Schoolgirls "Lost" in Snowys

[Lindsay]

While second guessing someone elses actions in a potentially hazardous situation is often pointless, I can't help but think, given the information available, that this party was a smidgen hasty in activating their distress beacon. http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009 ... 765913.htm It seems all they needed was a map reading lesson...

[tasadam]

Disoriented or lost?
Either way, panicked.
Fair enough.

[Ent]

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[Nuts]

Did they activate the beacon to ask directions? Is that OK? These things have potential to summon a taxi ride back from the brink for all...The sky's get busier...Seems the 'right thing to do' was obviously not to have been there in the first place..

[Ent]

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[johnw]

Unfortunately D of E groups have featured before in SAR incidents (at least one with a tragic outcome). That's not a criticism of the scheme, as I think it's a great idea, but I think they have come under fire previously for poor leader/mentor training.

Without knowing more detail it looks like they had two teachers with them? I hope they weren't lost at Blue Lake itself. You only need to walk along the (paved) track, just uphill from it, to Charlotte Pass about 5km away .

[Lindsay]

If they were outside their comfort zone then it may have been the best thing to do. Still, the fact that the weather was good, no one was injured, they were not overdue and once located they were able to continue on with the walk does suggest the group leaders were not experienced enough to be leading such an expedition in the first place. As this was a Duke of Edinburgh award activity that seems a little surprising.

[Ent]

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[Julafreak]

erm.. well, better safe than sorry?

[geoskid]

Thats a pretty poor article - just a space filler.
Not enough information to draw any conclusions - more importantly, nothing to be learnt by readers. Just raises more
questions.
A bit like this post

[Nuts]

Perhaps except that incidents are becomming so common that only the fatalities get the reporting $

http://www.summitsun.com.au/news/local/ ... 01584.aspx

[geoskid]

That article mentions that the schoolgirls were in fog, which explains the disorientation. Don't know what can be done about Scouts not following their own motto.
Both cases highlight the need for an all in one device (PLB, GPS and communication). In both cases, they may not have wanted to bring in the S&R, but if that is all the device can do, they don't have any choice.
By choice, I mean that they felt they needed help, yes, but not necessarily full on S&R.

[climberman]

Perhaps except that incidents are becomming so common that only the fatalities get the reporting $

http://www.summitsun.com.au/news/local/ ... 01584.aspx

Nuts - I've done that ride. It's a solid 60k's of montane - subalpine riding south from Dead Horse Gap to the Pinch River, and travels between 1340 asl at DHG up to around 1580asl then to 1200 asl above the Pinch River (at the top of the 9 Mile Pinch Fire Trail). The great thing there is that it drops from 1200 to 200 asl over about 9 k's, from the range to the confluence of the Pinch and Snowy Rivers.

It's wild and remote country - when I did it with mates we were all riding lots, mainly enduro and long XC both events and recreationally, and it was 5 hours ride time over an 8 hour day for us. Easy for a group to get slowed, lost and demoralised on. We had one set of busted ribs and I still wear the scars and nutted shoulder from a good off. This route also taught me a good lesson in anticipating the experience of others - I sent a mate and his gf down there as a recommendation. They really weren't prepared for long XC MTB and ended up having the coppers searching for them when they didn't make their return time and place. Mechanicals saw them walking down the Pinch in the dark, which would have been very average.

An escorted group like scouts or DoE has a different set of care and responsibilities than a rec group of like-minded mates - I think they did the right thing in pulling the button. But the wrong thing in terms of gear preparation - on a ride like that a spare set of thermals and a rain jacket go in the bag, no questions. It's a long way from anywhere if you gotta walk out.

That said, if you can convince someone to shuttle you back to Jindy / DHG, and have some good XC under your belt, it is my favourite one-dayer MTB ride, ever. Really good.

[Drifting]

You'd think GPS and the know-how to use it would be a requisite to guiding a trip like that....