about rescue dollars...

[gpandas]

read an article about rescue efforts on mt. ranier, and once again thought about use of tax dollars to rescue people who knowingly put themselves in danger. rescuers (park rangers and volunteers) have made numerous attempts, including helicopters and climbers, to rescue two men, one of whom had scaled the mountain four times in the past. does anyone know how the rescue efforts are accounted for in a monetary sense? is insurance obtained by the climbers? are my tax dollars paying for any of this expense? the onus clearly lies with the climbers.

[bryant69]

1. I think traditionally

the onus is on the community. But I see your point.

Kind of an interesting parallel to health care. Many people who would be very comfortable spending tax dollars to save these climbers would also be comfortable denying health care to those who had "failed to plan for their future."

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[gpandas]

2. thanks for the interesting link n/t

[GumboYaYa]

3. Its is your tax dollars and the fees for park entrance, hiking,

camping, etc. that pay for rescue attempts in most cases. There is a movement in some of the western states to get climbers to pay for their rescuse attempts or to require climbers to carry locator devices.

Personally, I think locator devices make really good sense, but some of my fellow climbers think that it takes the danger out of the sport to carry something that is designed to protect you. As far as I'm concerned they might as well free climb everything, because most of a climber's gear is there to protect.

One misconception people have is that climbers create the majority rescue costs. In reality, rescues of climbers are more visible but also much more infrequent than other rescues. Instead of making people take the chance of incurring massive rescue fees, I think they should just charge a few dollars more for backcountry passes and spread the cost across all of us.