Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Man on Cell Phone Falls off Mt. Whitney Trail

good thing this guy did not break into a car or cut brake lines and end up knowing someone who posts when they climb a hill.

every one would be chastised for making fun, and not being sensative to the persons problems.

Oh, crap. Someone moved the rock so oldbob could crawl out again.

Get over it, codger.

Or at least give him a spelling checker.

Sorry, but you're busting me up Doug...

Same here!

CaT

I got to admit, I do feel bad for the man. I also feel some sympathy. Why? I could almost see myself doing something like that. After all, I was the one that had the Osprey pack for a year and a half before discovering the whistle in the buckle of the sternum strap. Now that I'm teaching 2nd grade instead of 1st grade, I might just become smarter.
Let's not forget that at one time we were all inexperienced at hiking and mountaineering. We've all made mistakes. The smart ones learn from their mistakes. The really smart ones learn from the mistakes of others.

Rafael....

I spoke with this fellow in the Portal Cafe in the evening 9/22 as he was dealing with getting his car to start. His remote was crushed in the fall so he was probably going to have his car towed to Lone Pine to deal with it. A big factor in the accident was he did not have a light and was relying on what he could see from his buddy's light on the way down.

My first inclination was to point out that whether a day hiker or overnighter, one would still reasonably expect that one might be required to operate in the hours of darkness. It shouldn't take much of a stretch of the imagination to think that one should bring a flashlight.

However, I will add this:

I think we all share a degree of sympathy for this fellow.

But what makes us all laugh (and gloat a little) over a story like this, is that I daresay we are all surrounded by people who are so completely obsessed with whatever conversation is going on on their cell phones that they are completely and utterly oblivious to anything and everything around them. And, they are apparently incapable of denying the urge to answer them.

Whether driving (despite being now outlawed, ha), walking, in the theater, bathroom, you name it - it seems people simply *cannot* ignore that little gadget for even a second. I mean, really, is there any phone call that's really so important that you have to take it while in the bathroom making #2? Are we so crass as a society that a call at such a time cannot be ignored for five minutes? (It's going to roll to voice mail anyway for crying out loud!)

This guy, in a similar situation, simply could not put his own self-preservation ahead of the irrepressable demand that he felt to take that call.

That's what's funny.

Buncha Saints!

I agree with ClamberAbout. I can't help but be sympathetic with someone seriously injured while hiking. However, walking on a dark trail and talking on a cell phone is damned stupid. It has to rank in the ballpark with Russian Roulette, playing in traffic, etc. It takes a lapse of judgment that is several standard deviations from the mean. So, yes, it's funny.

This from the man who would laugh at the loss of a trojan

That would be Russian Roulette with a revolver, or an automatic?