Should lost hikers pay for rescue?

[rideforever]

The only reason this dumb question keeps getting brought up is because not many people use search and rescue and the selfish masses don't think we should support anything they don't plan to use.

With the amount of money we spend taking care of people who do much dumber things, like heath-care for people who sit on the couch all day and eat too much, I think it's rediculous that we question this relatively tiny amount of money taking care of people who like to get exercise and enjoy our beautful country. We should be supporting that kind of hobby, it's cheap and healthy, not turning our backs on them in the rare occassion they need help.

[KL3-Something]

I agree.

We also should not be lumping all people who require the services of SAR in with the idjits who repeatedly chose to ski out of bounds at lower mainland ski hills and then need to be rescued. Last thing we need is people dying out there because, when they are lost, they or the people who are expecting their return, are too concerned about the cost of being rescued being passed on to them and, as a result, not making the call.

[zzontar]

I agree.

We also should not be lumping all people who require the services of SAR in with the idjits who repeatedly chose to ski out of bounds at lower mainland ski hills and then need to be rescued. Last thing we need is people dying out there because, when they are lost, they or the people who are expecting their return, are too concerned about the cost of being rescued being passed on to them and, as a result, not making the call.

I also agree, but what do you do with the out-of-bounds skiers? A ban from the ski hill resulting in a hefty fine if they're caught there again might work, but it's probably pretty easy to sneak in unnoticed.

[Relentless]

but what do you do with the out-of-bounds skiers? A ban from the ski hill resulting in a hefty fine if they're caught there again might work, but it's probably pretty easy to sneak in unnoticed.

I, personally think that out of bounds skiers that end up needing rescuing should pay the whole bill, and be banned from skiing the hill for life.

[rideforever]

I've been skiing/snowboarding my whole life, very rarely out of bounds, yet I still think even they should be covered. I'm tempted to say they shouldn't be because sometimes the areas they go make no sense and you can tell they didn't look into it at all before making their dumb move and also sometimes they are in avalanche or cliffy terrain putting others' lives at risk which is much worse than just getting lost. But there's also lots of areas with plenty of tracks leading out of bounds and the only indicator that it's the edge of the hill is a little sign nailed to a tree every 100meters. Yes, they should read the map and know when the run they're on is at the edge, but still, it's not like every out of bound skier blatenly disregards signage and ducks fences the way morbidly obese people disregard the nutritional info on the food they eat or the way smokers ignore the pictures on their packages.

I always come back to the amount of other types of stupidity that we cover without question and I think that at least this stupidity is based around exercise which is something that's worthwhile for the govt to support.

If we choose to charge dumb skiiers, I think we should atleast have a first one's free policy and then start charging them if they do it again. Or maybe some penalty for those who drag SAR into avalanche hazards, that'd be more for snowmobilers than lower mainland skiers though.

[hobbyguy]

Whenever I see this kind of question, I am reminded of my experience in Nepal. Don't know if it has changed, but when I went there you had to put up a $2,500 cash deposit or they wouldn't come and rescue you. If you had to be rescued, the $2,500 was forfeit, if not, then you got the money back at the end of your stay.

Funny how they get away with that stance, but we could never get such a thing to fly here. Maybe an "outdoor activity insurance badge"??

[cliffy1]

In Nakusp, Search & Rescue sold T-shirt that said, Support Search & Rescue - GET LOST! as a fund raiser. These guys and gals are all volunteer. I find it hard to justify them risking their lives to save some bozo who skis out of bound to get a cheep thrill.

[StraitTalk]

This question has been asked here before. It's not worth discussing as 99% of the posters on here have no idea what they're talking about when it comes to this topic.

[hobbyguy]

But that makes it fun.

[rideforever]

Whenever I see this kind of question, I am reminded of my experience in Nepal. Don't know if it has changed, but when I went there you had to put up a $2,500 cash deposit or they wouldn't come and rescue you. If you had to be rescued, the $2,500 was forfeit, if not, then you got the money back at the end of your stay.

Funny how they get away with that stance, but we could never get such a thing to fly here. Maybe an "outdoor activity insurance badge"??

I think Nepal is a different because they get a lot of people who aren't ciitzens and aren't paying taxes going there for extremely risky outdoor activities and ontop of that I doubt they are as rich as Canada is. I mean this more of a comparrison, if we're ok with spending x amount of dollars on health care for people who make dumb decisions, we shouldn't complain about the relatively tiny amount of money spent on search and rescue for people who make dumb decisions.

[rideforever]

In Nakusp, Search & Rescue sold T-shirt that said, Support Search & Rescue - GET LOST! as a fund raiser. These guys and gals are all volunteer. I find it hard to justify them risking their lives to save some bozo who skis out of bound to get a cheep thrill.

Judging by the fact that they volunteer for it, I'm guessing they don't find it as hard to justify as you do. Maybe they only want to help people who make honest mistakes and not people who are rediculously stupid, but how do we tell the difference? Do we base it on the area? How about on the amount of times they've needed SAR?

[rideforever]

This question has been asked here before. It's not worth discussing as 99% of the posters on here have no idea what they're talking about when it comes to this topic.

If lack of knowledge made things not worth discussing this whole forum would be shut down.