So, being a SAR volunteer, maybe a little reflection on some of the rescues you've been on, where the worse happened, and it became a recovery, rather than a search, could it have been survivable, had the person had the skills to survive? Granted, some accidents are not survivable, say, falling off a 200 foot cliff, headlong.
And I'm not referring to day hikes with kids, on flat earth, where you'd meet 30 or 40 people on a well marked trail, stop for a PB&J, then meander on back to camp. This probably isn't even the forum for people who do this kind of thing once every three or four years.
My interest, and original question is primarily intended for those who are going on tough trek, for days, maybe even longer, where help, no matter how well you planned, might not even bother looking for you, until you're itinerary say's you're a day or two over due for your return.
The difference between people who survive and people who don't is not a matter of survival skills. It's a matter of planning (YES IT IS possible to decrease risk by learning about where you are going, what's likely to happen, and what you're likely to need while you are there and in the event something goes wrong - this is extremely specific to environment a lot of the time) AND MORE THAN THAT attitude - the difference between survival and not surviving is a choice the person makes when things go wrong.
Read "Deep Survival" and you will understand more completely that there is no way on earth to completely keep yourself safe - you don't know how you will react til you are in it.
What you do more than anything else is NOT PANIC. It's sometimes (most of the time) that simple.
Skills don't seem to make a difference - and you need to quantify "skill" because "experienced hikers" die all the time. One of my first callouts was an oldster who'd backpacked all his life in the Sierra who died sitting on a rock in Whitney (this was in the papers). He'd avoided hypothermia all his life and then, there he was, off his itinerary, wandering confused, his last contact with anyone some hikers he told he was going north on the JMT (he was going the opposite direction). In true hypothermia-dazed fashion he ignored their course correction and went off to sit a ways from his fully loaded backpack and die.
To fully bullet-proof yourself:
Don't go alone. Go with people who know what the symptoms of hypothermia and dehydration (they are similar) are so when you start down the road of Stupid Addle Brained Decisions they force you to stop and get warm/hydrated.
Don't go unprepared - know where water sources are, if they are uncertain, carry enough to get out and back again if the first one doesn't prove out... know the specific risks for the area and mitigate them.
Don't go without navigation. Have a map. Knowing how to read it well enough sometimes lets you get away without a compass, but have the map.
Leave an itinerary.
The top killers in Yosemite are rocks and water. There are more water rescues (recoveries, more than 90% of the time) by far than any other kind, in general. Water crossings kill hikers sometimes. Falling off rocks kills climbers, mostly, but also claims hikers.
To quote "Lost Person Behavior": Being overdue accounts for 16% of search incidents. Hikers are often delayed because of poor estimates of fitness/travel time, lack of light, and blisters, especially if carrying heavy packs or hiking for the first time (or first time in a long time). Many hikers discard equipment when lost or in trouble. Many lack skills for remote areas.
If found within 24 hours, 97% of those searched for are found alive. This drops to 76% after 24 hours, and drops to 60% after 48 hours.
The best thing to do, if you are lost and unable to determine with some certainty where you are/which way to go, is STOP. (If you left an itinerary.) Conserve resources and energy. Put out a poncho or brightly colored item, set up the tent (there's a reason Sequoia NP asks what color your tent is when you pick up the permit - helicopters look for them), and if you see other people signal them. (You'd be surprised, but sometimes people do not.)
In scenarios accounted for by (somewhat old) statistics: 68% of search subjects got lost, 16% were overdue, 7% incurred some sort of trauma, 4% were somehow stranded, and 2% had medical issues. 1% will evade search teams (fugitives or mentally ill).
The most appalling gaps in skills with hikers is in navigation. Time and time again, I instruct people attending the hikes I lead to have maps, and even provide links, and explain that even hiking in a group you need a map. They don't bring one. Three times now I have come upon groups searching for a missing member of their party while just out hiking for fun.
"Planning" to be lost? Sure! Plan to pay attention to landmarks, trail turns, forks in the path, and most of the battle is won. (Off trail is another story.)
The more preparation you do for the worst, the calmer you will be if something does happen - and THAT will make the difference. So if I am harping on planning, and you think that is misguided... sorry, but preparation and planning makes all the difference in the world. Try sitting in a car with a driver who's never turned a key, then sit in a car with someone who's clocked 100,000 miles in all conditions and road types - the calmer the driver, the less likely there will be an accident on the way to the destination. People who know how to plan and implement a safe backpacking trip are easy to hike with, because you don't need to tell them a thing. They have their own tums, their own map, their own water treatment and don't end up bumming fuel off you unless something catastrophic happens with their stove. And in a crunch - they stay calm.
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