When I was in the Explorer Scouts, we were hiking the Rocky Mountain National Park. Our group broke into 2 teams along the trail and at one point one of our number in the slower team decided to push on to the first.
When we all stopped and collected each other at the last way point before our trailhead, that team mate was missing. Thankfully we were NOT in the mountains and there was only one fork which went to the next trailhead 5 miles further.
For good or for bad, (I was one of the stronger hikers), I dropped my pack and double timed back to the fork and took the next trail, asking those I passed if they saw my comrade and getting confirmation that she was ahead of me. I wanted to prevent the scout from doubling back since the vans would be waiting for her when she got out.
There was no doubling back so we both showed up at the next trailhead safe.
After all that, I had to hike back to the first way-point from the first trailhead to get my pack. They had hidden it in the brush at the way point because no one else could pack it out.
Alone in the wilderness is one thing for those with plenty of experience and adequate navigation and communication equipment. It is a horrible idea for those lacking either of those. The inexperienced or the ones without the gear won’t be in a position to recover when they make a wrong turn (and sooner or later you will) and if you can’t call for help an otherwise fairly minor situation can become deadly.
And I don’t think they were deliberately removing markers, just taking their stuff with them which ended up removing markers. Out there man-made stuff can provide easy identification of a particular location but you need things which are fixed! And the person who pushed on looked back and used the equipment as a reference point.
If you can get some drone footage or a few anguished phone audio snippets, maybe some smartwatch vital signs data, you could probably put together a snuff earnings call that would get even a hardened big three analyst feeling alive again.
Some suit talking about how “we have a lot of wood to chop until we complete that journey” is so dry; but some of the headcount actively and literally not making that journey in the background as you listen to people droning about how the business lines are wiggling…
What’s the odds that the soloist here was the boss who wanted to drag everyone up a mountain and they all told him to bugger off and do it himself? Just a thought
This was kind of my thought. He wanted to press on and the rest of the group didn’t or found they couldn’t because of injury, underestimating the terrain, or altitude sickness. He assures everyone he’s fine, experienced, whatever. This behavior is even more likely in a man
The rest of the group picks up the markers as they head back never even considering the guy might need them.
Doesn’t excuse waiting so long before calling rescue though.
What’s funny-ish is that, to me at least, (1) common sense and other senses have the strongest going last as “sag” and (2) going last is a super-alpha move … “it’s OK kids - I’ve got you and thanks to super awesome me we’ll be juuuust fine. And I have snacks.”
And from my experience doing mountain things as a youngster, hanging back with the more casual and/or first timers is more fun anyway.
Perhaps things are less chill in the CO mountains than they were 25 years ago?
Was just hiking at 11,000 feet and had to use my rescue inhaler on someone in our group who didn’t have asthma but was clearly having a very hard time breathing. (It worked, thankfully.)
These people should be tried for attempted manslaughter, or at least depraved indifference to life, and the company needs to be sued for thinking that was an appropriate employee activity.
The effects of altitude are very deceptive and creep up on you. The air looks the same as at sea level, but there’s very much less of it. You don’t get acclimated by a short climb.
I went up Mont Blanc some years ago, using the Tramway to go up to the Col de Voz, which is about 1,600 metres. We got off and wandered around. It was August, the sun was shining and it seemed fairly warm, despite the altitude.
My daughter, then a toddler, began to complain she did not want to walk any more. I wanted to go out into the alpine meadow, so I piggy-backed her for about 50 metres and my heart was totally pounding. I thought I might have a heart attack. We retreated to the cafe at the station, and drank Cokes and coffees until the next tram down.
