It has never happened to me either, but I do think that you should always be prepared for the worst. If my wife and I were hiking and she was to fall and break something, I am never in a position that I could not get her out of the woods. I just think that it is better to be prepared than to have to really really struggle with saving or rescuing some one that you are not prepared to do. Granted, if something would happen to me it would be more difficult for her to get me out, but from being prepared, I think that I could get her through it unless I was unconscious...sabre11004...