra. That operating window used to be about seven months and now it is down to about three months. That equates to more costly or slower exploration. And those costs will be reflected in the fuel prices at the pump. So even those people in warmer climes will be negatively impacted by the consequences of global warming.
To dream that agriculture will become a dominant industry in Alaska avoids the facts of the nutrient-poor and rocky soil. To say that a wider range of outdoor pursuits will be available once the world has warmed is also foolish; the widest range is available when there are opportunities for both winter and summer activities. Removing the opportunities for participating in winter activities by removing the snow and ice certainly doesn't increase the diversity of opportunities.
When discussing aspects of global warming, both sides (naysayers and those who'd like to do something to diminish its impact) would be better served to restrict the conversation to factual and reasonable arguments. Hyperbole and fanciful arguments really don't have roles in enlightening discussion.
Alaskans are already feeling the consequences of global warming and they are by no means positive. Ken's expectations aaside, global warming has NOT been good for Alaska.
MACON COUNTY, N.C. -- Authorities said an Alabama woman whose body was found outside her locked SUV in a parking near a hiking trail died of hypothermia after being unable to reach her keys inside.
The body of Sandra Ordner, 47, of Daphne, Alabama was found on Jan. 31 hours after she had phoned home to tell her husband she was going hiking.
Sheriff Robert Holland of Macon County, North Carolina told the Press-Register in Mobile that it had been cold and raining in the hours before Ordner's body was found in the parking lot of the Whiteside Mountain Trail.
A funeral for the Atlanta native was held Wednesday in Norcross, Georgia.
Second Macon County Tragedy In Recent Weeks
Macon County was also the location where the skeletal remains of missing hiker John Bryant, 80, were found a week ago. The cause of his death has not yet been released.
John and Irene Bryant disappeared while hiking in the Pisgah National Forest in October. Irene Bryant's body was found in the forest in November after an extensive search. The location where John Bryants' remains were found was about a two-hour drive from that location.
Irene Bryant may have tried to fight off her killer. According to the autopsy report, she died from multiple blows to her head but also suffered a broken left hand and forearm.
Investigators said they believe that Gary Hilton killed the Bryants.
Hilton, a 61-year-old drifter, has admitted killing Atlanta-area hiker Meredith Emerson, 24, and decapitating her. He pleaded guilty to murder and was sentenced to life in prison last week.
GRAND CANYON, Ariz. -- The body of a man believed to have fallen off the edge of the Grand Canyon has been recovered from approximately 300 feet below the rim at an undeveloped view point on the South Rim.
National Park Rangers said they were trying to determine the man's hometown.
Rangers said they first noted what appeared to be an unattended vehicle in the Buggeln picnic area on Wednesday afternoon.
Investigators said they determined that the car was a rental and had recently been abandoned.
Climber clung for life before 80-foot fall in Superstition Mountains of Arizona
March 17 2008, 4:44 AM
Emily Decker reached out to grab her boyfriend as he tumbled down the jagged face of the Flatiron in the Superstition Mountains.
“He was about five feet above me and he slipped passed me. We touched hands,” she said.
“I watched him fall... I keep seeing the image in my head.”
John Wilkinson bounced off a ledge then landed flat on his face in a thicket of brittlebush 80 feet below. He lay still and Decker clung to the cliff face, sobbing, certain that he was dead.
But after a few moments, he started to move. Then, miraculously, the 19-year-old Texan rose to his feet, blood streaming from gashes on his face, arms and chest.
He pulled out a cell phone and called 911, though he doesn’t remember doing it, while Decker, 24, started to faint.
Wilkinson’s call Saturday afternoon alerted the Superstition Search and Rescue team and launched one of the most daring rescue efforts in the volunteer group’s history.
I read through the original Whitney Portal Store post today (April 4) and there is now quite a bit more information now, including some follow-up from a friend of the fallen climber. Serious injuries but from the last post in the thread, he is recovering.
The story in the Fresno Bee about a rescue on Mt. Diablo doesn't work:
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I went to the Bee's web site, tried search and expanded search and couldn't find it. I was interested as I've climbed Mt. Diablo several times, by the Monk's Ridge route (shhh, private property, the Diablo Ranch). Hiked from Walnut Creek BART station when I lived in San Francisco.
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