The Death Valley Germans

[Kevin Crisp]

What apparently happened to them, which happens frequently, is that they make a decision other than turning back to the known, thinking there is a better/easier way. Yes, it was a long way back to the cabin, but people visit there. I have to say the amount of water the writer was concerned about at the temperatures he was describing was an eye opener for me.

[tgtaylor]

The way I use a compass is to first plot my path from beginning to end and shoot a straight line azimuth of that path. Then I walk to the first landmark visible on that azimuth and then to the second...etc. If, along the way, I enter a canopy or other scenario that I have to go around losing sight of the landmark, I carefully note the direction and distance that I traveled off the azimuth and return to the original line and continue. It won't be perfect of course but you'll be close enough. If you're in a white out such as a blizzard and have to travel, following that azimuth is your only choice.

Thomas

[Filmnut]

Thank you for posting, quite a long and sad story.
Here in Canada, we have had kind of the opposite happen, where folks, sometimes tourists, sometimes not, get stuck in the COLD wilderness, some have died, or have needed rescue. I have travelled some of the North backcountry here, and it is similar, the vastness, the extreme temps, the remoteness are all unforgiving mistresses and will often confuse and trap some. Even experieneced folks often run into troubles.
Keith

[Jmarmck]

The same thing happens in the Mammoth Lakes area. People go cross country skiing, get lost or incapacitated in some way. They often are not found till summer, if at all. There are also the pilots that attempt to fly over the Sierra Nevada in a winter storm. Those that do not make it are more easily found because of the wreckage, but till not till summer.

[Drew Wiley]

I remember one year when a plane disappeared in the Mammoth area and all kinds of amateur pilots from the Central Valley volunteered to help search for it.
Eleven of them were lost! Unless you've got a twin engine Otter, the downdrafts around those high peaks are no place for a private plane. I found the remains of the original lost plane the next summer after the thaw. In the strangest case, a plane actually cleared a summit and nose-dived straight down a cliff face into deep snowdrifts. After the thaw, the plane was still perfectly intact, with its nose buried in a meadow like a cross-shaped sculpture. Don't know if the people died on impact, suffocated, or froze to death. Their bodies were recovered early summer. My dad flew in a private plane about once a week; but they always flew completely around the range, never ever over it.

[John Kasaian]

I remember one year when a plane disappeared in the Mammoth area and all kinds of amateur pilots from the Central Valley volunteered to help search for it.
Eleven of them were lost! Unless you've got a twin engine Otter, the downdrafts around those high peaks are no place for a private plane. I found the remains of the original lost plane the next summer after the thaw. In the strangest case, a plane actually cleared a summit and nose-dived straight down a cliff face into deep snowdrifts. After the thaw, the plane was still perfectly intact, with its nose buried in a meadow like a cross-shaped sculpture. Don't know if the people died on impact, suffocated, or froze to death. Their bodies were recovered early summer. My dad flew in a private plane about once a week; but they always flew completely around the range, never ever over it.

I've flown a Super Cub all over the Sierra.
Elevation is your friend and the box canyons, down drafts, lenticulars, density altitude, towering cumulus and rotor clouds are not.
A fighter jock from NAS Lemoore got stuck in one of the Flying Club Cessnas in rotor cloud. He survived but the Cessna's rivets were all stressed---the Cessna's airframe had to be junked.
The guys who fly those fire retardant bombers are courageous.

[CantikFotos]

Jerry Pournelle's Death Valley adventure still gives me the shivers.......

http://www.jerrypournelle.com/chaosr...athvalley.html

[tgtaylor]

How to spot the North Star (Polaris) should be mandatory education for those living in the northern hemisphere and the Southern Cross for those in the southern hemisphere.

Thomas

[toyotadesigner]

Thank you for the link to this very interesting report/documentation.

[toyotadesigner]

Thank you for the link to this very interesting report/documentation.