So … if he could receive a call … couldn’t he make a call to someone he knows?
I remember reading about this. He was actually lost, in that he strayed from his trail and didn’t immediately know how to return.
Rescuers were alerted because a family member had reported him missing after he didn’t arrive home on time.
As the story goes, to the best of my recollection, the “lost” individual went for a hike and said they would be back before sundown. When they got lost, they obviously missed that deadline. They were biding their time in the forest until daybreak to try to find the trail to get back because it was too dark to look for it. So while he was “lost” it was mainly because the sun had gone down. He didn’t feel like he was in any danger, and wasn’t at any risk of immediately being harmed or killed; AFAIK they were reasonably familiar with that forest and they were more than capable of surviving in those conditions; so he had no motivation to seek help.
TL;DR: guy didn’t feel like he needed help.
I get that he didn’t feel like he needed help. But he told his family he’d be back before sundown so wouldn’t the thought to call or even text your family to let them know you’re ok cross your mind? That’s the part that seems strange to me.
Article about it: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/hiker-lost-24-hours-ignored-rescuers-calls-because-they-didn-n1282381
What’s more likely is that in his panic he wasn’t thinking quite straight. It’s very common for people to make decisions that seem silly in retrospect in situations like this.
He was probably afraid to call for help due to the insane prices the search and rescue folks charge. Might have wanted to wait another day or two to be sure he was really lost before calling for help.
due to the insane prices the search and rescue folks charge
Is this a joke or is this actually a thing in the US?
It’s a U.S. thing! Yay! You can buy insurance for it if you do a lot of backpacking but that’s rare. I believe it’s in the five figures for a rescue. But apparently occasionally it can be free if you’re lucky enough to get rescued by the one agency whose name I forget.
A childhood friend of mine had to sign a waiver in New Zealand because her and her team were climbing down some canyon notoriously hard to get to except by rescue helicopter. She got stuck, and the rest of the team went to go get help. She paid $58,000 in 1990s money for the rescue. So it’s not just the US.
It depends on the state and payment is more likely required if local officials deem you negligent or if youʼre a part of a common pattern in that location (e.g. Floridians visiting southern Utah every winter and getting themselves stuck in cliffs).
States with laws allowing search and rescuers to charge for rescuing them, according to this 2021-10-06 New York Times article titled “You Got Lost and Had to Be Rescued. Should You Pay?”:
- Hawaii
- Idaho
- Maine
- New Hampshire
- Oregon
- South Dakota
- Vermont
God help you if your rescuers call you an air ambulance, though.
In all fairness. The USA has some fucking gnarly terrain and is sparsely populated.
Sending out a chopper team to get you off a cliff face isn’t cheap and is completely self inflicted, so I kinda get why they charge you for that.
Getting cancer on the other hand, shouldn’t bankrupt you.
