hip belt/load handling security... was Re: [at-l] Crossing the Kennebec

[spiriteagle99@hotmail.com (Jim and/or Ginny Owen)]

Sloetoe <sloetoe@yahoo.com> wrote:
>You can lose the pack (with a squeeze of a quick-release buckle) in a
>fall lots easier than you can recover lost stability *without* a hip
>belt *before* you fall. (And since we're on the subject...)

Toey -
Those were the precise words that the man used as he stepped into Evolution 
Creek - less than 90 seconds before I had to pull him out.  His pack floated 
(remember bouyancy?) and when the water got deep enough it pulled his feet 
off the bottom.  When his feet came off the bottom his face went in the 
water and his feet were flapping somewhere in the middle - no traction, no 
support  --- and no air.  He didn't find that quick release buckle - very 
few people do in that situation.  It's hard to be looking for a buckle if 
your main concern is that you can't breathe.

Would have been the same effect if he'd simply slipped and fallen.

I'll repeat -- if you're gonna ford - anything -
>DO unfasten your pack belt - it's really dumb to lose your life just to 
>hang onto the pack.


Is fording dangerous?  Absotively and Posilutely.  If you're gonna do it 
then learn to do it right.  There's a ferry at the Kennebec now because 
someone either didn't know how to do it right - or didn't believe it.

If you can't do it right - then DON'T DO IT.  I've lost two friends this 
year - I don't want to lose any more.

Walk softly,
Jim


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