Cannot say it any other way. She is heroic.
Obey posted signs, turn off the GPS and turn on your brain when in the mountains or high desert and you will live longer.
A few years ago there was a guy from SF who tried to take an unplowed gravel road from I-5 to the coast in Oregon. He got stuck in the snow after he drove around a sign that said roads not plowed beyond this point. He died and damn near got his wife and kid killed too.
He did everything wrong getting there and after he got there but the morons in the bay area treated him like a hero too.
He defined stupid to a T and damn near got his wife and kid killed as well.
We live high in the mountains off of a forest service road several miles from the pavement and plowed roads in the winter. It has been freezing every night for weeks and we have had 4 snow storms in the last month.
I have a grader a front end loader and a High wheel D6 that I use to keep the roads open when we want to or have to get out of here. We drive 4X4 vehicles with snow tires and have chains for all wheels.
Our home can be off the grid at the flip of a switch and everything still works as it did when we had commercial power. We heat with two large wood stoves and use the propane central heating system as a backup. We are safe and comfortable because we are knowledgeable and prepared for the snow and cold in the winters here.
That said, I would no more go wandering around Chicago, Oakland, or south central LA without some local knowledge with me and an armored vehicle. I have no business in any of these places alone with my family being stupid/ignorant of the local threats and risks. I damn well would not drive around a sign that says don't go here.
I'm glad this lady and her family lived but she was stupid to put herself and her family in that situation to begin with.
She is not a hero, she is a very lucky stupid moron.
OK, She saved her ass after getting it wrapped up in 30 hours of snow.
Go to North Dakota, get your ass stuck in the snow, hike out for thirty miles, and become a hero.
My ass.
“Cannot say it any other way. She is heroic.”
Yep. She’s also a bit daft.
1) Never go on “vacation” in remote areas in winter unless you are truly prepared.
2) Never go into a remote area over holidays when people tend to stay home (e.g. Christmas time). If something goes wrong you’re less likely to get helped because you’ll be less likely to run into people by chance because they were smart enough to stay home with their families.
If a hero causes other people to put themselves in danger unnecessarily then yes she is a hero. That is not to mention the expense, time, energy and wear and tear on machinery and the fact that those costs are usually carried by the volunteer searchers themselves.
I have been on several SAR events for idiots just like this woman. We dropped everything and went on the following SAR for someone that violated every rule of back country travel with very young children involved. That search was 135 miles from my place in the dead of Winter.
http://www.ktvn.com/story/24170526/missing-pershing-co-family-found-alive-in-good-condition
We spent a long day searching 20 miles from where they were found because they didn’t go where they told their contacts they were headed too. Completely unacceptable to put young kids in that kind of danger.