We were checking fence and found a section of 14 gauge hot wire missing. The ends of the wire looked like welding rods.
Lightning struck the fence at that spot, burned up a few feet of the wire and melted some insulators.
Here is a really great pdf article about lightning risk management in the backcountry:
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Hi Tori:
ReplyDeleteI found the article on Lightning Strikes to be of total interest. Last year, right before I went to Jackson Hole there was a HUGE lightning storm over the Grand Tetons. One person fell to his death while trying to climb to safety--in this case back down the mountain--and 17-19 others were REPEATEDLY struck by lightning. It was scary just reading about it after the fact.
One person woke up paralyzed and realized his son wasn't breathing. Somehow he crawled to his son, got on top of him and restarted his breathing.
To say the least the rangers at Jenny Lake were overwhelmed with the numbers of injured. Many people came to help, the injured were not just taken to the local hospital but were airflown to the hospital in Idaho Falls.
I think most survived or were expected too. Don't ask me how. It was awful. But the lingering after effects, physical therapy and the trauma watching that one person fall to his death--I think has scarred many a life.
And I'm not really Irate--I'm Margaret from ABR.