Boy Scouts rescued from unexpected snow on Appalachian Trail - Lynchburg News and Adv

[WhiteBlaze]

Boy Scouts rescued from unexpected snow on Appalachian Trail Lynchburg News and Advance At least eight Boy Scouts were rescued from the mountains in Montebello Sunday afternoon after encountering unexpected snow along the Appalachian Trail. The scouts left out of Mount Pleasant in Amherst County around 7 a.m. and hiked for seven miles ...

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[Slo-go'en]

...Hiked 7 miles into 5-7" of snow, decided they couldn't go on so called for rescue. What is this world coming to?

[myakka_]

This story has the funniest quote of the year. IF you have a weird sense of humor like mine.

They called our office and asked for help getting out because they weren’t prepared for the weather they encountered in Montebello,” she said.

So........ the boy scouts.......weren't........prepared.............. .......

That's okay. It isn't like that's their motto or anything.

[HikerMom58]

We had CRAZY weather around here yesterday. SNOW AGAIN!! WINDY AND COLD!

Blizzard / whiteout conditions while driving south of here last Tuesday evening.

It's supposed to be in the 70's tomorrow!

[Likeapuma]

I thought "Be Prepared" was the Scout's motto?

[secret squirrl]

Okay, I have to chime in here on this one. Did they not look at the weather report for the day and not go from there. Where was the scout master in all of this?

[johnnybgood]

...Hiked 7 miles into 5-7" of snow.

I read it as saying 3-5" inches. No matter, these scouts should have never hiked seven miles if not prepared.
It's been snowing since early this morning in the western & northern half of Va.

[Hill Ape]

Scouts are just kids, learning the ways. This is leadership failure, especially if the weather was forecasted

[HikerMom58]

I read it as saying 3-5" inches. No matter, these scouts should have never hiked seven miles if not prepared.
It's been snowing since early this morning in the western & northern half of Va.

I don't like articles written like this because they don't give many/ all the facts. We have to guess & speculate as to what was really going on. It can make people look like idiots when they might be or not?

So many were saying, here, that the forecast was wrong for Friday and Saturday and it was! We were supposed to get rain on Friday.. didn't get a drop. Saturday was supposed to be rain, instead it was snow and much more than predicted.

This is what everyone is saying around here.

[Meriadoc]

According to the article, they covered 7 miles in 1 hour and 20 minutes. Maybe they were trail running. If conditions changed rapidly and developed to whiteout where they were that might explain part of it. Montebello isn't too far from where you are HM.

Let's get the full story before castigating anyone. Check that. Let's never castigate . We can do that on the internet, right?
Don't mind me, I like hugging trees. And people. And while driving twenty miles today I read three "Peace and Love" signs on completely unrelated restaurants' signs. It's a love day

Edit: Woops. Just realized I read your post wrong HM. That was last Tuesday. My mistake.
I'll still hope for the full story and a learning moment. Boy lots of folks seem to be getting rescued. Does anyone have the metrics on this? Or care to do them?

[HikerMom58]

According to the article, they covered 7 miles in 1 hour and 20 minutes. Maybe they were trail running. If conditions changed rapidly and developed to whiteout where they were that might explain part of it. Montebello isn't too far from where you are HM.

Let's get the full story before castigating anyone. Check that. Let's never castigate . We can do that on the internet, right?
Don't mind me, I like hugging trees. And people. And while driving twenty miles today I read three "Peace and Love" signs on completely unrelated restaurants' signs. It's a love day

Edit: Woops. Just realized I read your post wrong HM. That was last Tuesday. My mistake.
I'll still hope for the full story and a learning moment. Boy lots of folks seem to be getting rescued. Does anyone have the metrics on this? Or care to do them?

Roger that, Merry!

Yes, the whiteout was on Tuesday south of here.

The Winter Storm Warning for our area & the Montebello area (that is close to where I live) developed in the afternoon & very quickly.

It was warm, like 60's in the morning, on Saturday ,then BOOM temps dropped like a rock & it started snowing!

[Astro]

We had CRAZY weather around here yesterday. SNOW AGAIN!! WINDY AND COLD!

Blizzard / whiteout conditions while driving south of here last Tuesday evening.

It's supposed to be in the 70's tomorrow!

70s, I guess they could have just waited it out.

[Astro]

Okay, I have to chime in here on this one. Did they not look at the weather report for the day and not go from there. Where was the scout master in all of this?

+1, I realize BSA is dependent upon volunteers, but they need to know what is going on and be responsible

[Lone Wolf]

uhhhh, how about the parents? they're as much to "blame" as anyone

[Tuckahoe]

In before he usual scout bashing characters...

The journalist and the newspaper editor are morons for writing that garbage and allowing it to be published. All we truly know from the article is that some people may have been aided getting off the trail. It reads more like the reporting of an unsubstantiated rumor. The reporter couldn't pin down the troop number and location? No details on their lack of preparedness?

[scudder]

more info here.. www.blueridgelife.com/2014/03/30 still not clear if this was a day hike gone bad, or a longer trip.

[peakbagger]

I was involved as a scout leader for many years. Its a tough volunteer job. To do it well its almost a full time job and the majority of the folks who get involved just don't have the background and training themselves to be leaders. The resources for the leaders are out there but many just learn by doing

Ultimately the scout program has its flaws but there really isn't any viable alternative that has the potential reach that the scouting program has.

Hopefully it was a learning experience for the scouts and leaders.

[SouthMark]

uhhhh, how about the parents? they're as much to "blame" as anyone

As a former scoutmaster I can tell you that BSA to a lot of parents means Baby Sitters of America.

[Tuckahoe]

more info here.. www.blueridgelife.com/2014/03/30 still not clear if this was a day hike gone bad, or a longer trip.

Hee hee snicker... I was in Troop 55 in Chesapeake, while one of my co-workers was infact a member of said troop 259.


Reports sadly still lacking any real information.

[Coffee]

To be fair, the weather forecast was totally blown over the weekend. I was stuck in horrible traffic in northern Virginia yesterday in an unexpected and surprisingly heavy snow squall, although it was not even accumulating. Skyline Drive in SNP was closed and the Big Meadows webcam showed accumulating snow. Still, the scouts motto is be prepared ... and it is still March.