Rescue in the Grand Canyon: The Epic Hike that Nearly Killed Dan Becker (Being Wise Enough to Know When to Make Camp)
BY Herschel Smith1 year, 9 months ago
This is a captivating tale, and a true one, told by the apparent leader of the group. There are a number of good lessons in it, most or all of which we’ve discussed before in painful detail. But let’s cover them again for the sake of education.
When the party crossed into the climb of the North Rim, I knew that one or both of them were going to suffer from Rhabdomylosis. I knew that without being told, without having to watch the rest of the video (I did watch the rest of it to confirm by thoughts), and without reading the video description. I knew it with certainty.
Do you recall journalist Sebastian Junger’s hard work at Restrepo? The soldiers would come back smelling of ammonia. It was in their sweat, and it was indicative of hydration and kidney problems. More to the point, hydration is only one part of the story.
In Rhabdomylosis, the body no longer has energy stores to power the physical exertion and must burn muscle to propel itself. The kidneys then have to remove that protein from the system. This will cause kidney failure if not addressed quickly.
One method to address it is hydration. The most important method is to stop the exertion. The leader of the group wasn’t very wise. He continued the climb forward for several reasons, one legitimate, and one not. The only legitimate reason to have continued the climb was that rescue would have been nearly impossible if they didn’t reach the rim. The irony is that the only reason this is a legitimate concern is because they didn’t stop when they should have, and this brings up the illegitimate reason to have continued: panic. He even says so in the video. They panicked.
We’ve discussed this before. Panic is a killer in the bush. It’s deadly. The best option would have been to suspect what was about to happen, and find a place to make camp, get Mr. Becker warm, hydrate him, and get him food energy and rest. As it was, they pushed until he vomited, only dehydrating him more.
Sure enough, according to the medical professionals, Mr. Becker was suffering from Rhabdomylosis. He said in the video that this was a “rare” occurrence. That’s not true. It’s not rare among people who undergo extreme physical exertion. It also may happen to people whose body has undergone extreme exertion for reasons other than climbing from rim to rim in the Grand Canyon. I’m imagining a “fictitious” conversion between a certain NP and a patient: “How long have you been on this meth bender?” “Oh, three days.” “Well congratulations, you’re now in Rhabdo and I need to push fluids to try to save your kidneys.”
I also don’t believe that this necessarily happens to the weaker among a group. It may happen just because it happens, for whatever reason: genetics, what a person ate several days ago, whether a person hydrated enough before the exertion, or for no particular reason that can be pinpointed.
The point is that a leader needs to be wise enough to recognize that this is a possibility and stop before it happens. Waiting until it happens is too late.
Make the decision early enough to prevent injury and death. Find a decent place to camp for the night. Find firewood, and if there is no firewood, get people inside tents or a tarp and start isobutane stoves. If there is no tent or tarp, know how to fabricate a shelter in the bush, or some sort of debris hut. Find a source of hydration, and if you didn’t carry enough water with you, make sure you brought filtration. Get food energy into your body. Rest. But most of all, just stop the physical exertion. That’s imperative if you want to survive. One warning sign is that your piss will be colored brown, but if it’s gone that far, you’re probably too late. Stop before that happens.
If you don’t, it may be deadly.
On March 6, 2023 at 5:28 am, wv.citybilly said:
In October 1980, I hiked down, across, and then out the north rim of the Grand Canyon with a full pack. 1 day down, 1 day across, 1 day out. There was fresh snow on the north rim that time of year, and that side of the park was generally closed until Spring.
I hitched a ride with a park ranger to an intersection with a little store, where I made camp, and the next morning hitch-hiked into Utah with an Italian family visiting America.
One estimate is, the north rim is like climbing the stairs of the Empire State Building four times, but I’d say the Empire State Building would be the pick for easy walking. As outstanding scenery as you could ever witness, and it’s said, every type of ecosystem from Mexico to Canada can be found on the north rim trail. An exaggeration, but you get the point for the terrain.
They’ve probably ruined the place since I’ve been there, par for the course with the humans, so I’ll keep my memories intact of when I slept with wild Indians, encountered wolves, ate cactus fruit, and drank from streams.
On March 6, 2023 at 7:31 am, jrg said:
So many people leave their vehicle on a morning hike with little more than a plastic water bottle. I guess they think they can’t be the person that gets turned around in the backcountry. Never have wandered just a bit off the trail and lose it completely.
When I leave the truck, I have at least a 1 quart canteen (more often a slung 2 quart USGI bladder) just in case. I guess in my old age, an old dog CAN learn a few new tricks. Keeping hydrated being one of them. If you are carrying a small pack, the USGI Aviators pint bottle is worth it too. And the truck has at least a pair of 2 litre soft drink bottles filled with fresh H2O. South Texas is nothing to sneeze at, especially during the summer.
On March 6, 2023 at 8:50 am, PGF said:
It’s a dangerous time of year again for the inexperienced and ill-equipped. Early spring can be deceptive. Winter storms can come up quickly, and several nice days in a row can relax the mindset, but temperatures can plunge at night. Be careful out there.
On March 6, 2023 at 10:38 am, Steve Parker, M.D. said:
As a hospitalist, I’ve treated hundreds of cases of rhabdomyolysis not related to crush injuries. What I don’t understand here is the chest pain. The pain of rhabdo is nearly always in the muscles that have been over-exerted. In this case, it would be the lower limb muscles. The only way I can tie in the chest is with the heavy use of trekking poles. Apparently heart attack was ruled out, and as the patient sat in the outgoing truck, he didn’t look like someone with a pneumothorax.
Thanks for the interesting video.
—Steve
On March 6, 2023 at 10:55 am, Herschel Smith said:
@Steve,
Good question. I had assumed that the chest pain was likely due to panic for an extended period of time and thus adrenaline. But of course I don’t really know.
They didn’t do him any favors by trying to inform him of the difficulty of rescue while laying in his tent puking. And then telling him to relax.