[Walkingfeather]

As a member of a search and rescue team can I just say again.... DO NOT GO OUT ALONE. I have recovered so many entire bodies that were attatched to arms like these. The wilderness " I Vant to be alone" icon is what kills people. Fine don't listen to me but do your family a favor... tell them where you are going and when you think you will be back, that way atleast we can recover your body mostly intact. Believe me 24 hours dead in the outdoors after the field mice eat your eyes out and the tips of your fingers.... well there will be no open casket... GOT IT!

[tracer]

".... well there will be no open casket..."

Oh, I don't know about that.......

[tracer]

I heard that it took a lot of elbow grease to recover the limb.....

[colorado tanker]

Not only did he go out alone, he didn't tell anyone where he was going. The only way they narrowed the search was to track him to the park with charge receipts and then cruise the parking lots for his car.

Those slant canyons are especially dangerous because a thunderstorm a few miles away can flood a canyon in a real hurry.

[Romulus]

As a member of a search and rescue team can I just say again.... DO NOT GO OUT ALONE.

Or at least understand the risks when you do. As repeatedly noted, the man left no trip plan with friends awating his safe return. His folly was compounded by the seasonal timing: after winter's freezing, boulders are particularly unstable. This same trip would have been far safer four months from now. I've traveled alone over glaciers and morraines in the Swiss Alps, but it was in late summer, when most everything that wants to fall or tip over has already done so. and yes, it was along well-established routes, where if injured I could have reasonable confidence of being found in less than 24 hours.