Atticus_1354 posted:

Still a lot of areas out that way with no cell reception. If I am in a dead zone I will stop and help people who are broke down because of that.

Ineffiable posted:

Don't people underestimate the size of Australia due to the mercator projection?

Captain Candyblood posted:

For example, over a hundred immigrants die every year trying to cross the barren land between Mexico and the US. Over 2,000 have died since border security ramped up in 2001.
http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-ff-immigrant-border-deaths-20151021-story.html
http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/3/11/death-in-the-desertthedangeroustrekbetweenmexicoandarizona.html

Maybe it makes sense that immigrants don't survive; they're on a long and dangerous walk through land no one uses, they don't have the option of seeking help from authorities, they're often not as well supplied as they should be. But even people going out for a day hike can be endangering themselves. People die in state parks every year because they ignore the severe heat warnings and go out anyway, and then get dehydrated and lost, or just too sick to walk. This summer, parts of Arizona got between 115-120 and lots of people ended up dead or hospitalized.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2016/06/22/100-percent-avoidable-hiker-deaths-mount-in-blazing-az-heat-wave/
A lot of these things happen in areas that are relatively close to "civilization" too. Ventana Canyon is less than ten miles long and directly outside the city of Tucson, but it's still desolate enough that those people died out there. That's always what gets me most about the stories in this thread about lost hikers...when they're JUST within the reach of help but miss it by inches and end up dying...

Anyway I rambled a little bit but my point is, the land out here is massive and weird and hot as hell. You can go from a well populated city to a moonscape in a matter of minutes and you'll die if you don't know what you're doing.

Josef K. Sourdust posted:

This may be a dumb question but why would you cross in summer? Surely you'd have a much better chance during winter.

Solice Kirsk posted:

Their winter and summer are backwards.

Ineffiable posted:

Don't people underestimate the size of Australia due to the mercator projection?

Captain Candyblood posted:

quote:

Generally while hiking, the body loses about a liter of water each hour. That number is more than doubled in hot weather. The rub is that the body cannot absorb water nearly that quickly, so it’s nearly impossible to replace even if a hiker is carrying enough. Instead, it can only efficiently absorb a half-liter every hour, Modern Hiker reported.

In other words, each hour, the body can lose 2 liters of water but only replace .5 liters, leaving the body at a 1.5-liter deficit of water each hour.

quote:

Odessa, just outside of Ukraine’s capital, Kiev, is home to one of the largest catacombs in the entire world. With over 1,500 miles of subterranean tunnels, Odessa’s catacombs even beat out the well-known Paris Catacombs in terms of length. After a nearly a century of mining operations beneath the city, and a stint as a WWII hiding place, the government officially sealed all entrances to the tunnels in 1980. Well, they tried to, at least.

Despite the best efforts of officials to keep adventurous folks out of the Catacombs, the tunnels proved to be a popular spot for teenagers to hold their wild parties far from the prying eyes of adults. Unfortunately, the extreme isolation meant that while you could party in peace, your chances of of dying in peace are also increased exponentially.

In 2009, an urban explorer known only as Eugene took to UER.com to share a morbid discovery that he’d made deep below the Odessa streets.

From http://www.uer.ca/forum_showthread_archive.asp?fid=1&threadid=68818&currpage=1
"As I said earlier, a lot of people lost and even dead under Odessa. Maybe this photo will shock you. It`s a dead body of the 19-years old girl, who has lost the right way in the maze. Her body was found only after 2 years…
…It’s a very sad story. She went with her friends into katakombs to celebrate a 2005s new year. It was a very big bad-experiment group, so probably when in the morning drunk group left katakombs, they forgot girl inside. It was a very long and painful death! She couldn’t find an entrance. She was taken out only in the end of 2007 аnd buried.
I made this photo in Аpril 2005. Аfter thаt I called police, but they did not want to go inside. Her body was far from the exit."

Let the sad story be a warning to all would-be urban explorers – if you decide to crawl into the Earth’s hidden places, make sure you go with a friend, tell others where you are, and don’t stray from the path.

quote:

Zooming and clicking the coded icons reveals the details of each tragedy. For example: “Hastrick of Hertfordshire, England climbed over the rock guard wall to take a photo of the rim, not of the Canyon, from the very edge. While holding a camera to his face, Hastrick backed toward the Canyon and fell 333 feet.” And: “Keeling of Brea, CA was discovered decaying after jumping 300-500 feet with a suicide note in his pocket apologizing for the mess (that his body made).”

Pharnakes posted:

In what way is Odessa "just outside Keiv"? They're practically at opposite ends of the country

Josef K. Sourdust posted:

This may be a dumb question but why would you cross in summer? Surely you'd have a much better chance during winter.

A CRUNK BIRD posted:

Just make sure you bring ketchup and relish packets you'll be fine

Ineffiable posted:

Don't people underestimate the size of Australia due to the mercator projection?

TotalLossBrain posted:

I grew up in Europe and then emigrated to the Pacific Northwest (US). Germans/Europeans don't look at a world map when they are planning their meticulous trips. German LOVE LOVE LOVE to plan trips with maps and poo poo, at least all of my family did/does.
No, instead they'll be looking at local or national road maps like they're used to from home. And they won't notice that the scaling is far different. They look at relative size of things and relative distances.

ZeroDays posted:

Pretty much.



loving about with The True Size Of is a real eye opener.

ZeroDays posted:

Pretty much.



loving about with The True Size Of is a real eye opener.

Vladimir Poutine posted:

Canada has a similar but less extreme pattern, with something like 90% of the population within 100 miles of the US border.

A Spider Covets posted:

Holy crap. I never knew! That's really cool, and now I want to go there someday.

Terrible Opinions posted:

There are back parts of west Texas where the signs say 300 miles. I've never gone down them to verify but that's what the signs say.

Zodijackylite posted:

I'm from the northeastern US and I don't think I've ever been somewhere where I couldn't dump a gallon of gas in a car and get to the nearest station. Everywhere I've ever been in my life could fit into the middle of nowhere in Australia. Driving six states over was a big road trip, and you're telling me it's that far between... anything?

Phyzzle posted:

Huh, so in >115 degree heat, humans have to spray water directly on their skin or else die. Wonder if that's only true in sunlight, or in shade as well.

quote:

Cat 'guides injured walker to safety' after he got lost in Swiss Alps
'She kept looking at me to follow and led me straight to the path that would take me back down to the valley'

A hiker claims he was guided back to the right path after he sprained his ankle and got a lost in the Alps.

The Hungarian man said he became disorientated and found his intended route blocked while walking in the mountains near Gimmelwald, Switzerland.

Fortunately, he encountered a friendly local cat who guided him back to safety.

Coucho Marx posted:

Maybe? Australia has almost exactly as much landmass as the 48 states, but about 1/13th of the population, and basically all of us live on the east/southeast coast (or around Perth in the very southwest). All capital cities are coastal, too, we just don't have the kind of regional cities other countries have (just large towns, really). The northwest is especially desolate.

edit: like, when foreigners think of Australia, they'll usually imagine stereotypical stuff like deserts and the outback and beaches and Steve Irwin, but nobody remembers that Australia is one of the most urbanized countries on the planet.

Rescued Woman posted:

"Nobody can prepare you for this," she later told police of her ordeal.

quote:

They set out on the Routeburn on July 26, despite being warned off by Department of Conservation (DOC) staff.

According to Kennett, they had no tent or locator beacon and told no-one of their plans.

DOC Te Anau operations manager Greg Lind posted:

He said he hoped the incident would serve as a reminder to tramper's to take extra precautions.

"The message is being ignored or overlooked by people and they are getting themselves into a right pickle.

"People are making judgement calls about their own experiences and ability and often they are getting caught out."

Shady Amish Terror posted:

That's a terrible and unnerving experience (and RIP that dude), but one thing in the article bugs me. Not about the article itself, but how the situation came about.





This seems to be one of the most common threads about people dying in the wilderness, in that most of them are under-prepared or even actively refuse advice to the contrary. It's good to be a skeptic, to question the advice of others a little and do your own research, but it's quite another thing to get advice from an expert, write it off immediately, and then act bewildered that anything could have ever gone wrong. It's like when people ignore advice from their doctors about their health and then act surprised when they take ill or die. It's frustrating, and sad, in that it leads to lethal situations like this that could have been avoided. Leading a horse to water, etc., etc.

Helith posted:

My favourite unnerving thing about New Zealand was finding out about the Auckland Volcanic Field when we visited the first time.

Basically New Zealands biggest city is sited on top of a field of magma that has produced 50 small volcanos. Who knows where it will next erupt, or when or what kind of eruption it will be and what effects it will have. Will it be under the water and cause a tsunami? or an earthquake? hot steam blasts or gasses? Ash falls? Take your bets!

The actual risk is very small statistically, but it's really unnerving to read about and then notice all those little conical hills around the city.

Vladimir Poutine posted:

Maybe this doesn't count as unnerving because a random cat showed up and saved his sorry rear end, but speaking of lost hikers:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/w...d=facebook-post

slinkimalinki posted:

Eh, it's fine, it's the Taupo megavolcano you need to worry about.

Jedit posted:

If you want something to really worry about : the next time Yellowstone erupts it will be an extinction-level event. It's overdue to erupt.