Darwin award winner?

[Markbnj]

This story started developing a couple of days ago.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...gency-beacon-saved-switched-cellphone-on.html

As soon as I read it I had to choke down an impulse to jump to conclusions. I mean it's just too horribly perfect. Pretty and privileged young banker who lives in a million dollar apartment in NYC buys herself all the best gear and tech and sets off to climb the Presidential Range... alone... in winter.

I had to figure there was something more to it. She was a world class mountaineer, perhaps, and all the other world class mountaineers thought she would make it, and were shocked when she didn't. What do I know?

Apparently I should just trust my instincts more. Darwin award? I'm thinking yes.

 

[Puppies04]

Yep she can have an award.

 

[Rakehellion]

A "Darwin Award" is a moronic and scientifically inaccurate way to say someone killed themselves.

 

[Markbnj]

A "Darwin Award" is a moronic and scientifically inaccurate way to say someone killed themselves.

It's a metaphor. You may have encountered the concept from time to time.

More importantly, you're just wrong on the meaning of the phrase. It doesn't mean someone "killed themselves." It means someone unintentionally caused their own death due to stupidity, hubris, etc.

I assume you're not a writer.

 

[Puppies04]

A "Darwin Award" is a moronic and scientifically inaccurate way to say someone killed themselves.

Thanks for clearing that up for anyone who just found out about the internet.

I bet you are real fun at parties.

BTW Suicide is a way to say someone killed themself, saying they deserve a Darwin award is pointing at the fact that they killed themself by accident doing something hella dumb.

 

[phucheneh]

Who fucking dies while mountaineering in the northeastern US? Within 24 hours of finding themselves in trouble, no less?

A dipshit, that's who.

She should've brought her butler.

 

[Markbnj]

Who fucking dies while mountaineering in the northeastern US? Within 24 hours of finding themselves in trouble, no less?

A dipshit, that's who.

She should've brought her butler.

Are you familiar with those mountains? They're not the Rockies, but you don't have to be a dipshit to die in them. Not that she wasn't, because it certainly appears she was at least undeservedly arrogant.

 

[Puppies04]

Are you familiar with those mountains? They're not the Rockies, but you don't have to be a dipshit to die in them. Not that she wasn't, because it certainly appears she was at least undeservedly arrogant.

I am sure she did some extensive prep work with her yoga instructor in her air conditioned gym.

Really don't know what went wrong.

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

Over the last ten years, I've known of at least 6 people dying in different incidents while camping in improved parks within 10 minutes of emergency help. Darwin awards are alive and well? I always do my best to spot folks who are clueless while camping and keep an eye on them.

 

[the DRIZZLE]

Who fucking dies while mountaineering in the northeastern US? Within 24 hours of finding themselves in trouble, no less?

A dipshit, that's who.

She should've brought her butler.

Mount Washington is dangerous in part because people take it too lightly.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Washington_(New_Hampshire)#Deaths

 

[Brian Stirling]

Mount Madison is pretty darn close to Mount Washington and Mt Washington is regarded as having the worst weather in the country with many days with winds above 100mph each year. It's possible she ran into weather problems and could not find or build a shelter quick enough. It's also possible that she fell and broke a leg.

You take risks when you hike alone...


Brian

 

[Markbnj]

Mount Madison is pretty darn close to Mount Washington and Mt Washington is regarded as having the worst weather in the country with many days with winds above 100mph each year. It's possible she ran into weather problems and could not find or build a shelter quick enough. It's also possible that she fell and broke a leg.

You take risks when you hike alone...


Brian

Not to mention it was the coldest day of a very cold year. Her emergency beacon was guaranteed to -20F but it malfunctioned because, according to a searcher, the air was "far colder than that." Another member of the search and rescue team simply said he would not go up on the mountain in those conditions that she ventured into alone.

They said that had she turned on her cel phone they would have found her, but I wonder whether cel phones will even work at those temperatures?

 

[Gooberlx2]

It's possible she ran into weather problems and could not find or build a shelter quick enough. It's also possible that she fell and broke a leg.

Kinda both. The wind basically picked her up and threw her, and she ultimately died of exposure.

Here's an article, with better details (instead of obsessing over the cost of her apartment, fuckin' Daily Mail).

Her inexperience, arrogance, ignorance or all three definitely caused her death. Climbing the Whites, alone, in Winter, with horrific weather forecasted is beyond stupid. Not turning her cell phone on is probably pretty low on the list of things that got her killed.

Not to mention it was the coldest day of a very cold year.

"there was a moment Monday morning when the peak of Mount Washington was the second-coldest measured place on earth"

 

[Markbnj]

fuckin' Daily Mail

They do suck beyond all measure. They suck so bad they've become a daily must-read for me, just because of the epic suck, and the occasional picture of a pretty celebrity. So I guess that was a successful strategy.

 

[Nograts]

Wait...how old is her husband? The VP of JP Morgan? He looks young as shit. WTF. I picked the wrong profession.

 

[SKORPI0]

✓ Blond and inexperienced.
✓ Climbing alone NE highest peak in the dead of winter.
✓ Using a beacon that's faulty in low temps.
✓ Forgetting to use her cell phone to help the rescue.
✓ Darwin Award .

 

[Argo]

Wait...how old is her husband? The VP of JP Morgan? He looks young as shit. WTF. I picked the wrong profession.

VP at a financial institution is not the same thing as VP at a tech firm for example. Still not too shabby, but totally doable for somebody in late 20s early 30s.

Also, so much jumping to conclusions in this thread, the ground is shaking.

 

[Imp]

They do suck beyond all measure. They suck so bad they've become a daily must-read for me, just because of the epic suck, and the occasional picture of a pretty celebrity. So I guess that was a successful strategy.

I also hate that effing site so much that I need to check at least daily... and I still visit despite the fact that it makes my browser take a shit often and runs stupid video ads at full volume randomly even if I don't hover over anything.


OP's story. Guess the bad weather made it a challenge? Nice of hubby to drop her off in the morning too.

 

[disappoint]

 

[phucheneh]

Mount Washington is dangerous in part because people take it too lightly.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Washington_(New_Hampshire)#Deaths

That's definitely surprising. 135 recorded deaths there...hell, Everest only has 200-something, I think, and a lot of those happened in multiples of 5-10 or more due to large avalanches or storms.

'Take it too lightly' would definitely be the key phrase. If I died on a 6000ft peak my corpse would be pretty embarassed.

 

[werepossum]

Kinda both. The wind basically picked her up and threw her, and she ultimately died of exposure.

Here's an article, with better details (instead of obsessing over the cost of her apartment, fuckin' Daily Mail).

Her inexperience, arrogance, ignorance or all three definitely caused her death. Climbing the Whites, alone, in Winter, with horrific weather forecasted is beyond stupid. Not turning her cell phone on is probably pretty low on the list of things that got her killed.


"there was a moment Monday morning when the peak of Mount Washington was the second-coldest measured place on earth"

Thanks for the much better link.

I'd not only nominate her for a Darwin Award, I'd like to find an award that similarly recognizes self-centered prats who endanger others in their own stunts. Every would-be rescuer faced potential death going after her dumb ass. If you must climb dangerous mountains in winter, at least have the decency to go all in and forgo the beacon, so you don't endanger others.

Not to mention it was the coldest day of a very cold year. Her emergency beacon was guaranteed to -20F but it malfunctioned because, according to a searcher, the air was "far colder than that." Another member of the search and rescue team simply said he would not go up on the mountain in those conditions that she ventured into alone.

They said that had she turned on her cel phone they would have found her, but I wonder whether cel phones will even work at those temperatures?

Nah, warmest year on record. I suspect she died of heat stroke.

 

[Carson Dyle]

..

 

[shortylickens]

A "Darwin Award" is a moronic and scientifically inaccurate way to say someone killed themselves.

It's not totally inaccurate. If your family line has made it to the point where it cannot survive under the current conditions (civilized western culture) then it will be pushed out for more adaptable life forms.

 

[Nograts]

It's not totally inaccurate. If your family line has made it to the point where it cannot survive under the current conditions (civilized western culture) then it will be pushed out for more adaptable life forms.

It's nature's way of telling plebs to fuck off.

 

[Carson Dyle]

As soon as I read it I had to choke down an impulse to jump to conclusions. I mean it's just too horribly perfect. Pretty and privileged young banker who lives in a million dollar apartment in NYC buys herself all the best gear and tech and sets off to climb the Presidential Range... alone... in winter.

I had to figure there was something more to it. She was a world class mountaineer, perhaps, and all the other world class mountaineers thought she would make it, and were shocked when she didn't.

Most likely neither. Not a noob who just raided the local REI so she could go out winter hiking for a quiet weekend. And not a world-class mountaineer.

Someone looking for a challenge. She found one she couldn't handle and it cost her her life.