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Re: [AT-L] phones in Baxter



I think that the list was down when I posted this before.
> 
> Anybody else get to see this??
> >
> > > Hikers Tote Navigational
> > >                  Phones;
> > >                  Rescuers Pine for Simpler
> > >                  Days
> > >
> > >                  By ROSS KERBER
> > >                  Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
> > >
> > >                  For a hiking trip in New Hampshire's White
> > >                  Mountains, Ari Pinski brought along the hottest
> > >                  gear in trekking: a cellular phone and a
> > >                  space-age navigation aid that takes its bearings
> > >                  by satellite. Forest rangers wish he had brought
> > >                  a map instead.
> > >
> > >                  Mr. Pinski repeatedly checked in with rangers
> > >                  on the cell phone to ask directions as he and a
> > >                  friend climbed Mount Tripyramid. The satellite
> > >                  global-positioning system, or GPS, worked just
> > >                  fine, telling Mr. Pinski his latitude and
> > >                  longitude. But that didn't stop the pair from
> > >                  missing a turn in the woods. A satellite can't tell
> > >                  you which path to take.
> > >
> > >                  Lost Despite Everything
> > >
> > >                  Although there was no emergency, "we finally
> > >                  sent a crew because of frustration," says Lt.
> > >                  David Hewitt of the state's Fish and Game
> > >                  Department; he dispatched two volunteers to
> > >                  guide the hikers down the mountain in a
> > >                  pouring rain. Armed with the sophisticated
> > >                  reckoning system, "I guess I didn't want to
> > >                  admit that we were lost," says Mr. Pinski, a
> > >                  26-year-old electrical technician and self-styled
> > >                  "gadget person" from Wynnewood, Pa.
> > >
> > >                  Use of portable communications equipment is
> > >                  booming on mountainsides and back-country
> > >                  trails, as the gear gets lighter and cheaper.
> > >                  Rangers say they started seeing a significant
> > >                  number of GPS devices for the first time this
> > >                  year, as the price of basic versions weighing
> > >                  about 10 ounces dropped to around $200.
> > >
> > >                  But as the wild fills up with wavelengths,
> > >                  rescuers complain of unexpected side effects:
> > >                  more nuisance calls and false alarms from
> > >                  tenderfoots tenderfeet is second in the
> > >                  dictionary toting the new devices. The problem
> > >                  is especially bad in New Hampshire's White
> > >                  Mountains, where cell-phone service is better --
> > >                  and the peaks less fearsome -- than in
> > >                  more-remote places out West.
> > >
> > >                  "People take these jobbies up, but they have no
> > >                  idea where they are," says Lt. Eric Stohl, a
> > >                  New Hampshire Fish and Game officer who
> > >                  patrols 6,288-foot Mount Washington, the
> > >                  highest peak in the Northeast.
> > >
> > >                  In one case last spring, says Lt. Stohl, a pair of
> > >                  "very demanding" women in their 50s fretted
> > >                  by cell phone that they couldn't make it a
> > >                  mile-and-a-half to the end of a trail before
> > >                  darkness was due to fall in four hours. They
> > >                  asked to be carried down or have flashlights
> > >                  brought to them. Lt. Stohl declined. Two hours
> > >                  later, they were showering at the main lodge.
> > >
> > >                  Calling Up the Guard
> > >
> > >                  In response to annoyance calls, a form of
> > >                  Yankee call-blocking is catching on: the
> > >                  Randolph (N.H.) Mountain Club now prohibits
> > >                  cell phones at its cabins on nearby Mount
> > >                  Adams. Over the state line in Maine, Baxter
> > >                  State Park also banned them after an incident in
> > >                  which tired hikers tried to muster an Army
> > >                  National Guard helicopter to fetch them from
> > >                  the summit of Mount Katahdin.
> > >
> > >                  Some nature lovers say cell-heads spoil the
> > >                  wilderness experience. "You hear them say
> > >                  things like, 'Honey, you wouldn't believe how
> > >                  silent it is up here!' " says Jed Williamson, an
> > >                  outdoors guide and past president of the
> > >                  American Alpine Club. "It's as bad as if they
> > >                  were standing there taking a leak in front of
> > >                  everybody. They should just go behind a rock."
> > >
> > >                  More worrisome, rescuers say, are techie
> > >                  trekkers who take on too much trail. Last
> > >                  January, Rick Mandia, of Cambridge, Mass.,
> > >                  got a case of the shivers while camping
> > >                  overnight near the summit of Mount Flume. He
> > >                  and a companion couldn't light their portable
> > >                  stove, and she was unable to warm him.
> > >
> > >                  At 5:36 a.m., she phoned to ask emergency
> > >                  dispatchers for advice. They passed her number
> > >                  to Lt. Stohl, who, after 30 minutes of trying to
> > >                  get through, finally reached the woman. He
> > >                  agreed to send a rescue party and says he
> > >                  suggested swaddling Mr. Mandia in a space
> > >                  blanket, one of those silver-foil wraps often
> > >                  seen on runners after marathons. She did, and it
> > >                  worked.
> > >
> > >                  Electronic Crutch
> > >
> > >                  Maj. Ron Alie, the department's chief of law
> > >                  enforcement, says the campers weren't familiar
> > >                  enough with their own gear and counted too
> > >                  much on the phone to see them through
> > >                  trouble. "They crossed the line as to what they
> > >                  could handle," he says.
> > >
> > >                  Mr. Mandia, 28, disputes that and says he and
> > >                  his friend brought the phone as an afterthought.
> > >                  Hearing that help was on the way "helped my
> > >                  morale a lot," he says. "You get to a point
> > >                  where you're shivering uncontrollably and you
> > >                  start to feel you might not get back." Bitten by
> > >                  criticism, he says, he didn't pursue a proffered
> > >                  cell-phone endorsement deal.
> > >
> > >                  Other distress calls from hikers are more trivial.
> > >                  Larry Nickey, the head of emergency services
> > >                  in Olympic National Park, in Washington state,
> > >                  says he was floored by the request for a
> > >                  helicopter rescue he got from a hiker in July.
> > >                  The man was a day behind schedule and
> > >                  worried about missing a business meeting.
> > >
> > >                  "I explained that helicopters aren't allowed
> > >                  unless it's a real emergency," says Mr. Nickey,
> > >                  who didn't get the man's name. Then the caller
> > >                  offered to pay. When Mr. Nickey told him it
> > >                  might cost him $1,500, the helicopter talk
> > >                  stopped.
> > >
> > >                  Expecting Quick Service
> > >
> > >                  "People are just too programmed, with all the
> > >                  cop shows on TV" and expect an immediate
> > >                  response, says Holly Weber, an instructor at a
> > >                  wilderness medical school in Conway, N.H.
> > >                  Ms. Weber says that several times this past
> > >                  summer, volunteers from the school hiked
> > >                  hours to reach sprain victims cell-phoning for
> > >                  help. "The attitude when we got to them" she
> > >                  says, "was, 'What took you so long? I want a
> > >                  helicopter here now.' "
> > >
> > >                  For those who neglect to carry a compass and
> > >                  map, cell phones aren't of much use when
> > >                  batteries fail. In August, hiker Michael Rego, of
> > >                  Hooksett, N.H., spent a night on Mount
> > >                  Cushman after he lost power on his GPS unit
> > >                  and his cell phone. The mapless Mr. Rego
> > >                  walked out unharmed the next day after his cell
> > >                  phone revived just long enough for him to reach
> > >                  authorities for guidance. Mr. Rego declined to
> > >                  comment, citing local newspaper accounts that
> > >                  poked fun at him.
> > >
> > >                  Even hikers whose motto is "Be Prepared"
> > >                  sometimes dial for deliverance. Lt. Rick Estes
> > >                  of the New Hampshire Fish and Game
> > >                  Department says that in June, he got a call from
> > >                  a Boy Scout troop seeking a rescue party. The
> > >                  scoutmaster had hurt his wrist. After making
> > >                  sure the scouts had a first-aid kit, Lt. Estes
> > >                  says, he declined to send help: "When they said
> > >                  he could walk, I suggested that unless he was
> > >                  planning to walk out on his hands, we wouldn't
> > >                  come for them."
> 
> I thought it would interest some ;)
> 
> bob

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