Uncategorized The role of social media in wilderness accidents

[Naughty Pine]

IMO some of the mishaps we're seeing are driven by the need for attention in SM. It's the Instagram effect. The first of this, the most extreme of that, the scariest of those. IMO Monique Richards did a similar thing on Canada's Mount Logan. She had promised from the outset to keep her fans posted on SM. In the event, she had no adequate communication link in case she needed a rescue, which indeed she did: she actually communicated with SAR via her agent. Seriously.

Monique Richard's story is here. To me, the similarities between her and Kate Matrosova are stunning, including their ambition and their complete disregard for the risks to SAR and others in the very likely event they'd need a rescue, and the reality that most of their previous "experience" had been on guided trips where they weren't making the decisions or doing the planning. IMO

Behind the scenes of the rescue of the last solo climber on Mount Logan

 

[Kaboom!]

SM gives people a blind spot about risk IMO. That’s why we get “death by selfie”. People have been falling off the rim of the Grand Canyon for some time. But now it seems like we hear about new ones in National Parks every day.

Yet the average time per visitor actually looking at the GC is only 17 minutes. So, yep, it’s about taking photos. The rest of the time spent visiting the GC is about being in the car or facilities.

The typical visitor takes a brief look into the Grand Canyon and departs full of wonder. The typical stay lasts from five to seven hours, according to park surveys, and the average time spent looking at the canyon is 17 minutes.

A guide to the Grand Canyon

www.chicagotribune.com

 

[Nitty Gritty]

There's a name for "death by selfie". Who knew?

SELFICIDE

 

[Cabin Fever]

There's a name for "death by selfie". Who knew?

SELFICIDE

Seriously. We're over 2 years out from this article, but the pandemic has maybe brought an escalation in these numbers:

Selficide: the deadly new addiction

Hundreds of people have become victims of "selficide," dying while trying to take a selfie in a risky situation.

www.newsweek.com

I can't even look at photos of selficiders without imagining myself on the cliffs where they're selfie-ing. I feel like I'm falling off vicariously. Terror.
And imagine the poor bystanders.

Grand Canyon hikers scream as woman plunges 100ft to her death while taking photos with family

HORRIFIED Grand Canyon hikers screamed in horror as they watched a woman fatally plunge 100 feet while taking family photos, a new video shows. The footage reportedly captured tourists in Arizona s…

www.the-sun.com

 

[Twiglets]

Every day, new examples. It's kinda crazy.