HikeArizona.COM

http://www.azcentral.com/community/surp ... tanks.html

Pretty decent article about what happened in the White Tanks a few weeks ago. My take on the article is that Justin Rodriguez probably had some heart issues that will be confirmed when the autopsy is released.

That, or returning from Flag and wearing pants left him with a low heat tolerance.

I think it could have been a combination of all the factors: Possible heart condition, not being used to hiking in the heat. The symptoms they described don't sound to me like heat exhaustion or heat stroke.

Tingling arm is a give away for heart issues. And what the paramedic said is true, that the heat on the ground is 30 degrees higher (rule of thumb) than just a few higher, due to reflection.

Btw, who else here was reading the article and knowing exactly where tha article was talking about as the hike occured?

kingsnake wrote: Btw, who else here was reading the article and knowing exactly where tha article was talking about as the hike occured?

It was kind of eerie to read the article and know exactly where he was. I was mentally doing the hike in my head as I was reading the article.

I'm struck by the final sentence of the story, "They still had three bottles of water." In my mind, this speaks to the survivors' lack of correct action. According to the story, if they literally had "three bottles of water," it's likely that they had two to three liters of water left. Within the story, it is described how the friends "stripped off our shirts and held them over his body to try and block the sun", used their fingers "to clear the phlegm from his throat", and how one person "locked his arms, hand over hand, and began compressions". Nowhere do they mention putting some water on one of the shirts and toweling the victim down to try and get some cooling going.

They should have called 911 much sooner, for sure; but they also should have tried (or should have said for the purposes of that story that they did try) to get some cooling going--especially with the water they had on hand. In the end, the delay in calling 911 might have been an unrecoverable error, but if they had tried to cool him down, there's some probability that things could have ended differently.

My point being: Take enough water with you so you can use some of it to cool yourself down if you get in trouble. I did and it probably saved my life (http://hikearizona.com/x.php?x=53866&UID=51640).

And it does not have to be 100+ for heat injury to occur. It could even happen in freezing temps. That's why I always err on the side of caution. (Or, as I call it, "bailing" ...)

kingsnake wrote:And it does not have to be 100+ for heat injury to occur. It could even happen in freezing temps. That's why I always err on the side of caution. (Or, as I call it, "bailing" ...)

To paraphrase a climbing quote I use when I am trying to decide to push it or not is "a successful hike is making it to the car in one piece, finishing the hike is a bonus".

As much as temperatures and fluids played a part in this, it seems to me the tragedy was set up years before.

Excerpt from the story:
It wasn’t the first time Justin had collapsed, Joseph says. In grade school, back in California, a teacher had told them that Justin was frequently falling asleep in class and that it could be a sign of a heart defect.
They took him to the doctor, who told them to start putting him to bed earlier.

A little more than a year ago, Justin had passed out at work. When he awoke, Joseph says, he complained that his chest felt tight and his arm was numb. A doctor found nothing wrong with him.

Yes, I do agree it's way too easy to take and run on this small amount of information, however it seems there may have been a non-diagnosed medical condition that was the true cause of the tragedy.