This week’s Tuesday Tip comes from Guy Anderson. In the current issue of Cross Country magazine he writes an amazing account of how he survived after crashing in very remote terrain in Sun Valley USA earlier this year.
Guy Anderson on Being Prepared
I am no survival expert, just very, very lucky. So what would I do differently? I’d recommend using a Spot or InReach satellite tracker. Juan, a pilot who landed a couple of kilometres away from me, had a Spot and was picked up at midnight on the first night. Even if I’d been out all night, being able to send a position and an ‘Injured but OK’ message would have spared all the anguish at home.
And I’d pack an ‘emergency kit’: Spare radio batteries; a powerpack to charge everything else; a little food; a lighter; a light plastic mirror for signalling; a light waterproof or even a siltarp (very light tarpaulin); mosquito netting; headtorch; strong painkillers; water purification tablets (I drank from a stream but was lucky); and a whistle (I couldn’t shout due to the punctured lung).
And finally, to help your rescuers, if you have the strength, try to spread out your glider to make it as visible as possible and even if un-deployed put your reserve out too. Then concentrate on saving your skin.
