Wow! I just re-read it and it was just as intense as the first time I read it. Scary stuff!!!  I can’t imagine how devastating it could have been to the community, and the non-community who happened to know & love the possibly deceased folks who were in the canyon that fateful day.  It would have been obviously tragic had this epic adventure turned out with a not-so-happy ending! And you might not have been around to write the cool story either tom…..  Don’t DO Dangerous anymore – K? Oh wait, that might be like telling a kid not to eat cookies. Well, be careful out there ~ all of you! Please!  — On Thu, 10/20/11, TomJones ratagonia@gmail.com> wrote:
From: TomJones ratagonia@gmail.com> Subject: [from Canyons Group] Re: Ape Canyon descent in Washington To: Yahoo Canyons Group Date: Thursday, October 20, 2011, 11:17 AM
ÂÂ
— In Yahoo Canyons Group, “mike_dallin”
I guess I just don’t feel the need to act like an expert on everything in a public forum, esp. after the fact.
M
*cough* psychological damage *cough* >
Psycho Damage. A good example of “the experts” being foolish. Our traditional call-out time of 10 am the next day being in place. Sitting in the canyon at 8 am, teeth chattering, I had a concern that 10 am might not be early enough for SAR to get to our general area, figure out how to get to the rim above us, find us and extract us – because I did not think we could survive another night, especially if it rained again. In retrospect, rain might have been a problem, but yes another night would have been unpleasant, but survivable. SAR called out at 10 am, rescinded an hour later.
Story: http://www.math.utah.edu/~sfolias/canyontales/tale/?i=psychoD
Quite a few fun tales of misadventure there, on Stefan’s fine compilation of stories.
Tom