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Show MOUNTAIN TIMES What Really Happened Death in the Afternoon: Scouts in Grand Canyon By Steve Lewis evening. Yeah, we were thirsty and beat and had a long ways to go.” hursday, June 6, helicopters circle over Tilted Mesa in the Nankoweap Creek Wilderness Area of Grand Canyon looking for members of a Bountiful Boy Scout troop. Below, scouts and their leaders bake, some unconsciously, in 112degree temperatures. Scout leader Guy Davis sits emaciated on a ledge, wait- ing and wanting for water. Two other adults and four teens experience severe exhaustion and dehydration. Rescue crews note dropped packs and hikers spread out over a mile in the canyon “Things could bottom. have One been remarks, much worse Davis explained that the group tried to get going early Wednesday morning. “But there was no real set trail to follow. Loren and Earl, who had done the trip before, guided us through a difficult boulder field. Then that last leg down cliffs near Little Nankoweap Canyon was tough. We had about two to three miles to go and then the heat got real oppressive.” The three men and five teens ran out of water Wednesday at about 3 p-m., said Davis. “I told the others to go on. I had to drop out and stop. My son, Jordan, went on with Loren and Earl. I told the scouts to kind of drop for this Bountiful group.” their packs and head for the river. And That morning, the body of 15-yearold Dave Phillips, along with three dehydrated and unconscious adults and a handful of scouts, are airlifted to a waiting medical center on the South Rim. It was the tragic end to a longplanned outing by a Bountiful Boy Scout Troop. Interestingly, a fourth adult from the Bountiful group, Dee Winegar, and his son, Lonny, are found in excellent condition. The Winegars, who started two days later, determined not to follow the route taken by the first then I slid under a shelf for some shade, where I basically stayed all afternoon and night.” News reports stated that young Phillips had collapsed due to heat stroke and exhaustion just a few hundred yards from the Colorado River. Members of a river float trip, luckily group. Some will ask whether it’s fair to second-guess leaders of the LDS North Canyon 3rd Ward scout troop and question whether they were negligent in leading young men and themselves on such a tortuous quest in such scorching heat. Also, questions will be asked about their degree of preparation and planning and why group leaders charged off the Northeast Rim on a bushwhack route with a strategy to “dry camp” two straight nights in such hot conditions. The ill-fated trip began June 3, a full week before the group’s actual US Park Service permit date. Guy Davis, in his late 40s, and brothers Loren and Earl Pace, age 70 and 64, guided five teens over the lip of the Northeast Rim at 8,240 feet and down a 15-mile ardu- ous backcountry bushwhack the canyon bottom tion. According to route to at 2,400 feet elevaDavis,’ the initial crew of Bountiful scout hikers started off at trailhead #31 late Monday. “Each scout carried more than a gallon water and then we planned to camp the next two nights and wouldn’t hit water ‘till summoned Davis remembers. “Loren (Pace) had a tough time,” Davis recalls. “They had to give him five or six liters of I-V just to get him going.” espite the fact that the personal 5. of the three adults was diverted only by a helicopter “dragout,” Davis reflects with some irony: “I guess if Dave hadn’t died, no one really would have known or cared about our trip.” Davis labeled the trip a “terrible tragedy” but otherwise said it was a “positive experience.” ‘If the group disregarded the knowledge learned on this trip, it would be a disservice to David.” Neither Davis nor the Pace brothers planned an alternative route. It also has been learned that the scout leaders skipped meals and hiked across rocky country not in the cool of the morning follow. And then, about 9:30 that IT! Yard | lwtti a a oo run ° cycle * swim ¢ fitness * run * cycle * swim ° fitness * run ” but during the penetrating heat of the began on Wednesday hiking the same trail as the original group but turned to quit FRAME CPR ee a9 649-2155 dropped, that I finally got some water,” much we we did have plenty of water.” Had group leaders known of existing canyon challenges and extremes and had more experience and real preparation, they certainly would have planned an alternative route. Moreover, they should have realized that its better to hike on established trails where water is available, rather than the perilous route they took Stephen W. Lewis is a Salt Lake attorney, active mountain and desert hiker and former Scoutmaster and Varsity Scout leader. @ from a passing raft, were day. On top of that, they wore hot denim, which accelerates exhaustion and impedes free movement. Surprisingly, two other members of the outing, Dee Winegar and his son, Lonny, were not dehydrated. They of a trail and IF YOU CAN'T EAT IT... not able to revive the young man nor able to find Davis, the Pace brothers and one other scout. The following morning, Thursday, three rescue helicopters were summoned and found the missing men, each partially or completely unconscious and dehydrated “It wasn’t until Thursday morning at 9 or 10 am. when the chopper passed for the third time, then the bottom of the canyon (the third day),” Davis explained. Tuesday, “we started out (the second) morning and hiked down cliffs and chutes, most of the day in the open sun. In some places there wasn’t finally, back and walked into the canyon on 4 regularly-maintained footpath Winegar and his son reached running water the first afternoon. “That first day, we hiked in the morning shade, were in the real hot sun from noon to 3 p.m., and then got to Nankoweap Creek and running water that afternoon,” Winegar explained. Winegar planned to meet the full group at the Colorado River and then hike out with them Friday “It was pretty hot the day we came in on the main trail, but we didn’t have any problems a f factory e seconds * closeouts Sma Cy eae ee OTe oe Ad Neem Tm MDT Sun:.12pm to 5pm bl es ra * discontinued E and a ‘ overstocked » items 675 E. 2100 S. ater! NY]{an Oe)on 8 801-486-1330 |