This article essentially tells the story of Alex Sverdlov, a 36 year old hiker, who was stranded in a snow storm for two days a top Mauna Loa in Hawaii. Sverdlov, a teacher at Brooklyn college in New York, began his 18 mile journey on Sunday and had reached the Volcano's summit by Tuesday. Though as he began his decent, violent weather began that he describes as going from a light drizzle to two feet of snow over the course of an hour. The first night, Sverdlov became separated with his survival pack, forcing him to sleep in the snow with nothing more than his clothes, a frozen water bottle and an out of service cell phone. He found his pack the next day, mitigating the conditions for the following night as he now had a sleeping bag and other essential supplies. Fortunately, Sverdlov had taken the proper precautions before his hike and registered with the park before making his trip. He was the only hiker unaccounted for during the storm prompting the parks department to begin a search Thursday morning. Sverdlov was found near the top of the summit, waste deep in snow and unable to move, by a helicopter and was quickly picked up. Undeterred by the ordeal, he has already signed up for another hiking trip, and says he is just grateful that he was found and is well.
Survival stories like this are incredible. Sverdlov was stranded for two days in horrible conditions and had nothing but gratitude when he was finally rescued. What I find most amazing is his willingness to continue hiking, especially after such a terrible experience. With all the negativity in the news today, it is incredibly refreshing to hear stories like this, especially when the victim refuses to let a bad incident get in the way of passion.
http://www.kitv.com/news/hawaii/hiker-survives-two-days-in-cold-and-snow-atop-mauna-loa/-/8905354/24212380/-/hklwb8z/-/index.html?hpt=us_bn10
People tend to overlook what they see as minor details such as registering with the park and being adequately prepared for the hike. People sometimes think that bad things will not happen to them or they disregard safety thinking that it is an unnecessary precaution or that bad things do not happen to people that often. This is media serving one of its multiple helpful purposes in warning people that hazards do occur and, in this case, making sure to emphasize that the person was saved do to his adequate preparation and precautions.
ReplyDeletei applaud him for being brave enough to get back out there and hike again...but maybe he should take a little break. i mean does he realize that he could have died or lost a limb?
ReplyDeleteGood lord, some people have guts! I think it's partially cool (but also partially crazy) that he was able to walk away from that event and still want to book another hiking trip right away. However, I also think it's rather stupid of him to try to take on such a venture all alone and without taking enough safety precautions. Hopefully he learned from his mistakes and won't make them again.
ReplyDelete-Hannah Selby 4th