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Thursday, September 5, 2013

Communicating Mountain Emergencies

Dale Matson

Iridium 9575 (Extreme)

I am usually alone when I am in the mountains. Many would say that this is not prudent but this is reality. I would prefer traveling with trail companions but none are usually available. I usually stick to the trails and always let my wife know my travel plans. I copy extra maps of the areas in which I will be traveling and give her my itinerary. I’m not sure how closely the park and forest services monitor your itinerary on your wilderness permit.

Additionally, I have carried a satellite phone for the last ten years. On multiday trips, I call my wife every night to verify my location and confirm that I am well. There are some locations in the mountains where a cell phone will reach a distant tower but it would be foolish to assume that the cell phone is a reliable means of establishing an emergency connection.

Some would argue that having companions is better than a satellite phone and in some situations, this is probably true. I know of two situations in the last two years however that argue in favor of a satellite phone even when one has trail companions.

In the first case, two men were traveling off trail in the Sierra National Forest high country. The navigator fell and suffered a severe head trauma. His friend put him in a tent and went for help but was lost for quite awhile before he was able to get a rescue helicopter to take him back to his friend. In the meantime, his friend crawled out of the tent and over a cliff. The helicopter flew out his body.

In the second case a woman and two male companions were climbing a dome in the Sierra National Forest and she was cut severely while suspended and swinging from a rope. One friend went for help and the other stayed with her. By the time help arrived, she had perished.

I thought to myself on both occasions, if they had an emergency communicating device both people might be alive today. Additionally a person with an emergency device could help someone from another party if they had a problem.

Ten years ago Globalstar had good satellite coverage and I used their phones. The satellites prematurely degraded and I was left with a small communication window. Eventually they stopped charging me a monthly fee because they essentially had no phone service. Since that time they have developed the “Spot”, a small device (< 8 ounces) that will send one way messages to let people know your status. The purchase cost is relatively cheap and there is a subscription fee.

I bought a 9555 Iridium satellite phone and it had generally good coverage. I have run into problems in canyons. Sometimes a clear overhead sky is not enough.  Iridium has the most subscribers including most government agencies. The back country rangers in Kings Canyon have them and some use a solar charger to recharge the lithium batteries. Two way radios are not always dependable even with mountain top repeater towers. I was with the SAR team in Humphreys' Basin and they used my satellite phone to get out when the radios couldn't.

I recently traded in my Iridium 9555 for a 9575. The newer phone is a tad smaller, weighs in a little over 8 ounces, has a tougher case and is water resistant. It also has a red panic button that functions a lot like a Spot system. One nice feature is that it displays Latitude/Longitude. I pay the base monthly rate and per minute call rate. These phones can also be rented.  Some would say this is a lot of money. I call it a life insurance policy.  


1 comment:

  1. My SIM card annual renewal date arrived and I was shocked to find that the basic plan had gone up from $500.00 to $700.00. There is an opportunity to add minutes up to 9 months after the expiration date. The "add minutes" plan is horrible with a one month, 2 month and 6 month option. The 6 month option costs what the 12 month option used to cost. At this point I plan on a 2 month plan during the summer that will cost about three hundred dollars. With other options like "Spot" available at lower costs, Iridium may be pricing itself out of the market with their satellite phones. It is also possible that cell phones may evolve beyond GPS to SAT Phones also. Anyway, I think this is price gouging and since the federal government uses Iridium, we are all paying for higher costs. I have also found the "middle men" to be terrible service providers. early this year, I found that I had no connectivity. There had been a software update and my service provider had not alerted me to that fact. A former provider had not payed their bills to Iridium and I did not have connectivity. Prior to that Global Star had nearly zero satellite coverage b/c of failures. This is not a rant. It is a fact of life.

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