Joe just shed some light on why he tapped out.
http://youtu.be/uy5GcbM8A6M
Interesting vid. Also interesting is Mitch's post of a supportive comment on this vid. In it he hinted about char. Expect he was hinting about F&S, though solar is another possibility.
Why did Joe quit? The usual reason in the backcountry: a series of bad choices.
Funny how looking back we can see that each and every one of our tough times (in or out of the woods) was preceded by a series of poor choices. Had we made even just one or two of those choices a little more wisely, we may have avoided the entire mess.
1. Time Management: Task Prioritization.
We need to look at what needs to be done and prioritize each task. Joe moved all his gear with him each time. Did he need to move at all? Did he need to move everything? Full ruck plus 60lb Pelican case of camera gear through rough terrain. That is a lot of exertion with little water and food. Obviously we should setup a base camp and travel light when scouting. Pace yourself. This decision set him up to be exhausted and dehydrated. That is never a good start.
Joe said he had six hours to hike with all that gear plus time to set up camp. Plenty of time if he had realized that the misson at that point was not about finding the perfect site. Rather the focus should have been about setting himself up for a good night's sleep then scouting in the morning.
He didn't have to do everything at once. Especially not knowing where he was going. That was a very poor choice. That initial decision set himself up for each of the succeeding poor choices in the chain that lead to him tapping out.
2. Time Management: Task Prioritization.
Joe stated that he "filmed everything". You have many tasks you must perform each day so you have to budget your time. You must be warm and dry enough, you must drink enough water (if potable water is not freely available you must restrict both activity and food) and in this case you must film some of the time. Ought to find time to improve your situation by finding and drying firewood, better location, food, etc as you can.
"When you fail to plan, you are planning to fail."
3. Time Management: Task Prioritization.
Dehydration: the bane and nemesis of human life. You HAVE to have enough potable water every day. At the very minimum one quart. Needing 5-8 quarts per day is not uncommon, especially working hard in the woods. Since they only have one 2qt pot to boil water in and no water containers (at least not initially), water and fire represent significant amounts of time and effort for each day. As does filming. Everything else needed to revolve around those three.
The thing with dehydration is it is so insidious. It will shut you down. If cold or hungry, you are well motivated to change things. At the temps they were in, it takes many hours of being cold to get yourself into serious trouble. It takes weeks without food to get into serious trouble. With dehydration it can sneak up on you before you realize it. Your decision making is affected and you may not notice it. It can take days to recover from having been dehydrated. I'd be absolutely astonished if most serious backcountry incidents did not include some level of dehydration as a causal factor.
4. Time Management: Task Completion.
Joe intended to put a lanyard on the ferro but allowed other tasks to get in the way. When you set a task for yourself, it is important to see it through.
5. Time Management: Task Completion.
Joe said that he always put his knife and firesteel in his jacket pocket and zipped the pocket closed. All except for one time... and that one time proved to be crucial.
6. Mental: Hope.
After the ups and downs of the preceding days, he was so crushed by losing such a critical piece of gear that he lost hope. He stated that in his mind at that time if he could make a mistake like that, then he didn't belong out there.
7. Mental: Perception.
The physical part of living in the woods is not that bad. There are plenty of tasks to be done yet if you pace yourself they take more time than effort. The mental part is where most fail. They don't discipline themselves to get things done in a timely matter, tasks pile up, then seem insurmountable. They aren't, not even then. They just *seem* that way.
In the mental game, perception is everything. What you perceive determines how you will act. How you act determines your results. The results determine the reality you have to exist through.
8. Mental: Expectations.
In his mind he failed. Thinking that is a death sentence to hope and optimism. In life, you have to keep a tight rein on your expectations and emotions.
While each played a role, I believe decisions #1 and #6 played the most critical roles in his tapping out.
Those of us who have spent much time in the woods have made all of these mistakes... and many more!! Just some thoughts from four decades of stomping the woods alone.*
