Death in the National Park

[Curt]

Yellowstone Tourist Dies in 500-Foot Fall

A lady stepped over a barrier to get a better photograph in Yellowstone and fell to her death. She was 52 and visiting in the park with her Husband and two children.

Sometimes we do things that are wrong and pay dearly for them. Robert Cappa was credited for saying that "If your photos aren't good enough you aren't close enough". Sometimes true but if it means getting a couple of feet closer to get a better cannon picture then no.

Be careful when out in the parks.


Curt

 

[Ole]

That happens here in Norway too, at least once a year.

Most of our "dangerous drops" aren't barriered off, as we would have had to barrier off half the country.
We lose about one foreigner to every three locals. Among foreigners, Dutch and Swedes seem to be particularly prone to getting into really dangerous situations.

 

[sanderx1]

That happens here in Norway too, at least once a year.

Most of our "dangerous drops" aren't barriered off, as we would have had to barrier off half the country.
We lose about one foreigner to every three locals. Among foreigners, Dutch and Swedes seem to be particularly prone to getting into really dangerous situations.

I can understand the Dutch - their country is very flat compared to Norway, but Swedes?

 

[Ole]

I can understand the Dutch - their country is very flat compared to Norway, but Swedes?

That's what I find surprising too! On a similar note, everyone around here dreads Swedish tourists on out narrow twisty roads: Dutch and Danes tend to be careful, but well prepared. The Swedes tend to be very careful, but completely unprepared. They seem to think that it's easy, since they're Scandinavian too. I'm sure something of the same is happening in the "terrain".

 

[JBrunner]

That happens here in Norway too, at least once a year.

Most of our "dangerous drops" aren't barriered off, as we would have had to barrier off half the country.
We lose about one foreigner to every three locals. Among foreigners, Dutch and Swedes seem to be particularly prone to getting into really dangerous situations.

In the western US we couldn't barrier off every drop off either. Usually if there is a barrier, it means someone managed to fall off already.

 

[Dan Henderson]

supposedly there was a barrier and she went across it to get a better picture. She lived in my area and and its all over the news this morning because she was on the school board and apparently very well respected.

 

[Ole]

I've seen people cross barriers to get a better picture - to go right on the edge of a 300m (1000 ft) drop, or under the edge of a crumbling glacier. I can understand the urge to get a better picture, and have (ehrm...) occasionally crossed barriers for this reason myself.

But 90% of the people who cross this kind of barriers do it only to get the whole family (all on the "safe" side) in the frame, so they're not even looking at the danger...

 

[Pinholemaster]

It's important to never overestimate the intellegence of people.

I've witness countless people doing exactly what this woman did. It's as if in the American culture rules no longer apply to "ME", they are simply for everyone else.

Similar to the drivers of Washington DC. If a street sign reads "No right turn on red" they do it anyway. Usually while talking on a cellular phone. I believe 80% of DC drivers don't know what the word "Stop" means on street signs. Not that they actually stop before making a right on red.

I guess she wins the Darwin award for the week. It's sad for her family. It'd be a twist if they hire a lawyer to bring a law suit to say there wasn't a sign saying "Don't cross this barrier", and thus the government was negligent.

Now for the Swedes, I don't know many, but they do seem to be the butt of all Norwegean jokes. Or are Norwegean's the butt of all Swedish jokes? Perhaps that's why the ratio is 1:3. You'd figure since the Norwegean's live in Norway they'd know not to get too close and fall off?

As for Robert Capa, too bad there wasn't a sign that the dike he climbed up on to get a better photograph in Vietnam of souldiers going through a rice field didn't say "Warning: Land Mines."

I will never say anything bad about the Dutch. Grin.

 

[Roger Hicks]

Dear Pinholemaster,

One one side of a Claymore mine it says something very like 'This Side Towards Enemy' (it's been a while since I saw one).

Cheers,

Roger

 

[reellis67]

Back home (Kentucky), there are gorges all over the place and if you aren't careful, you can easily walk right off a cliff without realising you are in trouble due to the heavy foliage. It seems like every year a few people take the big step because they were off the marked trails for whatever reason. There is no way to make the world safe for everyone, and sometimes accidents just happen. In my experience, I found that the second you stop respecting your surroundings, you are in trouble, and if there is one thing that is wrong with people (at least in this country) is that most people have lost respect for their surroundings. We get used to the sterilized urban world and when we get out in the real world, we have no idea how act...

- Randy

 

[Harrigan]

People die every year in Yellowstone due to their own mistakes but people also endanger others frequently. The most dangerous people are the ones who stop right in the middle of the road, blocking the road to get a better view of deer or elk or something. People have also been plowed over and killed on motorcycles and others vehicles due to idiots not paying attention. My friend was run over on his bike and left for dead so I don't feel bad when Natural Selection is allowed to work.

 

[Wigwam Jones]

I've witness countless people doing exactly what this woman did. It's as if in the American culture rules no longer apply to "ME", they are simply for everyone else.

Similar to the drivers of Washington DC. If a street sign reads "No right turn on red" they do it anyway. Usually while talking on a cellular phone. I believe 80% of DC drivers don't know what the word "Stop" means on street signs. Not that they actually stop before making a right on red.

To get home from work each day, I have to drive up a traffic intersection that is within twenty feet and parallel to a train crossing. For that reason, vehicles are directed to stop well short of the light - if more than one car drives right up to the intersection when the light is red, they have to stop on the tracks themselves - and this track is in use - trains come through all the time.

I have stopped short of the tracks; only to be honked at, flipped off, and passed by folks who then are forced to stop directly on the tracks and wait for the light. I am waiting for the day when one of them is just taken clean away by a passing train, right before my eyes.

Here in this little corner of the USA, we had a big storm last week, the remnants of Alberto. Some flooding, power went out in several places.

I am used to hearing about people trying to drive their cars and SUVs through flooded areas, and being swept away - in fact, the local news keeps harping on it - "Remember folks, the only fatalities we usually suffer are when one of you idiots tries to drive through a flooded street, so don't do it, m'kay?"

But with the power out, I saw something I don't think I've seen before. When a traffic light is out, we're supposed to treat that as a 4-way stop sign, right? Not around here. Around here, that means 'green all 4 directions' and I witnessed people driving through at full speed, looking neither to the left nor the right. I also saw several fish-tailing close calls on my way home that day. Absolutely amazing.

Nobody around here will pull over for a police car or an ambulance or fire truck, even if they are directly in front of one that has their lights and siren on full blast. They just won't do it. Try to pull over yourself, and you might well get rear-ended.

But they ALL pull over for a funeral procession. And they take off their hats and bow their heads as the hearse goes by - I kid you not. Just like Smokey and the Bandit, I swear.

Amazing.

Around here, everybody laughs when they tell the joke "What's the most common last words from a Southerner? - Hey, y'all, watch this!" But they live it, too.

 

[David Brown]

Dang. I've got to find the slide of me standing on the edge of the Grand Canyon - to the horror of my wife. That was over 20 years ago and I was still immortal then.

 

[Aggie]

The worst accident i ever saw was a Swedish lady at Bryce Canyon. She put her 9 month old son on a log near the very edge of the canyon, and turned to walk a bit away to take his photograph. No one was with the baby. You guessed it, the child was not there when she turned. It was a horrible thing to have happen. I was with the rangers who repelled down to retreive the body. I will never forget the anguish of the lady, or the event. There is nothing you can say that will ease that sufering, or berate the parent enough for their stupidity. If only people not just tourists would think, and use common sense first.

 

[Willie Jan]

I can understand the Dutch - their country is very flat compared to Norway, but Swedes?

We have hills to you know (300 mtr)

 

[Willie Jan]

People die every year in Yellowstone due to their own mistakes but people also endanger others frequently. The most dangerous people are the ones who stop right in the middle of the road, blocking the road to get a better view of deer or elk or something. People have also been plowed over and killed on motorcycles and others vehicles due to idiots not paying attention. My friend was run over on his bike and left for dead so I don't feel bad when Natural Selection is allowed to work.

probably more people die because of fat & drinking cola than taking pictures over edges.... these things can not be prevented.

 

[Dave Parker]

It happens every year in Yellowstone, last year, a father and a son went over the rail on high bridge and were killed, two seperate boy scouts fell in the Yellowstone river in the spring and still have not been found, a park employee drove off the bridge near Tower Falls and is presumed dead as they never found her either...the area that this lady fell off is a dangerous area and stepping over the barrier is very dangerous, I have photographed from this exact spot several times, and you don't need to step over the rail to get a good shot, my heart goes out to the family, but this was a preventable death. To many people forget their common sense when they go to the National Parks.

R.

 

[dolande]

If only people not just tourists would think, and use common sense first.

Common sense. That’s the answer to a lot of our problems, but it seems so scarce these days.

Rafael

 

[kswatapug]

It is the contrast of beauty and death that makes these such compelling stories. Because park managers typically do a wonderful job of making the parks relatively safe, there is a false sense of security among visitors.

It is so easy to overlook the danger when one is in unfamiliar territory, or in a place where the scenery is so magnetic. Once while working in Yosemite, I realized how easy it is. I was wearing street shoes (flat leather soles) to go with my office casual attire one day when I was sent up to Glacier Point. I always carried camera gear when out in the park, because I was constantly generating images for the company files. I stopped at a particularly nice overlook and began taking photos, realizing that there was one tree that was blocking the view. I moved to change perspective and my feet shot out from underneath me, the smooth soles of the street shoes sliding across some pine needles that might as well have been ball bearings. As the adrenaline rush faded, I thought of how many people visit the park wearing the same thing. It is truly amazing there aren't more injuries and/or deaths.

And signs have little effect and handrails often provide a false sense of security by encouraging a closer look. In the fourteen years I lived in Yosemite Valley, I believe eight people went over Vernal and Nevada Fall. Plenty of signs saying what would happen if they got in the water. Usually it is August when it is hot out, water levels are low and the current looks deceivingly tame (as do Yellowstone bison, BTW).

 

[Earl Dunbar]

Wiggy: You picked a winner of a place to live, eh? I'm thinking that your budding photojournalism career could be based on the combination of local behaviour and IR photos with the Meatyard twist.

 

[Wigwam Jones]

Wiggy: You picked a winner of a place to live, eh? I'm thinking that your budding photojournalism career could be based on the combination of local behaviour and IR photos with the Meatyard twist.

Hmm, seems I've heard that somewhere before...

 

[Ed Sukach]

Here in this little corner of the USA, we had a big storm last week, the remnants of Alberto. Some flooding, power went out in several places.
I am used to hearing about people trying to drive their cars and SUVs through flooded areas, and being swept away - in fact, the local news keeps harping on it - "Remember folks, the only fatalities we usually suffer are when one of you idiots tries to drive through a flooded street, so don't do it, m'kay?"

We have had more than our share of rain here, as well. The death toll directly from the flood stands at two ... both ignored a "DANGER - ROAD CLOSED" barrier and drove into five or six FEET of water. Apparently one driver decided to stay with his vehicle (both were SUVs) and was found inside - the other drove off the road (one cannot see the limits of the pavement through all that water) directly into the river, and tried to swim for it in a RAGING torrent.

My son-in-law is an active police officer - on duty as they ALL were during the flooding, and even he is amazed at how many would actually get out of their cars and MOVE the barricades to get through. The police would stop them, and the usual response would be ... "That doesn't apply to ME -- I can get through". Next would be the cell phone call for help as they are stranded in three or four feet of water.

I took my "shift" at the Ipswich Visitors Center yesterday - in sight of a major washed-out bridge. I was amazed at the steady stream of vehicles ignoring a "DETOUR - BRIDGE OUT" sign. THey blithely drive past it and were SHOCKED to find a concrete barrier, a crane and other construction equipment on the abutment, totally blocking the roadway. The stream of traffic was constant, as were the necessary U-Turns.

I can't figure it out ... WHAT were they thinking ...?!?!?

 

[Aggie]

probably more people die because of fat & drinking cola than taking pictures over edges.... these things can not be prevented.

As one who has just lost 160 pounds I think this remark is totally uncalled for. Too many people with fat between the ears make these kinds of remarks.

 

[blansky]

Every year we get the "thinning of the herd" around Carmel/ Monterey when people ignore the signs and walk out to where the waves are crashing against the rocks. Inevitably someone get swept away and never seen again.

I've never really understood the mentality of never leaving home without their American Express travelers checks but somehow since it's a vacation they leave home without their brain.

Michael

 

[BrianShaw]

Wiggy: You picked a winner of a place to live, eh? .

and I thought people were only that dumb in Los Angeles!