http://www.newwest.net/index.php/city/article/a_renowned_grand_teton_climbing_ranger_reflects_on_mt_hood_costs_of_rescues/C396/L396/
New West Interview With Senior Grand Teton National Park Climbing Ranger Renny Jackson ---By Todd Wilkinson, 12-21-06
(just a portion)
"This week, New West caught up with Renny Jackson, who oversees the world-renowned team of elite climbing rangers in Grand Teton National Park. Over the years, Jackson has organized or been a part of several high-profile search and rescue efforts in the Tetons. The unique corps of public servants has, on several occasions, been awarded special recognition from the federal government for putting their own lives in danger to aid others.
In the short interview with Jackson that follows, he refrains from speculating on the motivation of the Mt. Hood climbers and on technical aspects of search and rescue efforts there. But he does put the issue into focus. ....
...
NEW WEST (Bozeman, Montana): You’ve spearheaded the response for some pretty harrowing rescues on the Grand and other Teton peaks. In terms of assessing risk, what’s the Achilles Heel you often see?
JACKSON: One thing that I have seen with folks is that they might know about the light/fast philosophy but they don’t follow through with it. That is, if they find that they are going too slowly or they come up against their turnaround time, they continue instead of bailing and coming back another day. Sometimes it may take several failed attempts in order to learn what you need to learn in order to be able to be successful on a particular climb. This learning process never stops- I’m 54 and I am either learning new stuff or relearning the old stuff that I have forgotten.
NEW WEST: What’s the worst winter climbing experience you’ve had?
JACKSON: When my partner Hans Johnstone and I were trying to figure out how to climb the Grand Traverse in the winter. During one of our attempts, I was following him on the section between Teewinot and Mt. Owen. I knew we were a little too close to a cornice edge at one point and, sure enough, the bottom dropped out from under me as several tons of snow dropped onto a steep starting zone. Somehow I instantly did a backflip onto the windward side of the cornice and was OK. The cornice that broke hit the starting zone and started a large slab avalanche that ran a few thousand feet down to Teton Glacier. My partner and I were quite shaken by that and eventually bailed off the Traverse a little further along the ridge.That was my closest call and I was ignoring the warning bell that was going off in my head telling me that I was too close to the cornice edge.
NEW WEST: There’s been a growing debate over the question of whether rescuees should have to pay all or part of the bill for any mounting of a search effort. What are your thoughts?
JACKSON: In the national park setting I would say that rescuees should NOT have to pay for their rescues. All of us pay taxes and there are entrance fees to get into parks and fees for backcountry permits in some places. Tragedies such as the one on Mt. Hood bring a ton of media attention to the sport of mountaineering. Because of the sensationalism, people begin to believe that it is, without question, one of the riskiest endeavors that recreationists undertake. If you actually look at the statistics of what types of incidents occur on Federal land, some of the ones that generate the highest costs are not what one would expect. For example, searches for lost hikers or simply kids who wander off from campgrounds generate enormous costs. Boating accidents, motor vehicle accidents, and other similar incidents occur at statistically much higher rates."