Yeah she was doing what she loved.
Just saw this. Hardcore hiker there; impressive. Falling is bad enough when youâre not trying to impress yer online fanz. Not a pleasant way to go out.
We are used to a diet of hollywood movies where anything is possible , especially with all those difficult scenes done in CG.
Real life is not as simple. Helicopters are susceptible to winds (that donât even have to be that high) and flying into narrow ravines in poor visibility is a disaster waiting to happen to the crew.
Movies show US drones able to see anywhere in the world and drop bombs, etc. But I am not so sure that Taiwan has this tech and whether it can actually see through clouds. And whether dropping supplies to a person who perhaps has broken legs and is completely immobile and unable to reach anything that is not within just a foot or two of her would be of any assistance.
SAR (search and rescue) may have tried , and found it not workable, but the better thing to do is to drop off a person or two as near to her as possible and have them trek over there to see if they can help.
Of course even this may have been of no help as she may have needed immediate surgery. And then falling from such a height she may still die even if she was brought to a hospital.
People think once a person is brought to a hospital everything is all right now. It isnât.
This was very unfortunate. They say the swimmers who drown are most likely not total beginners, but intermediate swimmers, who stepped beyond their capabilities.
When i got my Red Cross lifeguard certificate way back when, i thought i could do anything, swim in any weather. Went body surfing at wanli in ten foot waves !! Nearly cost me my life as riptides carried me out a mile or two and the rolling waves made it hard for me to catch my breath as i swam sideways and finally body surfed in 40 mins later. I really thought I was a goner. NOw i prefer to swim in swimming pools. NO rip tides, no jelly fish, much less danger.
Sounds like she was experienced and thought she could conquer any shortcomings by herself. ButâŚthere is always a butâŚthe mountains conquered her. LIke they say never swim alone (even in a pool) one should never hike alone as shit could happen and it does happen.
She apparently fell quite a drop and survived the initial drop and perhaps had broken both legs and therefore was completely immobile. She was able to call for help on a sat phone she had on her, which was great. And if the weather was good she may have gotten a speedy rescue and a good outcomeâŚbut relying on the weather being sunny and clear is âŚwellâŚyou know the weather in taiwan.
Apparently it got down to 2c centigrade at night there and those temperatures can kill if one is not warm. And when one is severely injured and not warm enough certainly it is possible to die overnight.
When they get her body out and do an autopsy they may find that her internal organs are severely damaged from the fall and that she may not have survived even if she was taken to a good hospital in a few hours.
Actually falling from some height, even if she had hiking partners she may still not have survived.
The prevention from falling is much better then the cureâŚas there often is no cure.
Tragedy can still happen but one should not hike alone on a hike into a rugged area. Having numbers gives a better chance of rescue should accidents happen. Doesnât guarantee success but it does certainly help.
SAR is hard in narrow ravines. Taiwan mountains consist of a lot of narrow ravines in many areas. Weather can make it impossible to land.
I do hope they at least considered dropping off personnel as close to her as possible This would be a good first course of action. They would have some food and water and thermal blankets with them that could help an injured person survive until rescue.
3 Likes
Yup. Even something like a dislocation will kill you if youâre alone and no one fixes it within a time window. You can sever arteries from something like a dislocated knee from falling and your leg will become necrotic and eventually kill you if you donât amputate fast enough.
Indeed a fall may not be survivable even with a speedy rescue. Worse for her I wonder if she was preparing for one of her pretty awesome shots. I can imagine her disrobing into her bikini and lining up for a pic when she fell. If so now she is down a ravine in her bikini and her clothes and water/food are up where she fell from. And its impossible for her with her injuries to reach them. Now she is in her bikini in 2C weather? Not survivable overnight especially with serious injuries.
Pure speculation here but not completely unlikely given her record.
Someone said she had a sat phone? If that didnât save her, I doubt a hiking partner would make a huge difference.
Oh poor girl. This make me sad.
I suppose another person could have provided body heat warmth and moral support. These things might have helped her hang on longer, if her injuries werenât too life threatening. Thatâs assuming the other party could safely get to wherever she had fallen.
1 Like
Itâs quite a verbose book, but you might be interested in âA Leg To Stand Onâ, by Oliver Sacks. He fell and tore some knee ligaments, only a couple of miles from civilisation on fairly forgiving terrain, but only survived because he dragged himself halfway to the village and was lucky to be picked up by locals at nightfall. If youâre immobile in cold weather, youâre finished.
There are incredible feats of survival of the human body, i think of the guy given up for dead on everest and he lived through one or two nights up there, an incredible feat and he survived. That was notable. This sad incident is what happens to most humans out thereâŚthey donât survive.
Donât hike alone in the wilderness, donât hike without permits. If you canât get a permit it likely means you are not equipped for the conditions.
She had balls of steel or a lack of a sense of self preservation or just blind trust in being ok.
OR it was just plain bad luck. IF she didnât fall she may well have come out unhurt and it was just another day at the office for her. But she was out there on a wing and a prayer with no real back up plan it seems.
1 Like
Is this the case in Taiwan? I recall hearing that hiking permits here are absurd and have more to do with martial-law-vintage restrictions on anyone doing anything, rather than actual safety. But I may be misremembering, or that information may be out of date.
While I totally agree on the main point (not to hike alone), I donât agree on the permits thing as a general rule. Iâve entered some trails that are forbidden without applying for a permit first (or maybe just closed down), and it doesnât mean that they are super dangerous, or not more than others that donât require them. There are several reasons for hiking in a group or with company instead of alone: lower chances of getting lost, two brains vs one for dealing with situations you might face, more resources, help from another person if you get injured, etc. Also it is good to have someone to talk to, to be lost and alone can undermine your morale quickly.
Speaking of which, lately I started to contemplate the possibility of doing hikes alone. 
1 Like
Masala âŚI would do a 25 day hike with you in the wildernessâŚehhhh maybe not.
1 Like
Who says I would do a 25 days hike in the first place? Leave alone doing it with a Random Freedom Fighter.
1 Like
I think for one thing having a permit means the authorities know you are there.
I am surprised that she didnât bring some kind of emergency blanket. That might have kept her warm long enough for them to find her.
A permit is also be used for advisory to alert stupid people or to alert authorities of stupid people.
A similar situation a few years ago in hiking alone in Vietnam.
True, that helps.
He had been keeping in contact with his girlfriend, Bluebell Baughan
And to misread it as âBlueballâ made it funnier.
I believe she was a competent hiker who just had a bad accident, and the fact is hiking alone significantly narrows your margin of error for recovering from accidents. I wouldnât discourage anyone who is well-informed and genuinely prepared from hiking alone as long as they understand the risks involved.
Hiking without a permit is an unfortunate necessity for many routes in Taiwan. As Iâm sure weâre all too familiar, the police just donât take their jobs seriously. Iâve been discouraged from applying for permits, had permits arbitrarily rejected, been ignored when trying to check in with permits as required, you name it. The whole 塎ä¸ĺ¤ attitude about safety starts with the authorities, yet itâs the hikers who always take the blame when accidents happen. The permit system is a joke and doesnât ensure the safety of hikers. Itâs just an excuse to shift responsibility.
If the government were serious about hiker safety theyâd overhaul and centralize the permit system, actually enforce it, promote mountain safety education, and charge fees for permits toward a rescue insurance pool and trail maintenance.
I now purchase private international rescue insurance and carry a realtime satellite monitor when out in the high mountains as I donât feel I can count on local authorities for anything.
6 Likes