In 2013 in Karelia, an interesting incident happened to one of our friends. He is a fairly reasonable and educated person, but at that time he had no experience in hiking, and he did not know why walking with group is so important. This is what happened to him. It was two or three hours before dark. The group tried to go through the difficult and inconvenient route as quickly as possible and get to the area where they had planned to have overnight.
The group stopped for a short rest, and our friend went into the bushes to “pick flowers”. There, he came across something very interesting: some iron caps with slots for weapons and an underground entrance, presumably to Narnia. He quickly examined all this and returned to the group to tell everyone about what he had just found. However, for some reason he could not find the place where the group stopped, and when he found it, he discovered that the group was no longer there.
Let’s digress from the story for a moment and ask ourselves the question: why do real professionals never lag behind the group?
And really why? After all, they are professional hikers with a lot of experience. They have made many difficult ascents. What are they afraid of? Why not lag behind a little and enjoy the silence of the forest alone, then quickly catch up with the group. Or they can go faster and reach the place first.
Why Professionals Never Lag Behind the Group
Real professionals try to never separate from the group.
Here are the reasons why professionals are always walking with group:
- Firstly, lagging behind the group is a bad example for inexperienced members of the group. You must always be part of the team. Beginners will see how the professionals go out of the line, and decide that they can do that too. If an experienced person can more or less reasonably evaluate his capabilities and act carefully, then a beginner who has been in several hikes already considers himself a veteran. An accident in the taiga or in the mountains can overtake even a professional. A professional can get injured, get lost, and a wild beast can attack him. What in this case we can say about beginners…
Walking with goup
- While the professional is waiting for the group or running to catch up with them, something serious and dangerous can happen in the group. At this time, they may need something from the first-aid kit or hiking equipment. Something that only an experienced hiker usually has.
- A true professional understands that because of his mistake, he may be considered missing. In this case, the entire group will return and search for him. It can take a lot of time and cause great stress to the group members and especially to its leader. The search capabilities of a small hiking group are not so great. Therefore, if the group does not find the lost member, they will have to seek the help of rescuers. There is also the possibility that other members of the group will get lost or simply will not manage to reach their destination before dark.
That is why the competent leader of the group will try to maintain discipline in the group, will give instructions on how important walking with group is, will appoint the leaders and back walkers, and order the rest to keep up or not to be ahead of them. During breaks, an experienced leader will start a roll call to make sure that all participants are in place. In darkness or fog, when visibility is poor, everyone will walk as close to each other as possible, with headlamps on their heads, so that the leader can count all participants with the help of a light.
What to do if it somehow happened?
Now let’s return to the story of our friend. What did he do first? At first, of course, he was a little scared. He shouted, hoping that the group did not have time to go far and would hear him. Then he tried to find the place where the group had stopped. It was not easy, but in the end, he finally found it. He had an idea of which direction the group could go and even found their tracks. However, it was getting dark so he decided not to risk it and not to make the situation even worse. He did what he knew the best – he collected firewood, started a fire and began to prepare for the night.
Thanks to this, the group returned to the place of a halt and found him. Everything ended well. The group spent the night there, although they could have done it in a more convenient place.
Such incidents, of course, are not only the mistake of a person who got lost. This is also the team leader’s fault. Based on our experience, we want to give some practical advice.
If You Are Behind the Group
- Keep calm.
- If you have the means of communication, immediately contact the members of the group. Together you will come to a solution. If there is no connection, this is not good, but it is not a disaster yet.
- Do not look for familiar places in the forest. It would be better to look for clearly visible traces of your group.
- The group will look for you moving back along the same route, so stay where you are and wait. Those who try to find the right path on their own make the situation even more difficult.
- If you have a tent, set it up and start to prepare for possible bad weather.
- Light a fire near a trail or on a hill. At night, the fire will shine brightly, and during the day, it will release smoke clearly visible from afar.
- Screaming is pointless. A good whistle produces a louder sound and can be heard well from afar, even in windy and rainy weather.
Another important point regarding girls. Do not let anyone carry your backpack or sleeping bag. Your backpack, with all its contents, should always be on your shoulders, so that in such situations you always have everything you need to survive.
What do you think, dear readers? What other options are there to find a missing participant of a group?
Original article by Grigory Lisovsky
Article source – here.
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