September 18, 2019

"'I’m thinking, Only way I’m going to get rescued is self rescue... I knew where I was located there was no way they were going to be able to find me."

"In what one doctor has called an 'incredible story,' [Neil] Parker crawled for two days, hauling his broken leg [and using his broken wrist] over about two miles of rugged terrain, before he was spotted Tuesday local time by a rescue helicopter and airlifted to a nearby hospital. 'I’ve never heard of any such survival effort with two broken limbs,' Nicola Ward, an orthopedic surgeon who is treating Parker at Princess Alexandra Hospital in Queensland, said.... Without a personal locator beacon, Parker said his cellphone was his only means of contacting someone for help. But as he put away the phone after checking for service, he accidentally dropped it into the creek. That’s when Parker decided that he had to move if he was going to be found...."

From "A hiker’s leg ‘clean snapped in half.’ He crawled for two days to survive" (WaPo).

39 comments:

rehajm said...

Touching the Void

You get in trouble trying to save your injured climbing partner and have to make the decision to cut the rope- killing your partner in order to save yourself.

Then your partner crawls into camp three days later. Awkward...

Kevin said...

If only the government could know where all citizens were at all times, there would be no need for such self-sacrifices.

In the richest country in the world no one should fall and be left unable to get up!

Kevin said...

Elizabeth Warren has a plan for this!

Sally327 said...

I'd like to believe I'd have the fortitude and faith to do the same but I'm not sure, maybe no one can be until faced with something like this. Kind of a "get busy living or get busy dying" sort of thing. You have to decide.

rhhardin said...

I always carry a self-help book.

MadisonMan said...

Don't go hiking alone is my takeaway from that article.

whitney said...

Rehajm recommends Touching the Void.

I second

Krumhorn said...

Could it be that we’ve discovered something that wasn’t the fault of OrangeManBad?

- Krumhorn

Fernandinande said...

Always carry one gallon of water and a spare leg.

Wince said...

...crawled for two days, hauling his broken leg [and using his broken wrist] over about two miles of rugged terrain...

Hell, I do that just to vote for Trump in 2020.

campy said...

A woman would have done it backwards and in high heels.

Bill Peschel said...

Is this another reason not to travel?

David Begley said...

Guy in Pender, Nebraska had to cut off his own foot with a pocket knife and then drag himself across a farm field to his house to get his cell phone.

Patrick said...

Don't hike alone, especially in difficult or unfamiliar terrain. Always leave a plan so someone not on your trip knows where you are going and when you will return.

This guy is tough, but made a fundamental mistake. Glad he made it out.

Ann Althouse said...

I'm a big fan of "Touching the Void." One of my all-time favorite movies. I even love the TV show that's a lesser version of it: "I Shouldn't Be Alive."

Ann Althouse said...

"Don't hike alone" is awfully severe. You could also say don't be anywhere alone. Don't live alone. Don't go to the bathroom alone....

Patrick said...

Looks like the ever sensible Madison Man beat me to the punch.

jaydub said...

Some people have a high tolerance for pain, or maybe a disconnect in the wiring to the brain that acts to numb the pain. I'm one of them, and the two times in my life I can remember when I was told I should have been in great pain (once in Vietnam, and more recently when I had a severely broken ankle) I felt no more pain than that of a toothache. I suspect this particular person has a similar pain tolerance. That said, I doubt I could have crawled two miles over rough terrain for two days with either of my injuries, pain or not.

bagoh20 said...

Never go into the internet alone.

bagoh20 said...

If this happened to me, at the end of day two, I'd suddenly realize I went the wrong direction.

Fernandinande said...

The Eddie Bean Goose Liver Catalog* used to feature a survival whistle with a compartment to hold matches and a joint so you could smoke and play a jaunty tune while waiting to die.

*If it's not that catalog, it's close enough. I had 'em all.

rhhardin said...

Live expectancy already takes into account hiking alone.

Fernandinande said...

The Eddie Bean Goose Liver catalog is in the Nov 1973 National Lampoon.

Original Mike said...

"Don't go hiking alone is my takeaway from that article."

That forgoes 90% of what I go hiking for.

traditionalguy said...

Sounds like an ad for the "help me I fell and cannot get up" services. They sell a button on a necklace for $300 a year, and they are water proof because they have to work in the shower.

Dust Bunny Queen said...

At least he didn't have to amputate his own arm to be able to survive

That would require some severe fortitude. Good for this guy for being able to help himself to live.

Hiking/climbing 'in remote areas' alone is a foolish thing to do. We aren't talking about strolling along a known trail. Climbing mountains alone....ditto. Even if you do let people know the general area that you are going, it can be impossible to find you when you are incapacitated.

At least...take a dog. Lassie can go for help.

Birches said...

I agree with the guy. It seems easier dying by shear exhaustion than lying there waiting to die.

I probably wouldn't have made it out alive, but I wouldn't have been still either.

Big Mike said...

"Don't hike alone" is awfully severe.

Dying alone is pretty severe, too. But some people have their lives super-glued to their spines and they don’t give up easily.

Maillard Reactionary said...

DBQ: I thought of Aron Ralston right away too. Not everybody would have gotten out of that one alive.

And after he cuts his arm off-- he rappels down 60 feet one-handed!

I highly recommend his book "Between a Rock and a Hard Place".

It's amazing what one can do when there's no alternative.

Yancey Ward said...

When the chips are down, you can accomplish things you would never believe possible otherwise. The will to live is incredibly powerful

Yancey Ward said...

Never have sex alone.

Ignorance is Bliss said...

Yancey Ward said...
Never have sex alone.

That forgoes 90% of my opportunities to have sex.

Okay, 99%

+/- 2%

Yancey Ward said...

I i B,

Ok, but it is risky!

Rusty said...

Yancey Ward said...
"Never have sex alone."



Damn it!

Rusty said...



Blogger Patrick said...
"Don't hike alone, especially in difficult or unfamiliar terrain. Always leave a plan so someone not on your trip knows where you are going and when you will return."

Where's the fun in that?

SF said...

Hugh Glass -- left for dead with a broken leg and other injuries 200 miles from the nearest American settlement. Crawled (and eventually floated) there.

rcocean said...

I loved Touching the Void. The best story is the guy who chopped off his hand and then walked to safety. I think he was rock climbing in Utah. Now that's guts. As for this guy, he dropped his cell phone in the creek. So, 10 points for courage. 1 point for brains.

rcocean said...

OK, just read the comments. which I should have done before i posted. but great minds think alike.

Patrick said...

Don't hike alone" is awfully severe"

There is a difference between taking a walk and a hike.