WARNING: Initial Trip ReportElephant Tusk/December 30-31

[Boot Canyon 1 Cougar]

In an unparraled example of my exercise of poor judgment, I overestimated my strength when I ascended the chimney at the highest point in the Northeast Gap of Elephant’s Tusk.  Thus,  I found myself unable to later descend the chimney.  

Subsequently—after scrambling to the south ramp and investigating possible alternate routes, which I found infested with about 50-70% crumbling rock—I also concluded that there were no viable alternate descent routes within my current physical strength.

Thus, on December 30, I spent the night about 10 feet below the highest point in the Northeast Gap of Elephant Tusk, on the South ramp.  By about 10 or 11 p.m., the wind picked up, with frequent gusts of 50 mph (or greater—at times it seemed like 70+ mph).  I doubt that the night temperature ever exceeded 30F, and I suspect were nearer 20F in the coldest parts of the night.  

Only the good Lord--who in kind forgiveness for my poor judgment, decided to spare my life that night—knows the details of the temperature, wind speed and wind chill.  Thank God that there was no moisture in the air.  And even without the moisture in the air, I was either hypothermic, or borderline hypothermic, or full blown hypothermic during the night.  

My only protection besides my clothing was my emergency blanket, which I wrapped around myself as much as the wind permitted.  Without that emergency blanket, I am certain I would have died.

Even with the emergency blanket, survival and death were rubbing against each other.  My teeth chattered and my body shivered uncontrollably for hours.  During the night I saw the white light at the end of the tunnel twice, but found the strength, somewhere in my soul, to not take that journey.  

As usual, I was solo, and was carrying  in my pockets my emergency blanket, my LED Photon key chain light, some trail mix, my emergency whistle, my ACR Personal Locater Beacon with onboard GPS, and my standard attire of “leave no skin uncovered" pants, shirt, gloves, and "hat with neck & ears covered by a bonnet.”  

I also had a wind/rain suit, down vest, pull over fleece hat, extra water, ample food, additional signaling gear, first aid gear, etc.—in my day pack, which I stupidly left below, about 100 feet from the bottom of the chimney, since I was concerned the day pack would impair my balance.  “Hey, I was only going to be up there for 30 minutes at the max, right?”  Additional examples of my poor judgment that day.

The heroes of the day are Big Bend Search and Rescue.  They saved my life.  When I set off my ACR personal locater beacon at sundown (after spending several hours unsuccessfully trying to figure out a solution to my problem), it sent a satellite signal to Langley, Virginia, and Langley concurrently called my family (first speaking to my 15 year old son, who passed the message along to my wife, who--needless to say--was instantly submerged in a pure panic) and Big Bend. Unfortunately, Langley “located me” about ¼ to 1 mile from my actual location, so SAR was combing the rough country around Elephant’s Tusk—some from 7 pm that evening, until 4 am Sunday morning, when they bivouacked for a few cold, short hours.  

And throughout all of this, I had no idea that anyone was down there looking for me.  ACR "promises" that if you spring the extra $100.00 for the onboard gps, then the PLB will locate you within a 10 foot area, enabling that SAR to find you within 4 hours, worst case scenario.  4 hours came and went.

The search continued at daylight, with the addition of a helicopter combing the country 2000 feet below me.  Until I saw the helicopter, I did not know whether anyone had actually received my PLB signal—and when I saw the helicopter scouring the desert floor, I questioned whether they were looking for me, or possibly searching for someone else in trouble.  

After hours of waving my emergency blanket whenever the helicopter would appear below on the desert floor through the Northeast Gap (my perch was in constant shade), God moved one of the pilot’s to look up.  They saw me.  

When the helicopter saw me, it was so far away from me that it looked to be about ¾ of an inch by 1/16th of an inch—so I know I must have appeared to be the size of an flea.  I thought the helicopter had moved on, but suddenly I heard the engine, and it appeared, going west past the north faux summit of Elephant’s Tusk.  The pilots gave me a thumbs up, and I melted into sobs and tears.  I am unable to describe in words the emotions of that moment.

There is a lot more to the story.  As time permits, I’ll try to provide a more detailed report.  Presently, I’m still pulling myself back together.

I did, however, want to get this preliminary report out there for anyone else who is considering an Elephant Tusk ascent.  

Please do not have the lapses of poor judgment that I had.  If you have similar lapses of judgment, you may not be as fortunate.

For those of you who feel inclined to respond that I was stupid to do this solo, to leave my daypack down below, etc. etc.—I’ll save you the time and acknowledge this up front.  

My years of solo treks are over.  My wife will have the divorce petition filed before I hit the city limits if I recant this pledge!

Have a Happy (and safe) New Year!  And God Bless Big Bend Search and Rescue.

[Burn Ban]

over the years, i have had (what i considered to be) pretty close calls with serious injury, or death, when in the wilderness.  nothing i have experienced compares to your recent dilemma; but, i believe that the more one is in the wild, the more one is apt to end up in precarious situations.  i'd imagine we all have been a step or two away from serious trouble - whether we realize the situation or not.  almost always (i find) the fault is a combination of unpreparedness and unexpected circumstance development.  

the important things are: to learn from the experience, share your misadventures, go home, and hug the people you love like you never have before.

i'm so pleased you are well.

p.s. can you get a refund of your extra 100 dollars?

[01ACRViper]

Thank God everything ended up well for you. That ridge is a very exposed place to have to spend a cold, windy night. Just reminds everyone that you need to be aware of your limits before you get in over your head.

[taw6644]

Hey my dad and I were at Rio Grande Village and overheard the rangers on the radio talking about a rescue up there. Man, we planned to atempt the peak that day but decided not to. glad your ok man.

[homerboy2u]

my ACR Personal Locater Beacon with onboard GPS

 I have to ask you if you can post some information on this gadget to more data and porbably buy it as well. It sure is a life saver.

Homero

[TheWildWestGuy]

Glad your back OK and don't be too harsh on yourself.  It's not that you were SOLO that got you into trouble (2, 3, or more people in the same situation would not have helped any).   Some questions:
1- did they ask you to pay for the rescue?  tell you how much it cost?
2- if they knew they were searching for you in specific and that you planned to summit the Tusk why didn't they search it first with the chopper?  Surely they know that the Beacon's are not really accurate within 10' -at least not in BB.  
3- I would like to know more about how these beacons actually work?  How much do they cost?  
4- How did they get you down from the summit?

Thanks for the trip report I am looking forward to hearing more.

[Casa Grande]

'Cougar,

I'm so glad YOU are posting this and not Shane or myself posting a newspaper article about your demise.

This just goes to show you how quickly the desert can swallow you up.  Before you know it, you're a gonner.   I've been in hairy situations, but it was my own stupidity and/or carelessness that got me there.  

Anytime anyone reads anything about anything on the internet, one must use his/her own judgement when attempting such things.  To be honest, I had no idea how ET was and I've always wanted to climb it.  This goes to show you that you shouldn't assume anything.  I certainly won't go without an experienced climber (which I realize doesn't guarantee my safety).

Please, for the love of god, EVERYONE take all posts on this board (and on the internet) with this warning:

YOUR OWN EXPERIENCE MAY BE DRAMATICALLY DIFFERENT FROM THIS POST IF YOU ARE NOT PREPARED. CLIMB/HIKE AT YOUR OWN RISK AND USE THIS INFORMATION WISELY!!

If anything would have happened to you, I would have automatically assumed your death was a result of this board and the information provided here.  This kind of thing is my worst nightmare and I intend on making your experience an example for everyone here currently and everyone here in the future. Thank you for being honest and posting your experience and thank God you are ALIVE!

[Bobcat]

Thanks for sharing that incident. Happy to hear the rescue went well. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that there was no hiking or backpacking related fatality in BBNP in 2006. So, anyway, have you started planning your next trip to the Bender? I'll be interested in hearing more about your incident in detail. I've had my own traumatic wilderness experience that I'll be sharing with this chat sometime soon(the rattlesnake bite wasn't in the wilderness). I wasn't solo when it happened.

[RichardM]

My years of solo treks are over.  My wife will have the divorce petition filed before I hit the city limits if I recant this pledge!

I told your story to my wife, including this last statement.  Her response was "No, she'll just make sure his life insurance is paid up."

[presidio]

I believe that there was no hiking or backpacking related fatality in BBNP in 2006.

There was the old guy back in November or so that died doing the Outer Mtn Loop. Expired in transit to the hospital.

[Wendy]

Yikes!  Thanks so much for sharing your story.   I know it's not fun to talk about (trust me, I DO know), but if hearing your story helps one person be better prepared or not get in over their heads, then perhaps you can look at it as a reason you went through such an awful experience.  

I would really like to hear more about this locator beacon you use.  My father-in-law spends weeks each year hiking solo, God knows where in Big Bend and other areas of the desert southwest.  We never know where he's gone or when he plans to be back and with him getting up there in age, something like this happening to him is my worst nightmare.  Ironically, my mother-in-law, husband, and husband's sister don't seem nearly as concerned about this as I do.  Frequently, we don't even know what state he's in.   I'd really like to look into getting something like this for him.   He's nearly 70 and I just don't see him giving up his solo backpacking trips anytime soon.

[Hejira]

Thanks for sharing your story with us.  I am so grateful you are okay.  I can only imagine the epiphany you must have.  It seems that you can live like you have never lived before.  We are all pulling for you.

[Ray52]

don't be too harsh on yourself

I agree with WWG.  It seems like your preparations (clothing, emergency blanket, ACR beacon)enabled you to survive the night and summon help.  I've been found and plucked from a marsh by a helicopter before, and though the situation wasn't as potentially deadly as was yours, my preparation for the situation was much less.  I'm glad you're safe and back with your family.

[presidio]

Thus, on December 30, I spent the night about 10 feet below the highest point in the Northeast Gap of Elephant Tusk, on the South ramp.

Well, you are officially famous, and anonymous, too.

From the NPS:

The Morning Report
Wednesday, January 03, 2007

INCIDENTS

Big Bend National Park (TX)
Stranded Hiker Uses PLB To Summon Help

On the evening of December 30th, the U.S. Air Force notified the park that a personal locator beacon (PLB) signal had been received from a backcountry location within the park. Rangers headed to a backcountry campsite about six miles from the coordinates given by the PLB and found a vehicle registered to a visitor who had a solo hiker permit for that zone of the park. Two rangers then hiked to the approximate PLB coordinates, but were unable to find anyone in that area. They were joined by another team of searchers and a Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) helicopter the following morning. The crew of the helicopter homed in on the 121.5 MHz distress transmission from the PLB within minutes of arriving on scene and soon spotted the hiker, who was waving a space blanket at them. He had “cliffed out” on the side of Elephant Tusk peak, but gave the helicopter crew a thumbs-up signal indicating that he was okay. Although the helicopter was unable to land, the crew directed searchers to the man’s location, then ferried rope and climbing equipment to the rangers on scene. They climbed to his location and helped him down. The man told rangers that he’d attempted to climb to the top of Elephant Tusk the day before. He’d cached his backpack, tent and sleeping bag and had made the ascent carrying only a space blanket, food, water, a whistle, an LED light, and a PLB. After topping a 40-foot chimney, he decided to turn back – only to find he couldn’t climb down from his location. He spent the night on a 6-foot by 50-foot ledge wrapped in the space blanket, with his PLB tied to a bush to keep it from being blown away by high winds. Overnight temperatures were just below freezing. This incident marks the first time in Big Bend that a PLB has been used by a hiker to call in rescuers. Without the PLB and assistance from the DPS helicopter, it would have been extremely difficult to find and rescue the man in a timely fashion. The PLB probably saved his life. [Submitted by Mark Spier, Chief Ranger]

[Picacho]

Damn, were you on the route that Viper and I did?  I was going to do the climb with taw on the 30th but ended up not going.  David is right though, a 4th class climb for one might be an epic for someone else.