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Moonarie - Worth bringing a Sat phone? 12-Mar-2009 At 11:05:18 PM muki

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On 12/03/2009 patto wrote:
>Recently at Arapiles, a well know chockstoner and arapiles local commented
>to me and stressed the benefits of having a mobile at the crag. He insisted
>how important it was when things go bad. My thoughts were that this was
>somewhat unecessary and further diminished the out bush notion of arapiles.

Flush toilets, a kitchen sink, and a phone box ? your notion of out bush and mine are slightly different!

I carry a 3G phone at the piles when climbing, and the one day I left it at home was the day my partner
pulled the entire pitch and decked, if I'd had the phone I could have rung for the ambo as soon as I had
him stabilised, but as it was he had a bad concusion, and I had to wait with him until he could
remember that he had possible spinal injurys and needed to remain still (even though he was in pain)
and not get up, or try to find a more comfortable position, he would ask me where he was and what
had happened every time I had just finished explaining the situation.
It took me half an hour to get to the point where I felt that he had grasped the situation and would not
forget it as soon as I left for help, then 15/20 minutes to run from Lower Yesterday Gully to the phone
box and make the call, then run back again, all up nearly 50 minutes that could have been used for
help to arrive.
for me it doesn't detract from the outdoor experience, if it's switched off in my pocket, then nobody,
except my partner for the day, even knows I have it with me, but if needed then its there.
Just the other week a fellow climber was running past where I was climbing with friends, nobody runs
that fast just to grab a forgotten item, I knew he was running for help ! so I stopped him and told him I
had a phone and where was the accident, he turned around told me and we both set of for his fallen
partner (he had also stripped the pitch and decked) I was still talking on the phone to emergency
services about the location when I decided that the injury's were not that serious, ie no spinals, no
internal bleeding, and no concussion or head injury's, just a badly sprained ankle, and ligament
damage, and therefore it would be quicker to form a hand litter and carry him out to a car that his
partner would go and get while we did the evac, it all worked out well, but could have been bad if it was
a life threatening set of injury's that needed swift response times, thank god it was simple.
Like having a mobile phone handy, simple.
on another note I get reception at the top of Moonarie with my 3G, not top camp, the summit.