Decisions in the bush

[Champion_Munch]

I'd like to relate a bushwalking event from last weekend, where I suffered some injuries and was winched out by chopper (those of you in Brisbane may have seen some news coverage). Having spent a lot of time this week thinking about the event, I can't decide whether I made the "best" choices at the time. I imagine some of you will have been placed in similar situations before, so it would be great to know whether you would have approached things differently.

Brief context: I have spent a lot of time bushwalking (generally solo, sometimes with one or two other people) over the past few years in the SE QLD area. I would consider myself to be fairly capable in off-track situations, with some scrambling ability (not climbing) and reasonable navigational skills.

On this occasion I was doing a circuit walk near Mt Glorious, just north of Brisbane. The circuit involves a walk along a fire trail, before heading off-track down a ridge to a creek (England Creek Left Branch), and then follows the creek system back uphill to the start. I had track notes (from multiple sources), a topo map and compass. I had not done the walk before, although I had done other (graded) walks in the area. Despite being fairly close to civilisation, the area definitely has a "remote" feel. At a wild guess, the track might be used once or twice a month. I had phone reception throughout.

After descending to the creek, the track notes indicated I should arrive at the top of a small waterfall. Wanting to make sure I had intercepted the creek at the correct location, I walked about 40 m downstream to confirm there was a waterfall there. In doing so, I slipped on rocks near the top of the falls and fell maybe 3-4 m straight drop onto rocks not far from the base of the waterfall. A very quick assessment suggested nothing obvious was broken, but there was considerable bleeding from my forehead/mouth and a deep cut on my hand. I took my shirt off to try and stem the bleeding from my face.

At this point I was concerned I might pass out, and wasn't sure just how serious the situation was. After confirming reception on my phone, I spent a few terrible minutes trying to log in and dial through to my partner (apparently touch screens don't function well when they are covered in blood - I also learnt later that you can skip the login in case of emergency). I chose to dial through to my partner because I had left details of the walk (the same track notes I carried) and in case I passed out she would be able to make various phone calls to contact authorities on my behalf. I had lost the map during the fall but was able to communicate to her the grid reference of the waterfall, which was luckily mentioned in the track notes.

After the call I felt very woozy, so I lay down and waited 10 min to calm myself before trying to do anything. Only after then did I do a more thorough self-assessment to confirm no broken bones, lost teeth, sprained ankles etc. I received a call from emergency services to confirm my situation and where I had walked to get there. Unfortunately, the lady I spoke to was not familiar with the concept of "ridges" and seemed to have difficulty following my descriptions of the terrain covered. She explained I should stay in the same place and help would be on its way. Another call, and they wanted to confirm my position using my phone's location services, but annoyingly my phone died midway through the call despite having around 60% battery at the time (later I learnt they were able to triangulate my position).

Eventually, I band-aided and wrapped up my cuts as best I could to halt the bleeding. My glasses were broken from the fall, but I hadn't seemed to have lost anything (except the map). After standing for a few minutes I decided I should try and get back to the top of the falls, thinking that it would be much easier to locate/signal any rescuers from that position, and to try and keep warm (I had also mentioned during my last call to authorities that I might try to do this). It was pretty slow going, but I managed to climb up a steep, crumbly dirt slope to regain the creek above the waterfall. It wouldn't have been easy to descend.

This was about the point when I started thinking that I should have made a thorough self-assessment before asking for evac. I had walked for about 1.5 h before I fell, and at this point I felt capable of retracing my steps. It would have been slow and painful going but it was still early in the day. Of course, I lost the ability to make decisions for myself as soon as I made that phone call. So I waited, and was winched out around 4pm (how they got a winch in there - I have no idea). The helicopter flight out was amazing but I felt extremely guilty, knowing I possibly could have walked out un-assisted. In the end I only needed stitches in a couple of places, minor surgery on my hand, and a week off work to recover. I had a lot of scratches and bruisings (particularly where I landed on my leg) but nothing else serious. I can't figure out how I managed not to do any more damage than this.

Later I learnt that my partner and various firemen/ambulance/police officers had been parked out on the fire trail, trying to work out how to get a walking party in to my location. Two firies spent several hours bashing around in the bush (following the track notes) and couldn't locate the route I'd taken. In fact, I deviated from the track notes as I discovered the route was overgrown and had to ascend to a minor peak before locating the correct ridge. This I had explained to the first emergency services lady who called me, but apparently she hadn't communicated it on to anyone else. Locals were called in but weren't able to provide any helpful information. It wasn't until mid-afternoon that two rangers arrived who knew the route. If the winching hadn't worked, the ground team would have had to try and locate the route again (following the rangers' advice) and follow it down late in the day. Given their earlier difficulties, it seems unlikely they would have found me that afternoon, and would have had to camp somewhere on the ridge rather than pushing through in the dark. Or wait until morning.

This is nothing against the firies or other emergency crew - in fact they did an amazing job, given their situation, their knowledge and skill set. It is actually really impressive to see the coordinated effort that goes into an evacuation. The people on the ground were very professional and focused on taking a structured and calm approach to the rescue. After going through this, one thing I would do differently is ask to speak directly with a ranger, since they would immediately understand the situation, route, terrain etc far better than the emergency crew who are not bushwalkers. Key details can easily be lost when terminology is not fully understood.

So the question is - given the situation, would you call emergency immediately (as I did) or would you make a thorough self-assessment first?

[jdeks]

Don't beat yourself up too much mate (Or let the Facebook brigade beat you up either).

A 3 m drop is plenty to do some major damage. Problem with head injury is you can lose your capacity to self-assess, both in terms of cognitive reasoning, and plain raw sensation of the true extent of your injuries.

Could have you pulled a Rambo, walked it off and got yourself out with a mad scar and some Hardcore Points? Yeah, probably. Could have you fractured your skull without knowing it, passed out and died from hemorrhage alone and unnoticed trying to do said self-evacuation, miles from your planned route in your disorientation, resulting in huge grief for your wife and a SAR effort 10 times more extensive and costly? Quite possibly. Is that a risk worth taking for the sake of pride/embarrassment? Welp, that comes down to you really. You chose not to take that risk, which I think is totally justifiable.

It's not like you're one of these dopes who sets off with their iPhone and bottle of Evian to bust out a major trek on a Saturday arvo, and then needs bailout from an emergency entirely of their own making. Sounds like you did all the right prep, took a minor risk that anyone else likely would....and rolled a 6.

TBH I'd honestly call your accident a sort-of success story. You had comms, you left behind track notes, you did the best you could to help yourself and your helpers and the rescue was a success. I doubt you'd find any of the emergency services are remotely disapproving of your actions, or your call to give them a chance to put their training to use.

So what are the learning points?

- You're a bit better at feeling how much you can smash yourself up and still walk off, and how shock/adrenaline affects you. Next time you take the express elevator down a cliff, you'll be a bit better calibrated on whether you need an assist.
- You've learned what it's like trying to use the 000 chain of miscommand (frequently hopeless). Just because the dudes on the ground are good operators doesn't guarantee competence up the rest of the chain of chinese whispers. Short, simple sentences folks.
- Seemingly innocuous risks can be major, major dangers when solo. Recalibrate your risk assesments from 'what are the odds of that happening?' to 'what are the consequences if it does?' Personally, I always take a light line if theres even a chance of steep stuff. 30 seconds of precaution and 500g of weight more or less eliminates the risk of this particular type of accident.

Heal up and get back out there.

[Aardvark]

You did what you did and there is nothing wrong with any of it.
What you do in such a situation can depend so much on how you feel at the time. The environmental conditions at the time or the time of day may also play a big part.
Perhaps something was telling you to contact emergency services first because you were a little unbalanced from the fall ( no pun intended) and felt it urgent to get some assessment from someone else, albeit verbal. Now, in the comfort of your own home it is understandable you would question it. It's the old story : the decisions you make when things have gone wrong will be very different to those you make when comfortable and away from such chaos.
I think the support you have set up prior to the walk ie. emergency contact ( eg partner ) and their knowledge on what it is you're doing, equipment ( eg PLB, phone and service) etc will ultimately determine how you manage it.
I was lucky a few years ago when i took a friend to the Superbus bomber wreck. We did a circuit from Teviot Gap and the last descent from Superbus shoulder (1250m) to Teviot Gap at 700m saw him break a small bone in his ankle. He had slipped on a tree root 30m from the top.
I say lucky because my partner who would ordinarily have been with us on the walk, was at home. She knew the route well too. I called her first. She could still coordinate things for me if our phones went dead. Thing is, i wasn't the injured one. Maybe i was less anxious or more objective. It was late afternoon and my friend was winched out with minutes to spare for a chopper to stay on station. Bummer was, i had to walk out.
Good to hear you are in good spirits.

[Gadgetgeek]

You made the right call. What if you standing up to climb up had dropped you in your tracks? A hundred other what-ifs that could have left you in a much worse way.

[MrWalker]

If you needed to take a week off work to recover, then you were right not to try scrambling uphill, off-track to get out. Given the trouble they had finding the way down, they might never have found your body if you had tried that.

[Warin]

Part of the assessment is your metal capability.
Given that mentally you were compromised ... you did the right thing.
Attempting to walk back might have lead to you being lost , in part due to the compromised mental capability and physical pain.

[taipan821]

You made the right call, many a times I've been out on a search (Queensalnd SES) for a missing person who has been found, regardless of the terrain, foliage or the number of chunky apples in the way we get them out. It is fantastic to hear you're recovering well and that you didn't break anything.

Food for thought, try to work out which ambo and fire station responded, QFES and QAS are normally happy to help and send a thank you card. Makes everyone feel better because I bet part of their debrief included what they could have done better

[Xplora]

Head injuries are very serious and not something you can diagnose for yourself. A bleed to the brain may not cause problems immediately and you are not in a position to make that call. First right thing was to call the person who has the details of your walk and who, although emotionally attached, is capable of imparting information. How the emergency services respond is not up to you but once they have been informed then you are right to say your choices have been taken away and you need to do be compliant so you do not make their job harder. Losing communication makes things a bit harder. With phone service they will call you regularly with updates and that is very reassuring.

I do know (from considerable first hand experience) that some in the emergency services get very excited when there is a rescue call out. It is not always the volunteers who overplay things and I have first hand experience of a police officer who would turn the simplest of rescues into a Ben Hur movie. It all then gets played out on social media and the standard media but rarely reported with much truth. We have your account and I can say, from professional experience, nothing you have done deserves any criticism.

We are just back from a walk in the mountains with much of it off track. I had 2 falls which could have resulted in an injury that would have prevented me from walking out. Simple slips on icy or muddy ground but with the potential for a knee injury. I began to think about how I did not want to be the subject of any media attention and took more care with my footing plus pulled my walking pole out. Hind sight it great but as already said, there is nothing here to beat yourself up over.

[rcaffin]

You made exactly the right call. Solo, serious fall. Future consciousness uncertain.

A comment worth considering from the S&R people: they MUCH prefer spending a lot of effort getting someone out safely than having to stuff the remains into a body bag. Much much much.

Cheers
Roger

[taipan821]

A comment worth considering from the S&R people: they MUCH prefer spending a lot of effort getting someone out safely than having to stuff the remains into a body bag. Much much much.

Yes we do!

[Xplora]

I used to have a couple of body bags in the car and found many uses for them. Great for chucking gear in when car camping and zipping up to keep dry and away from critters. Great to fold out as a ground sheet to work on the car and also a quick waterproof bivvey but they are a bit noisey when you roll over. Some thought sleeping in one a bit grose and obviously a being noisy was design fault they had not considered.

[Aardvark]

Some thought sleeping in one a bit grose and obviously a being noisy was design fault they had not considered.

People should look at the bright side. If you're noisy, you're not dead.

[north-north-west]

Descending from Secheron back in the summer I had a fall which gave me concussion and a nice little gash in my forehead.
No phone signal, no-one knew exactly where I was.

I waited, stopped the bleeding (eventually), walked (staggered, to be honest) back to the kayak, passed the afternoon slowly setting up camp, and paddled out the next day. That turned out to be an acceptable decision. How do I know that? Because I survived.

You made what was, given your individual circumstances, the right decision for you at that time. Head injuries are not to be taken lightly. They bleed a lot and, as has already been mentioned, can often include skull fractures and haemorrhages. I took a calculated risk and it paid off. It could just as easily have gone the other way.

Don't second guess what you did. It was not frivolous just because your injuries turned out to be less serious than they might have been. You were in a situation where a little bad luck could have been fatal. Making sure you were pulled out as quickly as possible was sensible.


ps: Glad you're OK.

[slparker]

I was discussing this with a bushwalking club leader the other day. He states that he has been advised to call 000 and ask for the police in the event of accident/injury in the field. Reason being that the police can cope with taking a GPS grid reference, lat/long or map details whereas the ambulance just ask for the nearest street intersection and cannot cope with an location that isn't street based.

I don't know how accurate this information is I would be curious if anyone has a learned opinion.

[Xplora]

Some thought sleeping in one a bit grose and obviously a being noisy was design fault they had not considered.

People should look at the bright side. If you're noisy, you're not dead.

Perhaps not a design fault after all. If a doctor pronounces you dead, I would get a second opinion. Saw a doc do that once and then the person sat up and started talking. Died again a short time later though. Some people always have one more thing to say before they depart for good. A bit off topic (and maybe a bit of an 'off' topic). Sorry.

There was a discussion on the ski forum of a similar nature https://www.ski.com.au/xf/threads/empat ... rts.81268/ and it may be worth a read. Many rescues are posted on this forum and it does us well to remember that they may involve members. Most of what we hear in the media is garbage or the facts are left out. A major rescue in the Blue Mtns some years back involved an experienced group who were not lost and not in any great trouble but were overdue because of an injury and an SMS was sent informing people back home of the circumstances. The Police rescue at Katoomba completely over reacted and it was a huge expense for nothing. They were well prepared and capable of self extraction the next day. The report was focused on them not having a PLB. They would not have had the need to set it off anyway.

[Gadgetgeek]

When calling 000, you may want to ask if a "remote area specialist" is available. I believe that some call centers have them on staff, but I don't know where exactly. Worth an ask anyway.

[Moondog55]

I wasn't there and it wasn't happening to me so my personal opinion doesn't count. What matters is that you made the correct decision for yourself on the day.
I spent some small time this week with some of the VicPol S&R team up at Pretty Valley and I echo Rogers comment, they prefer to help people stay alive, helping people is fun. Body recovery isn't

[jdeks]

I was discussing this with a bushwalking club leader the other day. He states that he has been advised to call 000 and ask for the police in the event of accident/injury in the field. Reason being that the police can cope with taking a GPS grid reference, lat/long or map details whereas the ambulance just ask for the nearest street intersection and cannot cope with an location that isn't street based.

I don't know how accurate this information is I would be curious if anyone has a learned opinion.

Can Confirm.

This was almost common knowledge amongst most of the local dirtbike riders where I used to live (foothills of the vic high country). The police call operators for whatever reason are better trained, especially at looking at big-picture co-ordinations, and the officers on the ground are often distributed more widely amongst the local communities, have access to proper 4WD vehicles, and spent a lot of time getting around the area day to day. Heck, half the local cops where I was were out riding with us on their off weekends. Versus the paramedics who are often rotational shift workers (not local), coming from town depots on instructions from a city call center, both of which and very much focused on the medical aspect and not much else. Not uncommon for the local SGT to intercept the alert and show up in the Pajero before the ambulance anyway, and police often end up co-ordinating SAR ops in the end.


The OPs experience with the operator struggling with even simple geographic concepts is more or less SOP. I've had several very frustrating conversations with 000 ambulance operators just trying to get them to rural addresses that for whatever reason Sensis/Garmin hasn't installed on their database. None of them seem to understand the kilometer based numbering system used on long backroads, and they flat out just ignore you when you try to give them directions regarding the private roads on the property itself - "just tell us the street number". In one instance, after watching to the young lady writhe in pain 2 hours, I went looking myself - found the paramedic in his car, at the front gate, about 2km away. He'd been there half an hour; apparently "turn right at the bridge and take the track up the hill" was too complex to pass on. Other times I've gone out to wait for them and watched them drive right past, presumably fixated on their GPS waypoint.

There have been a few rather tragic deaths around here in the last few years where dispatch has also sent the 'nearest' ambulances based on the address/phone lock they interpret on their computer screen, only for said ambulance to wind up blindly following their GPS, winding through the hills for hours , often down unsuitable tracks, because the call center operator in the city gave no consideration to distance ≠ time in the mountains.

[Xplora]

I was discussing this with a bushwalking club leader the other day. He states that he has been advised to call 000 and ask for the police in the event of accident/injury in the field. Reason being that the police can cope with taking a GPS grid reference, lat/long or map details whereas the ambulance just ask for the nearest street intersection and cannot cope with an location that isn't street based.

I don't know how accurate this information is I would be curious if anyone has a learned opinion.

Interesting. I have called 000 several times in remote areas when we have come across an incident. The ambos do like the distance from the nearest intersection I have found and that is not always possible. Once I gave co-ordinates from the GPS as it was going to be a helicopter job. This was not relayed to the helicopter and instead they took directions from a drunk bogan and the helicopter flew around for half an hour trying to find us. Phone reception was not available at the site and I was not going to leave my partner alone for too long with a bunch of drunk bogans. When I spoke with the helicopter crew about it later they were furious but the Ambo call centre did try to call me back even though I told them I had to return to the scene and there would not be reception. Police radio command centres may be different in each state but as a general rule the 000 call is routed to the radio command centre nearest the location (Sydney radio covers a huge area) but you may (likely) still be speaking with a public servant with very little experience outside a building. I think most would still ask for your location and any road or cross street and it would be up you to tell them there were none. The Police operator will allocate the job to radio desk (channel) for the nearest station and hopefully they have some understanding of the area. The job is then broadcast to the Police in the field nearest your location. Ambos can be routed from anywhere. If the local Police are away or not working, as it the case in many remote areas with a one man station, the job will be allocated to the head station or next station down the line and these guys may have less experience with the area you are in. I would suggest co-ordinates would be acceptable to either organisation if there is no road access. Each radio call centre will have a supervisor who is more experienced and monitors traffic. They can step in and direct the proceedings if needed. Generally I have found both organisations good apart from the above mentioned experience. As I mostly walk in the Vic Alps I have carried the phone number for Wangarratta Police Communications. They also cover a large area but have only needed to call them once. They got a surprise that I had by-passed the 000. If the Police Station nearest your location is a 24hr then having that number stored would be handy especially if they have a rescue unit attached like Katoomba. All of this is good in theory but when it comes to it, if you are hurt call 000 and ask for the guys that fix hurt people - Ambos. If you are lost then it is Police. They all work together and have their own protocols for who takes control so if you go for Police they will call the Ambos for you.

[bigwallclimber]

I'd like to relate a bushwalking event from last weekend, where I suffered some injuries and was winched out by chopper (those of you in Brisbane may have seen some news coverage). Having spent a lot of time this week thinking about the event, I can't decide whether I made the "best" choices at the time. I imagine some of you will have been placed in similar situations before, so it would be great to know whether you would have approached things differently.

Brief context: I have spent a lot of time bushwalking (generally solo, sometimes with one or two other people) over the past few years in the SE QLD area. I would consider myself to be fairly capable in off-track situations, with some scrambling ability (not climbing) and reasonable navigational skills.

On this occasion I was doing a circuit walk near Mt Glorious, just north of Brisbane. The circuit involves a walk along a fire trail, before heading off-track down a ridge to a creek (England Creek Left Branch), and then follows the creek system back uphill to the start. I had track notes (from multiple sources), a topo map and compass. I had not done the walk before, although I had done other (graded) walks in the area. Despite being fairly close to civilisation, the area definitely has a "remote" feel. At a wild guess, the track might be used once or twice a month. I had phone reception throughout.

After descending to the creek, the track notes indicated I should arrive at the top of a small waterfall. Wanting to make sure I had intercepted the creek at the correct location, I walked about 40 m downstream to confirm there was a waterfall there. In doing so, I slipped on rocks near the top of the falls and fell maybe 3-4 m straight drop onto rocks not far from the base of the waterfall. A very quick assessment suggested nothing obvious was broken, but there was considerable bleeding from my forehead/mouth and a deep cut on my hand. I took my shirt off to try and stem the bleeding from my face.

At this point I was concerned I might pass out, and wasn't sure just how serious the situation was. After confirming reception on my phone, I spent a few terrible minutes trying to log in and dial through to my partner (apparently touch screens don't function well when they are covered in blood - I also learnt later that you can skip the login in case of emergency). I chose to dial through to my partner because I had left details of the walk (the same track notes I carried) and in case I passed out she would be able to make various phone calls to contact authorities on my behalf. I had lost the map during the fall but was able to communicate to her the grid reference of the waterfall, which was luckily mentioned in the track notes.

After the call I felt very woozy, so I lay down and waited 10 min to calm myself before trying to do anything. Only after then did I do a more thorough self-assessment to confirm no broken bones, lost teeth, sprained ankles etc. I received a call from emergency services to confirm my situation and where I had walked to get there. Unfortunately, the lady I spoke to was not familiar with the concept of "ridges" and seemed to have difficulty following my descriptions of the terrain covered. She explained I should stay in the same place and help would be on its way. Another call, and they wanted to confirm my position using my phone's location services, but annoyingly my phone died midway through the call despite having around 60% battery at the time (later I learnt they were able to triangulate my position).

Eventually, I band-aided and wrapped up my cuts as best I could to halt the bleeding. My glasses were broken from the fall, but I hadn't seemed to have lost anything (except the map). After standing for a few minutes I decided I should try and get back to the top of the falls, thinking that it would be much easier to locate/signal any rescuers from that position, and to try and keep warm (I had also mentioned during my last call to authorities that I might try to do this). It was pretty slow going, but I managed to climb up a steep, crumbly dirt slope to regain the creek above the waterfall. It wouldn't have been easy to descend.

This was about the point when I started thinking that I should have made a thorough self-assessment before asking for evac. I had walked for about 1.5 h before I fell, and at this point I felt capable of retracing my steps. It would have been slow and painful going but it was still early in the day. Of course, I lost the ability to make decisions for myself as soon as I made that phone call. So I waited, and was winched out around 4pm (how they got a winch in there - I have no idea). The helicopter flight out was amazing but I felt extremely guilty, knowing I possibly could have walked out un-assisted. In the end I only needed stitches in a couple of places, minor surgery on my hand, and a week off work to recover. I had a lot of scratches and bruisings (particularly where I landed on my leg) but nothing else serious. I can't figure out how I managed not to do any more damage than this.

Later I learnt that my partner and various firemen/ambulance/police officers had been parked out on the fire trail, trying to work out how to get a walking party in to my location. Two firies spent several hours bashing around in the bush (following the track notes) and couldn't locate the route I'd taken. In fact, I deviated from the track notes as I discovered the route was overgrown and had to ascend to a minor peak before locating the correct ridge. This I had explained to the first emergency services lady who called me, but apparently she hadn't communicated it on to anyone else. Locals were called in but weren't able to provide any helpful information. It wasn't until mid-afternoon that two rangers arrived who knew the route. If the winching hadn't worked, the ground team would have had to try and locate the route again (following the rangers' advice) and follow it down late in the day. Given their earlier difficulties, it seems unlikely they would have found me that afternoon, and would have had to camp somewhere on the ridge rather than pushing through in the dark. Or wait until morning.

This is nothing against the firies or other emergency crew - in fact they did an amazing job, given their situation, their knowledge and skill set. It is actually really impressive to see the coordinated effort that goes into an evacuation. The people on the ground were very professional and focused on taking a structured and calm approach to the rescue. After going through this, one thing I would do differently is ask to speak directly with a ranger, since they would immediately understand the situation, route, terrain etc far better than the emergency crew who are not bushwalkers. Key details can easily be lost when terminology is not fully understood.

So the question is - given the situation, would you call emergency immediately (as I did) or would you make a thorough self-assessment first?

What can I say, you did exactly the right thing in the situation you were in, as previously stated you felt you needed evacuation and that is exactly what you acted upon.

I was always taught that the first decision that comes into your head is the correct decision, I have been involved in many situations (Good and Bad) and made acted on the first decision that came to my head and you know what it was the correct one.

As someone rightly said, you are at home alive and not in the bush dead, nothing more to think about.

Get well soon and look after yourself.

[GPSGuided]

Glad you made it out safely CM! That’s most important.

Given the fact that you are off-track, alone and had significant injuries (fracture is not the sole criteria), calling assistance and discussing it is the correct and appropriate decision. What surprised me is that you are only 1.5hr in yet SAR took till 4pm to extract you. Had you walked, could have got to the hospital quicker. Otherwise I think you need a more reliable phone and a PLB/GPS. SAR could have worked out their own way to your location than struggling with track notes that’s obscure.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

[wildwanderer]

As others have said you made the right call.

Another call, and they wanted to confirm my position using my phone's location services

You mentioned emergency services asked for your location from your phone. Does that mean they were not able to use the GR you provided? (presumably because they didnt have the relevent map handy) and therefore needed a lat/long? Be good to know for the future if its better to quote lat/long or GR when communicating with Emergency services for SAR purposes.

[Xplora]

(presumably because they didnt have the relevent map handy) and therefore needed a lat/long? Be good to know for the future if its better to quote lat/long or GR when communicating with Emergency services for SAR purposes.

SAR, Police, SES should have all the maps and can deal with all forms of reference. When quoting a reference from the map you are using you should quote the map so they get it out. Lat/Long or UTM from a device they can work out.

[andrewp]

I was discussing this with a bushwalking club leader the other day. He states that he has been advised to call 000 and ask for the police in the event of accident/injury in the field. Reason being that the police can cope with taking a GPS grid reference, lat/long or map details whereas the ambulance just ask for the nearest street intersection and cannot cope with an location that isn't street based.

I don't know how accurate this information is I would be curious if anyone has a learned opinion.

I can also confirm this. When you are in a NP the police will be tasked with coordinating the search and rescue. Ambulance call centres just want the street address and can't deal with anything else. There was a very sad case in NSW some years ago when a young student in the Mt Solitary area was separated from his walking partner and out of water. Mobile reception was poor. He managed to get through to 000 2 or 3 times, but his attempts at describing where he was were ignored on each occasion. There was no follow up and he died of dehydration. Very sad. I would always ask to speak to police. I have had experience and it worked out well.

[Penguin]

I have had the same experience in the Western Arthurs about six years ago. Call centre wanted street address still after saying that we were hiking in remote SW Tasmanian with grid reference available and after two redirects to different call centres. the next option - wanted the nearest town. Fortunately we had enough battery/reception and a non eminency - extensive torn shoulder ligaments. Had a PLB, but not an emergency - needed to have the hiker extracted though.

Good tip about the police as when asked which service I needed - I knew I did not have a fire......

[Warin]

The 000 emergency operator has a screen that requires some data entry.
Some operators have problems in that the form asks for certain information and when the caller cannot provide that information they don't know what to do......

Ask for 'free form data entry' .... !!!! They should know this already ... this way what you tell them at least gets recorded and can be passed on.

Location information can be given in any format... let the responders deal with any conversion they want. The caller has enough to deal with without trying to do some conversion between formats.

[wildwanderer]

Another learning point which im going to take on board.

- Disable the PIN on your phone when going bush. In an emergency with wet/bloodied hands its not easy to enter codes/patterns to unlock the phone. Enter it wrong a few times and the phone will permanently lock (on certain phones). Of course the emergency number should still work even if the phone is locked however if your attempting to call a partner or need to access your phones gps (to give SAR your location co-ordinates) then a lock will prevent that.

[davidn3875]

Champion _ Munch asks did he make the "best" decisions. The subsequent entries have given strong endorsement of the actions taken in the circumstances. I believe that not only were they the "best" decisions, but also the "right" ones. My experience with S&R, whilst nowhere as extensive as some on here, always pushed the mantra "do not make an existing bad situation worse".
Thumbs up to you C_M, and take it easy as you get your battered and bruised body ready for your next walk.

[Tortoise]

Hi C-M. Thanks for posting about your experience. I agree with all of the above. Given the distance you fell, plus the head injury, you could have deteriorated quickly at any point - no longer having the option of calling for help. So it was important to give the alert asap.

The thing that hasn't been mentioned - and which you didn't ask for - is if the given situation could reasonably have been avoided. Possibly, if you hadn't chosen to do an off-track walk solo. This isn't to condemn you. I've done off-track walks solo as well, including ones that didn't have phone reception for the whole walk (as have many other bushwalkers in this here community). I'm actually considering doing one on the long weekend, if I can't get any takers to come with me. For some folks, I know the benefits of solo walking nearly always outweigh the benefits of having company.

So it's an issue I'm still thinking about for myself. If you'd had someone with you, and you had no loss of consciousness, no bleeding from an ear canal etc, I think it would have been reasonable to wait 10 minutes to do another assessment. Then if you did unexpectedly deteriorate, your friend could still have called for help. I think routinely carrying a PLB is a very good bit of risk management, for you and those at home as well as the S&R folks. It's easier to turn one on if you're in a bad way than negotiating the phone. And the right people will quickly know your exact location. I bought one so i didn't have to decide which walks I should hire one for. (And since then, I would have paid for one dozens of times over if I'd kept hiring.)

Cheers