Friday, April 08, 2005

Here Lies a Moron

I was thinking about what I don't want written on my tombstone....Here Lies a Mornon! What made me think about this is a book I'm reading "Deep Survival: Who Lives. Who Dies. and Why" by Laurence Gonzales.

In Gonzales chapter "Danger Zones", he uses Lambs Slide on the east side of Longs Peak in Colorado's Rock Mountain National Park as an example of a Danger Zone.



"Since the epic 1871 uncontrolled descent of Lambs Slide by the Reverend Elkannah Lamb, the accident has been repeated continually with results varying greatly from injury to death"

You see from below Lamb's Slide doesn't appear treacherous, it's not, UNTIL you're fully committed about one third of the way up. A perceived easy hike gets steeper and steeper until.... The accident results is so common it's called "Lost Footing. Couldn't Self-Arrest. Fell to Death or LFCSAFTD".

It's made me more aware of the Danger Zones I put my self in from time to time. Open water swim with no buddy. Riding long distances away from home with no identification or cell phone or even money. No one knowing where I went or even if I went. It's creating my own Danger Zones.

So since I don't want my tombstone to read "Here Lies a Moron" I'm going to work on not creating my own Danger Zones.

7 comments:

Tracy said...

What a good point, and I bet people never think about such things because they alaways feel like their in the first third of the way up - before you know it, though, you're in the danger zone.

Thanks for the heads up!

White Salamander said...

Great post. Even expeirenced hikers do really dumb things from time to time. Recently I almost had to spend an unexptected night outside, totally lost in the Bradshaw Mtns. I kept imagining the evening news. "A valley man is missing tonight..."

Unknown said...

when i go 'running wild' out in the desert or the mountains, i always let someone (my wife) know where i'm going to be and when i'll be back. i also leave a note on the car saying when i intend to be back and who to call if the car is still parked there past my 'drop dead date'. yeah, it could invite someone to break in, but i'm a trusting guy...

Anonymous said...

Wow Jeff - you are a trusting guy.

What about this for a danger zone: Home alone with leftover chocolate cake in teh fridge.

?

Anonymous said...

Where did you find it? Interesting read » » »

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