jfr wrote:
Well spoken! I may only be a lurker on this site, but the reason I lurk is that it has the best beta on current Sierra conditions. I'd like to see more of that, not less.
When are you going to start contributing to it then? The site is only as useful as we make it.
I fully realize that this is the "Backpacking Cautionary Thread" so I expected a number of comments urging restraint as well as examples of backpackers showing little, but posts using insulting descriptors like "Darwin" "stupid" "not fixable" etc. are just plain nasty.
This is HIGH Sierra Topix. Take the HIGH ROAD. Or your readers will hit the highway.
It's really really really hard for someone who sees people who BRAG about being utterly, completely foolish and encourages others to do the same, to hold their tongue. The only way to counter is to speak out against that, call it what it is. So no, some people are not fixable -- they are brash, careless, and don't care anything about anyone but their ego. They think swagger and daring will win them success. They refuse to listen and eventually they will stop listening because those stupid choices catch up to them. There are old mountain men, and bold mountain men, but there are no old bold mountain men. The mountains do not care about your attitude. The mountains do not care if you are old, young, new, experienced or dead. They do not respect braggadacio or hubris. You are on an equal footing with everyone so far as the mountains are concerned. So you either respect and approach the mountains with an open and pragmatic and prepared manner, or you keep rolling the dice until you get snake eyes. Just because you didn't pay for willful stupidity today does not mean you never do.
People who make mistakes based in inexperience, are not stupid. People who make mistakes and learn from them are smart. People who come close to disaster are posting here. It's not arrogance -- it's a fact. You don't make it far on arrogance. I am not an equal to the mountains, I am but a spectator and a postulant. I've bailed out of bad situations and I've had to help others do the same. I used to think there was an arrogance to people who put forth strong opinions -- there are those who do it to brag, but there are also those who do it out of a strong desire to prevent death and suffering of someone who is hell bent for danger. Right now? this thread was started out of a desire to get the attention of the less aware, and make the point that this year is different, the season is not typical, there are risks over and above the usual -- do you think that is simply someone's ego at work?
Really?