Darwin Awards
A friend of mine just sent me this and I thought you might want to read it:
08-AUG-00 -- What Goes Up...
If you've ever spent any time in Colorado, you know the air
is thinner in the Rocky Mountains at 12,500 feet above sea
level. The change in altitude can put such a strain on a
body that the state of Colorado attracts Olympic trainers
and athletes from all over the world.
However, the altitude does affect different people in different
ways. In this case, the reduced levels of oxygen caused two
visitors from Texas to completely lose their common sense.
While driving about an hour north of Durango on Highway 550, two
brothers in two separate vehicles (a Dodge Ram and a Jeep Wrangler)
decided they wanted to do a little off-road four-wheeling. On the
outskirts of Silverton (a town tucked inside a valley, nestled on
all sides by the Rocky Mountains), the two decided to take a little
detour down the mountainside. (NOTE: Even the most rugged all-terrain
vehicles can't compensate for a lack of common sense.) It was the
beginning of an ordeal that would last for six days.
Oblivious to natural dangers presented by high cliffs and vast
remoteness, the two happily trekked down the mountainside further
and further. When they finally decided it was time to head back up
the mountainside, they discovered the angle was so steep that their
vehicles didn't have enough power to motor them back up (er...so
much for those car commercials).
So, instead of going back UP, the two decided they'd just keep
driving DOWN. Their plan was working out great until they became
trapped on a remote and unstable shelf above an 800-foot slope in
the middle of the Rockies. It took a Hummer five hours to push and
nudge each vehicle back up the mountainside where the brothers were
later ticketed by a representative from the Bureau of Land Management
for "harming the fragile alpine tundra environment, which a sign
nearby says can take 100 years to heal when damaged."
--DailyDarwin.com Staff
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