Mt Whitney Zone Forums General Discussion Stupid Hikers

Does Mt. Whitney get more than it's share of stupid hikers? No; plenty all over the Eastern Sierra. We see them on all
our heavily travelled trails.

Previous posts are correct in saying that education, more warning signs, safer trails are not going to prevent stupid, careless actions by individuals.

Arizona has been considering a "stupid hiker" law, aimed at people who fail to adequately prepare themselves before venturing into the Arizona deserts and mountains, and subsequently have to be rescued.
http://www.theinertia.com/mountain/arizona-proposes-a-stupid-hiker-law/

Sound like a good idea? What think we?

Some alpine countries in Europe require rescue insurance, in order to cover the cost of rescued, without which it can be very expensive to those rescued or to their families.

Then a question: how many rescued hikers and/or climbers to you think could be willing to pay the bill for their own rescue? In my previous SAR experience...no very many.

i thought I read some where that if your rescued on a trail in CA you must pay for cost of the rescue.

I remember reading on one of these boards that SAR deliberately does not charge for their services. They do not want people in real trouble avoiding asking for help due to fear of receiving a big bill. The cost of rescues is not the first consideration. Every time that a SAR crew goes out, they are putting their own lives at risk.

If there was a reliable way to distinguish between people who fell victim to bad circumstances versus people who went out unprepared, I would say bill the unprepared.

While it is true that individual SAR teams in California do not themselves charge for searches and/or rescues, the Sheriff of each County is responsible for covering those costs.

In California, a victim is never financially liable for their rescue, even if they are deemed negligent or reckless. In Inyo County the Sheriff covers all the costs, and the annual budget includes monies which, perhaps, may cover the Sheriff's costs for SAR activity.

National Parks, like SEKI and Yosemite, budget for rescue costs, but do not ask the victim to pay.

Outside of Inyo County, and if the victim lives in California, the Sheriff of their County of residence is billed to cover the costs.

If the victim lives outside of California, the Inyo Sheriff is responsible for the entire cost of their rescue/recovery.

Your local Sheriff's dept. administration can problem fill in the details for you.

Search and Rescue funding varies from State to State, depending on the laws of those States.

The costs of each SAR operation can vary widely, depending on the resources required. It can be a very simple out and back welfare check on the individual, or a full-blown, state wide call out of SAR teams, and aviation resources. The recent search and subsequent body recovery of John Lee was a case in point where multiple California SAR teams and government helicopters were used.

So, how do SAR teams support themselves financially? As I said above, the local Sheriffs try to budget something for the team, but beyond that each team relies heavily on donations. You can contact your nearest SAR team to discover how they support themselves. Support your local SAR team!

A couple of years ago a California Assembly bill was introduced that would have required the victim to pay, but Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed it. The text of the bill might be online somewhere.

I'm not sure if by saying "require" you're suggesting insurance is mandatory in Europe, if so I'm not aware of anywhere in the Alps where that's the case.

Not to say its not a good idea to be insured- plenty of areas may charge for rescue and as you say it can be very expensive.

I don't think the prospect of paying has any impact on the stupidity level - I see no differential in behaviour in the Italian valleys around Mt Blanc (charged for rescue) vs the French (free rescue). Nobody goes out expecting to be rescued, and if you've got insurance, you aren't paying for rescue anyway.

Edited to add - to put rescue insurance cost in context, its about £20-50/year for worldwide annual cover.

Yes, you are correct in that it might not be "mandatory", but certainly a good idea to have insurance the Alps. The laws vary from country to county. In France, the laws on this have fluctuated over the years. When I climbed in France and Switzerland we had insurance. Even if the rescue might be free, there will always be medical bills that might not be covered in the "free rescue".

But we are mostly concerned with laws and conditions in the U.S.

As we write, there is another search for an overdue person on Mt. Whitney. It never seems to let up, does it?

Is there a link to any info on the latest SAR?

Not at this time. Watch the Inyo Sheriff's Facebook page. There might be a report on a local radio station when information is released by the S.O.

You can get rescue coverage with your Spot or InReach subscription for $18/yr. Its not really "insurance" its more like a private rescue service. Here's how they word the "unprepared hiker clause" and some of the other exclusions:

Circumstances which could have reasonably been anticipated at the date the trip began e.g. forecast of adverse weather conditions
• Emergency caused by inadequate provision or training or competence
needed to complete the planned trip
• Cost incurred due to a pre existing or chronic condition or mental disorder of the member including self-harm or suicide attempt.
• Costs arising from any illegal use of a weapon
• Accidents arising from sky diving or sky surfing
• Accidents arising from hang gliding or paragliding
• Where any accident, injury or illness arises from the use of drugs or alcohol
• Costs covered by any other insurance policy of your own or;
• For any incident caused by a third party where costs can be recovered from that third party

In recent years, there were two groups of climbers that set out to summit Mt. Hood going directly into the teeth of well forecasted blizzards.