Wilderness Travel and ICE

So, you find yourself out in the early morning mist on a remote lake paddling around with a friend .....or maybe you are solo with your kayak...remember the YOYO concept below? If not, "you are on your own" means it is best to be prepared in case you need someone to help you if you get hurt....average time before anyone is contacted is 5 hours 51 minutes.....might this be longer in a situation like this? Let's not find out. If in the Adirondack Mountains, you can stop at Eastern Mountain Sports or the Mountaineer Store and locate some essentials to have on hand and of course.....use ICE. This picture is not too remote...it is Mirror Lake in the early morning mist in Lake Placid, NY.....

ICE and YOYO

What?

No, we haven't gone bonkers.....just wanted to provide you with another instructional acronym to use when discussing the act of being prepared.

YOYO stands for You're On Your Own ....the ASSE refers to YOYO 24 or the time between an emergency situation and the time help/relief becomes available......you can see from recent events such as Hurricane Katrina that this could be extended and at minimum you might use YOYO 72 for personal situations....

What does this mean for the average citizen? In short in means that safety professionals - public and private have recognized that the reality is we the people have to get our collective act together in order to pull through some of what life, nature and those crazy zealots are dishing out....

So, if it suits you or your organization ....be prepared for YOYO72 at minimum.