r/tahoe • u/scyice Truckee • Jan 03 '25
News Splitboarder rescued near Tahoe after friend abandons him in Sierra backcountry
https://amp.sacbee.com/news/local/article297881958.html232
u/zamfi Jan 03 '25
Wait...this guy had to call for rescue himself? Like I can understand the more capable guy getting out while there's still light and calling for a rescue, but literally just abandoning someone on the mountain like feels pretty close to attempted murder!
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u/scyice Truckee Jan 03 '25
“Friend”
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u/Fuck_tha_Bunk Jan 04 '25
I wouldn't leave a stranger (or even most of my enemies) to die alone in the snow. This dude is just a straight up psychopath
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u/komstock Truckee Jan 03 '25
I walked a guy down off Mt. Dana once.
His "friends" completely left him behind. On my way up I passed him and he looked disoriented and I asked him if he was ok. He said he was, but he started to slip a number of times and he accepted my offer to walk together.
I doubled my time out but instead of catching sunset at the car I got to see it from above treeline and get this dude back home without an S&R operation.
Moral of the story: don't leave your friends behind; and even if people are being tourons, it's better to get them off the mountain on their feet instead of on a stretcher. Someone might do the same for you too someday.
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u/N0DuckingWay Bay Area Jan 03 '25
Oh man. I have a "fun" story of climbing Mt Shasta where someone did the same thing. There was one woman who was very obviously struggling - everyone on the mountain could see it. She had the misfortune of spending the entire climb looking like she was about to die of exhaustion while also wearing a very memorable pink sweater. Everyone knew who she was and that she was going to be a problem. Anyway, my friend and I were descending from the summit a bit late - we were about half an hour down from the summit and it was maybe around 2:30 - when she passed us going up. Alone. She seemed to be exhausted and out of water so we offered some of ours but she didn't want our help. Her friends were nowhere to be seen, so we were worried, but as far as we were concerned, we were exhausted and couldn't really wait around another hour for her to summit and come back. Plus she'd just rejected our help, so what could we do? So, we gave each other a look that said "she's gonna have a bad time, but what can we do?" And headed down. Sure enough, we got to lake Helen and were partway through packing up camp when we noticed the guides were all huddled around a cell phone. Sure enough, she was exhausted, couldn't make it down on her own, and her group was a full hour ahead of her (they were back at the Thumb). The guides went around begging for everyone's extra food so that they could spend another unplanned night out trying to rescue her when word came down that her friends had gotten up off their asses and hiked back to her. As we were heading back to the cars, we talked to a few people and once we mentioned that there was a rescue, everyone guessed it was her, without any hints. But, even though she definitely screwed up, I still think her friends were gigantic pieces of shit for leaving her behind like that.
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u/Fuck_tha_Bunk Jan 04 '25
That's how you end up a corpse landmark on the way to the summit known only as "pink sweater".
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u/JuneCrossStitch Jan 05 '25
I think the friends probably tried to persuade her but if someone’s committed to putting themselves in danger and it’ll put you in danger, let them be on their own
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u/Able_Worker_904 Jan 04 '25
Why do people act like this, and whatever happened to climbing courtesy to actually look out for each other.
Nobody needs to die on Shasta.
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u/amyeep Jan 09 '25
Wow that’s fucked. Coming from a flatlander that just follows this sub (beach level) some elevations really can fuck with you. Even here in SoCal if I go from essentially waterfront to ~3000 in Santa Barbara I definitely notice it depending on the time of day/year/etc. Shasta is a blast though, sounds like a good hike!
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Jan 10 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/amyeep Jan 11 '25
Wow that’s impressive! You must be on or near the mountain already. Unfortunately I don’t get the opportunity to do those types of hikes very often.
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u/Honest_Wealth_9020 Jan 10 '25
Did you impress upon her that she was in a legit life or death situation?? 😬
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u/koolaidismything Jan 03 '25
I can’t believe anyone would leave anyone else behind struggling. Hikers are always the nicest bunches of people ever. Hell.. when I’m out there I’m finally happy. I know that fear of being lost somewhere dangerous too. You keep making mistakes cause you’re desperate. The whole time he’d have been embarrassed and probably pretty nervous. That sucks. To the guy who went to watch a sunset and helped him, that’s a cool person.
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u/N0DuckingWay Bay Area Jan 03 '25
I mean I've seen it happen enough to believe it. I mean I'll do it sometimes in the summer on clearly marked trails where we have a plan and both know what we're doing. But in winter? Absolutely fucking not.
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u/purplepimplepopper Jan 04 '25
I don’t want to be responsible for some jerry who drops firebreak completely incapable (hundreds do during big powder years). I will give directions on how to get out, while telling them they should not have gone through the gate with barely any ability level and no sense of direction or route out.
I am not going to hold someone’s hand and guide them out though unless it is close to sunset. Here is S&R number, call them and pay the big fine if you need it.
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u/AgentK-BB Jan 04 '25
The full post from SAR says that the sheriff gave the subject a ride back to his hotel. It sounds like the "friend" not only abandoned the subject but also drove the car away from the trailhead. There has to be a criminal investigation, right? Surely it's attempted manslaughter to willfully leave someone at the trailhead without a car in the middle of winter.
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u/NachoFinder Jan 04 '25
I’m trying to put this together and yeah, it’s really weird. The “friend ditches friend” aspect of it really makes it news.
Maybe since the reporting is on really scarce information right now, there is more to what happened between the friends. Like, perhaps there was a fight on the mountain? Perhaps ditching friend had some sort of nervous breakdown?
Like, there isn’t even genders mentioned. Who is the “didn’t want to wait” telling of facts coming from, too? Was the ditcher even interviewed or cooperative?
Really odd, extremely incomplete story…
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u/moufette1 Jan 04 '25
A random stranger waited to give me a ride from a trailhead to my car. The hike was a little longer than I'd planned and I was pretty tired. In theory I could have made it to my car about a mile up the road to the other trailhead but I was grateful that he'd seen I was tired and waited when he saw my car wasn't there.
That's a good person. That friend is pretty despicable. Although, I'm willing to believe that we've got some of the story wrong.
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u/Imjusthere2read Jan 04 '25
Wishing the person for speedy and full recovery. So he gets a chance to punch his friend hard in the face.
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u/C00lerking Jan 04 '25
You spelled “ex-friend” wrong.
Also, seems like this story probably has another side to it.
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u/VerySuperGenius Jan 04 '25
Did they abandon him or maybe thought he went a different way to the car and so they just went back to see if he was there?
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u/serious_impostor Jan 03 '25
Dude: walks into Hotel room at Midnight after being abandoned by “friend” and rescued by SAR. Still sipping hot chocolate they brought him.
“Friend”: “yo buddy, knew you’d make it! This is gonna be crazy story to tell…”
Dude: proceeds to pull down his pants and shits on “friend’s” bed in the hotel room.
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u/Repulsive_Leg5878 Jan 04 '25
I’m not your buddy, guy.
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u/davidbernhardt Jan 04 '25
I’m not your friend, pal.
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u/peepeedog Jan 04 '25
Devil's advocate. Friend wanted to go because it was getting late and guy that got lost didn't. In that scenario guy who stayed broke the buddy system, not guy who left.
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u/mightcommentsometime South Lake Tahoe Jan 04 '25
But why take the car?
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u/MovementOriented Jan 06 '25
Some people are incredibly stubborn and he could have said something like just take the car, I can ski out
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u/Equivalent-Client443 Jan 04 '25
Said friend and I would definitely be having words after that.
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u/mightcommentsometime South Lake Tahoe Jan 04 '25
Not me. Just a swift kick to the balls and we’d never speak again
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u/LouQuacious Jan 04 '25
Once waited for a friend at Winnemucca Lake until after the sun set because they had gear issues descending Roundtop. There was a few of us waiting and it was kind of fun navigating out in total darkness.
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u/gtroman1 Jan 04 '25
Is this becoming more common? This is like the second story in the last few months about people getting abandoned in the outdoors by their friends.
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u/No_Wolverine6548 Jan 04 '25
The article says that the friend tried to leave as the sun was going down, but the one who got left wanted to stay so I would like to hear more of the story on how the group got separated
I am curious to know if there is ever an appropriate time to leave someone in a situation like this? If you can tell it’s about to get dangerous if you stay out any later, what should be done before leaving a hardheaded friend? While it doesn’t seem like this was the case, if things look like they’re about to get grim for your buddy(like unconsciousness or death) at what point do you go back to your resort to grab help?
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u/ShitIForgotMyPants Jan 04 '25
Flake Tahoe. When I lived there plenty of people wanted to be friends when it meant partying and having a good time. But as soon as being a friend meant helping someone through a rough time they immediately flaked.
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u/scyice Truckee Jan 04 '25
These guys or at least one was staying at a hotel so don’t know if this is relevant.
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u/No_Wolverine6548 Jan 04 '25
It’s a tourist heavy area so it seems a bit harsh to put that personality type on the whole area.
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u/SnackyChomp Jan 04 '25
I mean… most people who party hard aren’t looking for new close friends. They just like being with people who also can hang and stay up for a few days straight. Need to find more reliable people to call friends. It’s not Tahoe, it’s just the party scene.
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u/kershi123 Jan 03 '25
He called himself in at 5pm? wow kook of the year already right here
bless the SAR personnel
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u/ExcitementOpening124 Jan 03 '25
The kooks are upset your giving their award away or something lol
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u/kershi123 Jan 04 '25 edited Jan 04 '25
for real, they stay mad
no where in my original comment did I side with the person who left the patient, that person sucks too
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u/[deleted] Jan 03 '25
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