I’ve been re-reading Ty Gagne’s superb book “Where You’ll Find Me: Risk, Decisions, and the Last Climb of Kate Matrosova,” about the 2015 death on Mt. Adams. I strongly recommend you read it – even if you have no intention of ever tackling a high mountain in winter. It’s a great story just for the characters and the narrative, and will force you to think about your own decision-making in potentially risky situations.
When people make decisions that result in their own deaths or, worse yet, put rescuer’s lives at risk, it’s easy for those of us who weren’t there to judge them harshly. I’m certainly guilty of it. My own first reaction when I heard of Matrosova’s death was brutal: “Only an (expletive deleted) idiot heads out alone onto the Presidentials when it’s 35 below zero and the wind is gusting over 100 mph.” You can’t get much more judgmental than that. The implication in my judgment is “I would never be that stupid.” But I might be.
Gagne, on the other hand, has taken a more nuanced view, one we can actually learn from. He recognizes that we all take risks every single day and he takes great pains to avoid judging Matrosova as much as possible (given the terrible outcome).
Instead he dispassionately looks at her personality, past experiences and goals, and the reasoning that could have led Matrosova to make the choices she did. It’s fascinating to set aside judgment and put yourself in her place.
Let’s face it, we all make mistakes in judgment. Most of us don’t die as the immediate result. Ultimately, it was her decision to push on into incredibly bad weather conditions. That’s something to keep in mind if you intend to stay active outdoors this winter.
Weather is a fact of life if you love to play outdoors. Rain, lightning, snow, high winds, heat, drought can all affect the outcome of any adventure you have planned. Sometimes, rough weather adds a little fun challenge; other times, it can kill you.
With today’s 24/7 weather reporting available in your pocket, you usually have some warning that bad weather is headed your way. But there’s always uncertainty.
My benchmark for this is the Halloween snowstorm of 2011. My buddy David and I were camped out for the start of New Hampshire’s deer season. The forecast 12 hours before the storm started was for a dusting to a couple of inches of snow, and we were looking forward to it. Just as the snow started, however, the forecast suddenly changed to eight inches of snow. We decided to get out before the storm really hit.
As it turns out, the forecasters got the “8-inches” right, but they missed being accurate by 20 or 30 inches. When we got back to our campsite (on snowshoes) to retrieve our gear, we measured 28 inches of heavy, wet, snow. That was more than 24 hours after the storm ended. It was probably at least three feet deep before it settled.
We were prepared for harsh weather and would have been fine if we’d stayed in camp, but my car wouldn’t have moved for awhile. I don’t even like to think about how uncomfortable we’d have been if we hadn’t been fully prepared.
As I write this, I’m just back from two nights in that same campsite. Our original plan had been to camp four nights, but we decided to wait out the heavy rain before going into camp. As it was, we still spent the first night listening to rain hitting the tent and high winds tearing at the trees. The second night was clear and beautiful. We pulled out the next afternoon to avoid more heavy rain forecast for the following morning. Yes, there was some risk of a tree falling on us in the high winds, but we had assessed the risk and judged it acceptable. That decision could have killed us, but it didn’t.
As noted, it is still possible to get caught out in a bad storm you had no idea was coming. If the weather suddenly turns on you, what do you do?
The first step is clearly and carefully assess your situation. Where are you? Can you make a run for civilization, or should you hunker down and stay put? Think clearly: you may want to get home, but can you? Sometimes, it’s more dangerous to make a run for it than to shelter in place. The weather doesn’t care what your plans were.
Your next step is to take stock of your resources. If you are out backpacking with a tent, sleeping bag, stove and food, that’s very different from being out for a dayhike with a jacket and a water bottle.
It’s not a bad idea, as you are dayhiking, to make a habit of looking for spots where you could shelter if you absolutely had to. After awhile, it becomes a habit; you see a fallen tree with a space beneath, a crevice beneath a boulder, or a dense stand of small spruces and think: “I could use that as emergency shelter.”
If you have shelter with you, you obviously have a better chance of weathering any crisis more comfortably. If your camp is already set, take a good hard look around for potential dangers from wind, rain, lightning, falling rocks, avalanching snow, whatever. It may not be fun to move your camp as the wind picks up and the rain or snow starts to fall, but you might need to for safety.
Take a good look around before you set up any camp. Look for any potential hazards: lightning strikes, flash floods, falling trees or limbs, etc. Again, if you think this way and do it enough, it becomes almost second nature to avoid the potential hazards you can see if you look for them.
The weather can be unpredictable; your ability to make good choices and increase your chances to safely ride out a storm shouldn’t be.
(Tim Jones can be reached at timjones@easternslopes.com.)