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Home|Glossary|Links|Journal|Maps LOST In addition to learning how to use radios, we also had survival scenarios. In one, Brian had gotten lost in a whiteout on his way from the instructors' hut to the outhouse. Whiteouts can be caused by a big snowstorm or by winds blowing snow that is already on the ground. He handed 10 of us a 50 foot long mountaineering rope and told us to go to it. To ensure that we had as real an experience as possible, he made us put white buckets on our heads. We couldn't see a thing. After some discussion, we decided to have one person be the rope's anchor keeping us attached to the hut. The rest of us spanned out and held on to both the rope and each other's hands so that there wouldn't be any gap in which we would miss Brian. Stumbling slowly forward, we tried to walk in unison. After making a huge arc, we finally stopped. People were yelling, but with the bucket on my head, it was hard to understand them, typical of a whiteout because of wind noise. We must have found Brian I thought. It turned out that Anna had fallen headfirst into a depression. Fortunately, she wasn't hurt. As for Brian, we had missed him entirely. We were sure he must have been moving around, playing hard to find. Not so he told us. He had stayed in the same spot. We reassessed our strategy. Second go around, we again spanned
out on the rope, making an arc. This time, however, we were sure to
use our legs to sweep the area around us. Our arms would catch someone
standing up, and our legs would find someone sitting or in a prone
position. Sure enough someone tripped over Brian. He was no longer
lost.
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