"Spot" or not, PLB works for hiker in Alaska

[BlueFly]

"A distress call from a backcountry hiker in northern Alaska led to a long distance rescue over the weekend, spanning more than 3,000 miles, the Alaska State Troopers reported Saturday.

It began when a personal locator beacon control center in Texas received a call for help Friday from a transmitter registered to an Australian named David Roberts. According to the GPS signal, Roberts was in an isolated area of the Brooks Range."

Sounds like the guy may have been a little embarrassed by the rescue, or perhaps just gave a face-saving explanation for his mayday. Better safe than sorry, though.

More here...

 

[Co-opski]

More on this from the local news.

http://newsminer.com/news/2008/dec/03/brooks-range-hiker-rebuked-rescue/

“It felt like he was being rewarded for stupidity,” Klaes said on Monday, three days after Roberts was rescued by helicopter from an isolated area in the Brooks Range by the Alaska Air National Guard. “He got a free hotel room with a Jacuzzi tub, free meals, a free rescue.

 

[cowboy4x4]

they should have taken back their radio when he said he was ok and then left him there $60,000.00 wasted that we have to pay for, what a jerk.

 

[grahamfitter]

If one has a PLB or a SPOT and needs to be rescued, who pays for the rescue?

Cheers,
Graham

 

[DH2002]

They really need to start charging people for BS rescues legitimet rescues no problem but this is crap

 

[Tucson T4R]

If one has a PLB or a SPOT and needs to be rescued, who pays for the rescue?

Cheers,
Graham

In the US at least, unless there are extenuating circumstances, rescue costs are normal covered by the search and rescue teams providing the service.

I have not heard of people being billed for the cost of rescue in the US. I have no idea how that is managed outside the US. Based on the insurance option, I assume there are many areas where the cost for a rescue would fall on the party being rescued.

 

[ntsqd]

I have heard & read of it (billing the party rescued) being threatened. Whether it was followed through with or not I do not know.

 

[Co-opski]

In the US at least, unless there are extenuating circumstances, rescue costs are normal covered by the search and rescue teams providing the service.

I have not heard of people being billed for the cost of rescue in the US. I have no idea how that is managed outside the US. Based on the insurance option, I assume there are many areas where the cost for a rescue would fall on the party being rescued.

I agree with the system as we have it. I would rather have SAR organizations funded better than they are and their services free to those in need.

The American Alpine Club offers a global rescue service (insurance?).

Members receive:
Global Rescue Service
The American Alpine Journal
Accidents in North American Mountaineering
Hut discounts

 

[Clark White]

I can't talk about any specific SAR cases, but you would probably be disgusted by the number of false or stupid SAR cases we get. Far more often then not we are sent out to look for some boater who got drunk, a sailor who didn't check the weather and sailed straight into a hurricane, or some teenagers setting off flairs on the beach in place of fireworks. Rarely do we fly for someone who has the proper equipment, stayed sober, and just got unlucky.

However, don't take my disgust too literally. The few good SAR cases we get are well worth the drunks and kids, and I would rather fly on any number of needless SAR's then guess wrong and not fly on a good one.

Clark

 

[Co-opski]

Long Alaska day too much for campers from Outside

By JAMES HALPIN
jhalpin@adn.com

Published: July 8th, 2009 07:03 PM
Last Modified: July 9th, 2009 11:23 AM

The midnight twilight turned out to be too much for a couple of out-of-state visitors who wanted to be rescued after spending a single night in the Bush this month, Alaska State Troopers said Wednesday.

Troopers say they got a report of an emergency locator beacon registered to Washington, D.C., resident William Calomiris, 27, that was activated near Pungokepuk Lake, 20 miles northeast of Twin Hills, about 8:30 p.m. July 1. An air taxi service had dropped him and Adam Grunstra, also 27, of Bethesda, Md., off at the lake on June 30 for a seven-day stay, troopers said.

Troopers alerted the Alaska Air National Guard, the U.S. Coast Guard and then diverted their own Dillingham-based floatplane that was in the area to head to the scene and check things out.

The floatplane touched down about 10:30 p.m. to find there was no emergency. A day in the wilds had just taken its toll and the men were ready to leave, troopers said.

"Calomiris and Grunstra claimed that they had been sunburned," troopers wrote in a dispatch. "They were unprepared to deal with the long day length and any further exposure to the sun. They had activated the beacon in an effort to get extracted ahead of schedule."

Troopers passed a message to the air taxi service in Dillingham that the men were requesting an early departure and told them to wait at the pickup point, where they were recovered the next day, troopers said.

From ADN http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/interior/story/858433.html Edited to add a rental Sat. phone would have been nice.

 

[CanuckMariner/Nomad]

With a SPOT, if you purchase the insurance ($7.95/yr, I think) most costs are covered!

BTW I have heard that in Kanukistan, if you do not register with local Forestry or Wardens or do not have a PLB or SPOT with appropriate insurance, you get the bill for the helicopter or planes used and perhaps for other equipment as well. Just like if you call for an ambulance and your insurance doesn't cover it, you get the bill and it is a big one!