For the ropes he used on top for “widow makers,” since he didn’t cut the rope and attach each piece to the trees (he just wrapped it around repeatedly), one falling tree with enough force to break a single strand of the rope would cause the rest to fail since the parts are all connected. For more protection, cut the rope and attach pieces to trees. He may as well have just attached a single strand except for the force of friction on the trees for the wraps.
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There is simple no way to summarize their findings. I intend to print this out for reference later.
I ran across this a little while back and wanted to embed it. It’s the only way to keep from leaving your rope behind.
I’ve rappelled before and may do so again, but I think I’d want to practice this before trusting it with heights greater than a few feet. If you want to see more, this video also explains it.
Five men exploring a cave in southwest Virginia were trapped inside, and authorities are working to get them out safely, according to Billy Chrimes, search and rescue coordinator for the Virginia Department of Emergency Management.
Six men entered the cave in Cleveland, Virginia, on Friday around 7 p.m. and planned to spend an extended amount of time exploring it, he said.
One of those men emerged from the cave, known as Cyclops Cave, on Sunday morning around 2 a.m. and told authorities the others were having difficulty getting out, Chrimes said Sunday.
That man, who is 22, said the other men were exhausted and were starting to have problems with hypothermia, according to Chrimes. The men are not lost and aren’t too far into the cave.
The five trapped men are between the ages of 34 and 59, according to Emergency Management Coordinator for Russell County Jess Powers. Powers said the group was planning to camp in the cave until Sunday, but a heavy downpour Saturday night made conditions muddy and wet and likely contributed to their difficulties.
One of the men was rescued on Sunday afternoon and is being assessed by a local volunteer rescue squad, Powers said. The rescue took much longer than anticipated, Powers said, and the rescue teams have gone back inside to help the other four men.
The cave explorers did not have a lot of extra food or water, and Chrimes said the temperature underground is in the 50s. While that is comfortable under normal circumstances, it can cause problems with hypothermia when you’re not active and moving.
That has nothing to do with it. Caves are confined spaces, and as I’ve explained before, I don’t go spelunking.
But here is the mistake they made. There are four different kinds of heat transfer: convective, conductive, radiant and evaporative.
The cave walls were rock, and were a heat sink. Their bodies were radiating heat to the walls of the cave totally apart from convective, conductive or evaporative heat transfer. They suffered hypothermia NOT because of the 50 degree F air temperature, but because of the temperature of the cave walls (even if they were suspended in mid-air and with no air movement whatsoever, their bodies would still have been radiating heat to the cave walls).
In the study, survivors’ most frequently mentioned source of warmth was clothes (12 percent). Their prevailing form of shelter was camping gear (11 percent). Most survivors had a water source—either their own (13 percent), or one they found (42 percent), be it a lake, creek, or puddle, or derived by licking leaves or sucking moist moss. None of the survivors except one were missing long enough to make starvation an issue, but 35 percent had food they could ration to keep their energy levels up. All these data points suggest that the best way to survive getting lost in a national park is to already have the clothing and gear needed for warmth and shelter during the night, as well as some food and water.
This is not the case with most day hikers, who are more likely to bring a camera than extra clothes in a backpack. Herrington concurs. “If you go backpacking and you get lost, or you get caught out in bad weather, it’s like oh well I’m going to be out here another night and maybe go to bed hungry. No big deal. But when you’re out there and you don’t have a sleeping bag and tent, or extra clothing for the overnight experience, you’re much more vulnerable, and that tends to be where most people get in trouble.
[ … ]
In Herrington’s wilderness survival courses, he teaches day hikers to pack a puffy jacket for warmth, and a 200-litre trash bag for rain protection/shelter. Even in warm states. “If you’re wet—because it rains or you fell into water or you sweated through your clothes—and its 65 degrees (18°C), you can still get hypothermic,” says Herrington. “Texas is one of the leading states in hypothermia deaths, and look how warm it is there.” An injury compounds the risk of hypothermia by compromising the body’s ability to thermo-regulate.
Well, you can carry a trash bag if you wish. I’ve given you my list before.
Bring a good rip-stop nylon tarp. If it’s good, it’ll be light and it will pack up small. A gun (with a couple of extra magazines of ammunition), a tactical light, 550 paracord, a first aid kit, water purification equipment, decent clothing, a tactical knife (I prefer one with serrated edges), Mylar emergency blankets (which will also be very light), energy and protein bars, and multiple means of fire starter. Finally, wear a hat on the trail. The absence of one will cause sunburn to the head and freezing at night (a large portion of the heat leaving your body does so through the head).
Know how to make a brush shelter (leaf hut) quickly. It’s that time of year. There is no excuse for going into the bush unprepared.
First of all, watch this video in its entirety. I think John conveys a lot of wisdom in his talk.
This dovetails with a lot of what I have been thinking about the concept of the “bugout” philosophy. I greatly admire folks like James Wesley Rawles, who made the decision a very long time ago to ensconce in the Northwestern redoubt, although I partial to the Appalachian redoubt being more in my backyard.
Folks like that made a huge decision to leave where they were, plant roots, create a life and lifestyle, make a family, and never leave. But the problem is that most other people have deep roots too, wherever they are. Elderly parents need help, children are part of your life, grandchildren need raising by grandparents, friends and family cannot simply be left by the wayside to “bugout” when the going gets tough.
I have a friend who once told me the reason he didn’t “prep” was that he knew where all the preppers in his area were, those who had ammunition, food, and so on, and he had guns and knew whose house to go to in order to find what he needed.
Note well. He was telling me he would become just like a feral animal whenever the time arose, taking what he needed from his neighbors and leaving trusted folks to suffer in his place. Now, I know the heart of the man who said this to me, and I know that he would never do that. So if that man is reading this now, I know that it was all a lot of bluster. How do I know that? Because I know you. You were just giving me excuses for not planning and preparing.
Any bugout bag you build is inadequate. Do you have a pistol with a few magazines? Good. What is you need a CQB carbine? Do you have that? Good. What if you need a longer range standoff rifle? Do you have that, with all of the ammunition you’ll ever need? Do you have enough food for you, your family, your neighbors, and your friends? Can you get to where you’re going in one trip, or at all? Can you survive without generators or solar power? Do you have all of the medical supplies you’ll ever need? Do you have access to professional medical care (you will surely need it at some point).
If you have a designated place to go, do you know that it’s secured until you get there? Can you secure it when you do get there? Do you have neighbors and trusted friends there that you’ll need for long term survival? There are so many questions, issues and considerations attending an event like this that it’s unlikely you’ve thought through them.
The better option is to plan, prepare, purchase, pre-deploy, and practice.
My point is that like John, I don’t believe you’re going to go anywhere. It may be true that there isn’t a perfect solution to hard situations like we’re posing, but just like it matters how a man lives, it also matters how he dies, and death isn’t the end anyway. Most people reading this aren’t the kind of people who would run off and leave loved ones, family, friends, and neighbors to suffer if you can help it. If you are, then you’re the kind of person from whom the rest of us are defending our loved ones, families, friends and neighbors.
Back in August, I warned SurvivalBlog readers about an upcoming FCC rules change. Well, the ban did indeed arrive, on Monday. As of September 24th, 2018, the FCC banned the importation of some quite capable dual band models of inexpensive Baofeng ham radio handie-talkies:
Because of this new FCC “enforcement advisory” ban, I predict that fewer and fewer these particular hand-held ham radios will clear Customs. Then, Amazon and eBay listings for them will soon disappear, probably in just a few weeks. The window of opportunity is closing quickly, folks! Note that no license is required to buy these radios.
I strongly recommend that SurvivalBlog readers stock up on these dual band radios, NOW, while there are still some available at a reasonable price! Grab a five-pack, or perhaps two five-packs, so that you will have some extras available to trade at a later date. Remember: “Buy low, and sell high.” As I’ve described in detail in the blog before: Bans almost always lead to higher prices!
JWR wrote about this earlier and I’ve been thinking about this.
The Baofeng radios he’s recommending come with baggage. The real radio guys pan this stuff. The clubs won’t go within a mile of it, and the scuttlebutt is that if you don’t buy after-market antennas for it, as soon as you walk around the next building you lose signal. Parts fall off, the radios don’t work for long, etc., etc.
Furthermore, it’s said that you must have your certification to use most of the frequencies on these radios. Frankly, I don’t know what to think. I believe it’s important to have at least minimal comms equipment, but I also believe that we don’t all have to be Ham radio operators in order to have this minimal capability.
On the other hand, these are fairly cheap, and getting your certification is said to be easy. Furthermore, they aren’t going to be available for long.
So here’s a bleg for readers. How about someone with some comms capabilities (Pat Hines?) weigh in and give us a lengthy assessment of this whole matter? I’m not thinking about stationary radios. I’m talking about highly portable comms equipment.
Via WRSA, GoV has a sobering take on the choices Europe (and eventually we) face.
Over at UTT, John explains why work to reform the FedGov is wasted effort.
Eleven years ago I sat in the FBI Washington Field Office with the Special Agent in Charge (SAC) of the Counterterrorism Division and one other agent. I asked the SAC what she would do when the average American came to a deeper understanding of the Islamic threat than agents in the CT Division, and then those Americans, realizing they were left to fend for themselves, took matters into their own hands.
She froze, turned slightly pale, and told me she never thought about it before. I had…a lot.
Today, America stands at that place.
The U.S. Islamic jihadi leadership displays gross animus towards America. Islamic leaders: openly call for jihad against our President; build weapons training camps for children to learn how to kill people in schools and hospitals knowing judges will let them walk; publicly call for the holocaust of all Jews and then feign shock and surprise when their comments make it into the public realm; teach jihad in Islamic elementary schools then sue the county school board if citizens dare protest; and on it goes.
In response to this, the Marxist party of America – Democrats – defend, support, and collaborate with these enemies while the U.S. Department of Justice sits on its hands.
Colleagues in the Counter-Jihad movement are threatened with death from sharia-adherent muslims (jihadis) while police and the FBI not only do nothing, they threaten the victims for daring to point the finger at muslims, despite facts and evidence.
Thousands of Americans are dead, killed by sharia-adherent muslims in places like Arlington (VA), New York, Shanksville (PA), Little Rock (AR), Boston (MA), Fort Lauderdale (FL), San Bernardino (CA), Orlando (FL), Denver (CO)….
The perpetrators of these acts of violence unanimously tell us they do what they do because Islam commands them to do it, yet most of our leaders tell us Islam is not the problem.
Our military generals/admirals and civilian leaders display no recognition they have a clue about the Islamic threat despite fighting – and losing – wars for nearly 17 years. Some of our top military leaders – General John Allen for instance – apologized to our enemies for “offending” them when “Islamic religious materials” were mistakenly destroyed.
As of this day, the United States has still not defined the enemy in the global war in which we are engaged.
Catastrophic failure and criminal negligence.
Americans who still possess the ability to reason, discern, and process facts in reality realize the U.S. federal government is incapable of winning this war.
As Understanding the Threat (UTT) has said for over six (6) years, this war will be won or lost at the local level.
The goal is to get as many Americans to understand the threat as quickly as possible so local jurisdictions can organize and begin to dismantle the jihadi networks in the local area.
The infrastructure is crumbling, the inner cities are sewers crawling with drug addicts, homeless and criminals, hard working Americans are watching their ever dwindling wealth be raped by the government (remember that “The good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children”), and the printing presses in Washington roll off more paper money as if they can create wealth by fiat.
An Oregon woman recently came home to an unusual surprise: a mountain lion, which continued taking a nap for six more hours behind her sofa.
The odd encounter took place on July 8 in the Ashland, Ore., home of Lauren Taylor.
After drinking from a pond in Taylor’s backyard, the cat likely entered her home through an open back door, she explained in Facebook. The post had garnered more than 17,000 reactions and shares as of Tuesday morning.
“This is wild,” she wrote. “The door was open and the room has huge plants and stairs built around real tree branches, so she likely didn’t even realize she was walking indoors until she was inside.”
After entering the home, the cat was startled by Taylor’s roommate, who screamed upon seeing the mountain lion. This prompted the wild animal to hide behind the sofa, where it snoozed for several hours.
Taylor made a noise to wake the feline, but then “gazed lovingly into her eyes, and communicated using feline-speak eye blinking to calm her,” she wrote.
“It was amazing to realize that this worked. I gazed lovingly then blinked hard and then she did it back,” Taylor continued, adding that the cat then went back to sleep. “She clearly felt safe and she showed no inclination to leave.”
When the cat awoke a second time, Taylor said she “again connected in a loving gaze and communicated trust through blinking.”
With just “a couple hours to dawn,” Taylor decided it was time to “prompt her to leave without alarming her so much that she panicked.”
The Oregon woman then used a drum to encourage the lion to exit the home.
“She roused and knew just what to do…. walking out through the open doors, through the yard, across the creek, and through the empty field behind us exactly as we had shown her,” said Taylor, adding she has “extensive experience working with energy and animals.”
“It was a perfect ending to a blessed encounter that could have been dangerous if approached from a lower frequency,” she continued. “May she stay safely in the hills to enjoy a long life as a wild and healthy lion.”
You can go check out the pictures and video yourself. I just don’t know what to say. Honestly.
Read again.
Taylor made a noise to wake the feline, but then “gazed lovingly into her eyes, and communicated using feline-speak eye blinking to calm her,” she wrote.
When the cat awoke a second time, Taylor said she “again connected in a loving gaze and communicated trust through blinking.”
“It was a perfect ending to a blessed encounter …
Lovingly. Calm her. Trust. Blessed.
She’s fortunate the lion didn’t scalp her and eat her brains out of her skull.
5 years, 3 months ago
