What happens when the rescuers die?
Boxing day 2011 this happened in Australia.
Sounds like you guys need to demand expenses be paid if the state is stiffing you like that.
Well, then please allow me to retort for the rescuers:
Fuck your motherfucking backpack. Fuel is burning and weather conditions can change in any instant that will endanger the lives of everyone involved. Get your ass in the motherfucking helicopter.
The same type of illogic youāre using to stall our rescue and save your backpack is what got you into this mess in the first place.
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Iām totally in agreement that the rescuers should take whatever precautions they feel necessary.
But just playing devilās advocate:
The rescuer insisted that the hiker, whose limbs were likely weak and/or numb from having been stranded for so long, remove his backpack BEFORE he had secured him with the strop. Whoās āstallingā the rescue? Could he not have got the strop on with the backpack in place? Why risk having him remove his pack before youāve even secured him?
And once the pack is off, the rescuer doesnāt fling it down the hill where A. it would be out of their way and not potentially affect their footing and B. it could be more easily retrieved later. When I first watched the video and saw the rescuer actually take a moment or two to make sure the pack was secure on the ledge ( again, BEFORE heās secured the hiker ) I thought for sure he was later going to clip it to the strop or himself. What if the hiker had slipped and fallen to his death as the rescuer was positioning the pack?
3 cheers to these volunteers for their selfless hard work though.
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Who is āstallingā the rescue? Not the rescuers.
On top of other various issues with various instability introduced by a backpack (see below in second part of this post) they obviously had the man remove it because he was in a narrow space where his backpack could have gotten snagged on a rock, limb, etc. on the way up to the helicopter endangering everyone involved.
The back and sides of many backpacks often have a lot of strap loops, expandable cords, etc.
Observe:
the rescuer insisted that the hiker, whose limbs were likely weak and/or numb from having been stranded for so long, remove his backpack BEFORE he had secured him with the strop.
First of all, the rescuer removed the backpack. The guy only moved his arms out of the straps and the rescuer proceeded to lift it off of him.
Secondly, if you look at the rescue harness, it would have been more difficult and time-consuming (you know, stalled the rescue?) to adjust it to go around the backpack. Also, what if inside the backpack there was plastic bottles or other unstable contents that crushed inwards and/or slid around and then loosened the entire apparatus as he was lifted up? Not to mention the backpack itself could have slid to the side and loosened the rescue harness as well. The backpack was the weakest link, it had to be removed.
Thirdly, you should have also noticed the part where the man faced outwards from the wall before they lifted him. If the backpack had been on his back, the extra space on his back would have likely bumped him forward away from the wall and off the cliff before the team was properly prepared to safely lift him. Then youād have a situation where heās likely swinging back and forth slamming into the wall as they pull him up. That would have sucked for him, likely endangered the rescuer and made the helicopter less stable in the air as well. Nice clusterfuck for all involved.
Finally, some of you guys are kind of reminding me of climate change deniers who think the climate scientists donāt know their own shit in their own field. The reason this guyās life was saved and without injury in that volatile situation is because the rescuers trained for this kind of shit. If it were up to some of you untrained āexpertsā within this peanut gallery, he wouldāve been a dead man. 
3 cheers to these volunteers for their selfless hard work though.
And 4 more cheers for their expert training that led them to make the right choices which included removing that motherfucking backpack and refusing to allow the guy to waste time retrieving it when he motioned for it.
They werenāt removing the backpack from the situation to spite this guy, they were saving his life in the safest way possible. And, the proof is in the pudding.
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I knew bookending that post with supportive comments for the rescuers was going to be ignored by some concern troll.
Just based on your combative tone, Iām not going to actually discuss this any further with you. But I have to say:
A. Thanks for showing me what a backpack looks like. That first one looks exactly like what that guy was wearing too.
B. I donāt care how many photos of Jules you sprinkle in your obscenity-laced reply, I know youāre just a pasty white guy like myself and weāll never be that cool.
Remove pack, because it will (a) get in the way of the harness, (b) unbalance the subject, Ā© increase the risk of suspension trauma, (d) risk fouling on gear as youāre getting the subject into the chopper.
Donāt throw the pack overboard, because you donāt throw ANYTHING overboard, ever, when youāre climbing. You donāt know whoās below for it to fall on, or, worse, for the rock slide that it kicks off to fall on. (Corollary. when you hear āROCK!ā, you duck and cover, rather than looking around for the falling rock. If it doesnāt fall on you, youāve missed seeing the show. Big deal.) And donāt depend on being able to throw it clear of the talus slope. You canāt throw a heavy object very far from a narrow ledge without unbalancing yourself from the recoil.
Iām surely not that cool, being not only a pasty-faced white guy, but an old pasty-faced white guy. But Iāve done this shit. (Never took part in a long line rescue, but trained for it!) Itās nearly forty years ago, but the training sticks. I know they do some things differently now, but this one looked professional, and was not too different from what I learnt.
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Just based on your combative tone
Itās tongue-in-cheek (mostly). Iām going with the theme I set in an earlier post with Jules making the retort on behalf of the rescuers.
I know you were just playing ādevilās advocateā, so please consider it combative towards that backpack-luvinā devil youāre advocating for. On the other hand, I chose to advocate for the rescuers who clearly knew WTF they were doing with even just the mildest assumption of good faith.
I knew bookending that post with supportive comments for the rescuers was going to be ignored
In my opinion, your supportive comments of the rescuers didnāt counter-balance your accusatory, condescending, negative tone towards the rescuers and their efforts in regards to the beloved backpack.
some concern trolley.
Youāre concern driving trollies for a backpack, fer christās sake.
Iām not going to actually discuss this any further with you.
You then go onā¦ to discuss it furtherā¦
Thanks for showing me what a backpack looks like.
Well, you love backpacks so much, I figured Iād show you some backpack porn for you to Rule 34 all over. 
I know youāre just a pasty white guy like myself and weāll never be that cool.
Your pretentiousness aside, you wouldnāt be my first choice for a cliff-side rescue mission partner. But, AFAIK, youāre very cool otherwise. So, hereās a bunny with a backpack to hopefully cheer you up.
Iām happy for you that you were able to snowboard difficult backcountry terrain without ever making a mistake bad enough to need SAR. But, as a former volunteer myself, I just canāt bring myself to get too torqued at a subject, even a stupid one. (Former partner: āAināt no shame to be stupid, everybody canāt be smart all the time!ā) Everyone makes mistakes. Some mistakes turn into missions. The typical rescuer answer, when a subject offers effusive thanks, is to shrug and say, āhey, itās what weāre here for.ā
The ones who get my goat are the ones who call for help because theyāve had some minor injury (not affecting their ability to travel) or have run out of water or something. The ones who would have made my former partner say, afterwards, āOMG! Weāve run out of Perrier! Call search and rescue!ā
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Thank you so much for the well reasoned and polite response free of condescension. I get now why the pack needed to be removed and especially why it canāt be thrown down the hillside.
For those here who know what youāre doing, how many of you, when scrambling, rack at least some gear that could be used to improvise protection? I know that I pretty much always have fifty feet of paracord, a couple of 'biners (for bearbag hanging), and my knife. In Class 4 terrain Iām likely also to bring a quickdraw and a cam or two, if only so that I can get some mechanical advantage for hauling my pack. Iāve done at least three hikes in the last year that had off-width cracks where I couldnāt stem while carrying the pack, because Iām a big guy.
This stuff isnāt enough to abseil down with, but enough to exploit some natural pro to get back from a dead end or work around an obstacle, or even just tie in and rest for a couple of minutes. I also recall doing one vertical crack last fall where someone else had placed a static line, and I was happy to tie a Swiss seat and a Prusik and scramble the crack with near-zero fall risk. It was easy enough that I could have free-soloed, and Iād been planning to, but I was still glad of the extra margin of safety.
By the way, in case people are now second guessing the presence of all those straps and bungees on the outside of a pack, consider that Iāve been on at least one trip where the stuff on the outside included: A rope and harness. A rack of ice screws, a few quickdraws, utility cords and 'biners, and a braking device. A helmet. A pair of snowshoes (with extension tails). A pair of ski poles. A crampon bag. An ice axe. An avalanche probe. An extra sleeping pad. All this gear was needed for safety. Even though it was a ānon-technicalā route, I knew that there was one pitch that Iād have to protect if it was icy.
For those here who know what youāre doing
I suspect youāre the only one here who meets that requirement.
Unlikely the only one qualified. A gear discussion might be better left to another thread or forum. Super topo and Mountain Project being among the usual suspects.
Boy, there certainly were a lot of others who were willing to second-guess the folks on the scene who did know what they were doing!
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Yep, the peanut gallery tends to scatter once someone calls their bluff (as you did). But, donāt worry, soon enough theyāll share their expertise hyper-critically against a new target within some other thread. 
Disclaimer, Confession and Determination:
Iām a tremendously unprofessional climber and I donāt know what the hell Iām talking about. Iām an idiot thatās climbed my way up to sketchy areas thatās scared the living shit out of me and Iāve ended up freezing like a frightened cat in a tree shitting on a limb. This would be once it dawned upon my dense skull that I was about to bite off more than I could possibly chew and if I haphazardly crawled any further, Iād probably die and/or be very seriously injured and hobbled for life. It would be labeled ādeath by clownish misadventureā.
Iāve had to get my dumb, weak shit together, meditate and slowly work my way back down like a sloth on PCP. Iāve repeatedly done this, because Iām an idiot. However, despite my flaws, Iām pretty sure most experts in their field do know what theyāre doing, especially when thereās clear evidence of success like we see with this helicopter rescue mission. I know failure and success when I see it, becauseā¦ I am the failure.
In other words, youāre most climbers! (So am I, by the way.)
One thing climbing partners are for is to talk you through the sketchy areas when you freeze up. Because it happens to most of us. Which is why rescuers generally are kind to cliffed-out hikers.
As I said, everyone makes mistakes.
Your sketchy climbs were successful by the most important metric. You came home safe from them.
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Wordā¦ Iām just saying that this guy is clearly out of his depth - without a buddy. That annoys me. Generally speaking: if you could easily die doing what youāre doing then you sure as hell better take someone with you - if you value your life, that is.
I agree with your ex-partnerās sentiment, though Iām a much bigger fan of: āThereās no such thing as a stupid questionā. IMO inquisition should be encouraged, stupidity is inevitable but should be mocked.
PS: I have a great deal of admiration for those who put their own safety at risk for that of others. Thankyou.
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Iāve ended up freezing like a frightened cat in a tree shitting on a limb.
Cow, what did I tell you manā¦ drop the shrooms after the climb
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I thought that his buddy was off the rock, you know, fetching the SAR people? Surely my cellphone doesnāt work in most of the places I hike.
Different people have different risk tolerances. Personally, I solo only routes that are popular enough that Iām likely to see someone else at least every few hours. When solo, on a sketchy spot, I ask myself, ācould I get off this with a tweaked back or a leg cramp?ā And, as I said, I carry a PLB when off trail, or in winter, or when solo. (The PLB is mostly for the safety of searchers. SAR gets tremendously easier once the subject is found. A PLB takes the search ouf of search and rescue.)
I know people who will solo on trips that I wonāt. And I know people who insist that all groups have to be at least four, so that nobody is alone even if someone has to go fetch help. I have little sympathy for the sort of āworst firstā thinking that says before a trip, āwhat if thereās a SECOND accident after the group splits up? Everyone still needs a partner then!ā because the fear isnāt assuaged by having a group of four: itāll just lead to the comtemplation of a third accident.
Iām still at higher risk on the drive to the trailhead.
I see from the continuation that I completely missed your point when you were asking to discuss gear recommendations. I had skipped over all of the armchair quarterbacking posts.
