[at-l] FW: Utah death

[jbryankramer@xxxxxxx (J Bryan Kramer)]

>
> I'm not sure if this has been reported on the list already, not
> exactly hikers but still of interest:
>
> Bryan
>
> "Si vis pacem para bellum"
>
> Briton forced to abandon girlfriend to die in blizzard
> By Charles Arthur
> 07 March 2003
>
>
> A more painful decision is difficult to imagine. Marooned in the
> frozen canyonlands of southern Utah, George Metcalfe and his
> girlfriend Rachel Crowley had hiked through snowdrifts for nearly
> 24 hours dressed only in jeans, sweatshirts and casual shoes.
> Then she collapsed with exhaustion and he faced a choice that
> could kill one or both of them =96 or save them. Should he stay
> with her, or continue alone in search of help?
>
> "I didn't want to leave her," Mr Metcalfe said yesterday from
> hospital in Utah, where he was suffering from dehydration,
> exhaustion, hypothermia and suspected frostbite. "I wanted to
> stay with her, but Rachel said our only hope was if someone went
> for help. She kept saying 'You've got to go'."
>
> He did =96 and she died.
>
> The couple had realised that nobody would find them; they barely
> knew themselves where they were. On a whim, they had travelled
> from Las Vegas in the Nevada desert to Utah's Grand Staircase
> National Monument, one of America's most beautiful =96 but rugged
> and unforgiving =96 park areas.
>
> "There's no entrance gate; it's always open," said the park's
> recreation management office yesterday. "Nobody would know that
> you'd gone in."
>
> In their hired Jeep, the two drove further into the park, passing
> the town of Henrieville and then going deeper into the winding
> ridges along the high mound-like formations that typify the
> park's northern area. In the summer, it is a desert; but in the
> winter, temperatures plummet and snow falls suddenly and thickly.
> ------------------------------------------------------------------
> --------------
>
> the rest can be found at:
>
> http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/story.jsp?story=3D384609
>
>
>