Lightning in the backcountry

[BC9696]

Here's a terrific article explaining the subject of lightning and I for one am stunned to learn where the juice is and how many people are exposed. Clearly hanging is better than being on the ground but now I'm thinking a sturdy rubber treestrap may not be a bad investment (as long as it doesn't stretch). Check this out: http://www.aztrail.org/lightning_safety.pdf

It is not uncommon for thundershowers to occur regularly during archery elk season out west and this year I will be hunting the Kaibab in AZ which is prone to such summer storms. I think maybe there's a reason this info just fell into my lap this morning. Your thoughts? Oh and please don't preach about the likelihood of being struck by lightning. They say the same thing about shark attacks but when I would freedive while spearfishing I knew I was at greater risk than the people in Kansas...same applies here. Most people are not in the backcountry during such storms.

Maybe a non-conductive Dutch style clip (glass?) would be the way to go?

[FlySubCompact]

Rubber straps will likely not be much improvement as electrical insulation than your regular synthetic suspensions. Just suspend from trees that are shorter than their neighbors and stay off hill tops that might have iron ore veins in the ground. I once read that some beach volleyball players were struck one sunny day by a lightning bolt that travelled an estimated 3 miles from offshore. That is one heck of a gap for a spark to jump. The electrolytes in your bloodstream would likely overwhelm a couple of straps anyway if you were in the wrong place.

[MAD777]

Ha! I love the idea of rubber straps and glass Dutchware!
Maybe we should add: Hang only from rubber trees.

[SilvrSurfr]

Oh and please don't preach about the likelihood of being struck by lightning. They say the same thing about shark attacks but when I would freedive while spearfishing I knew I was at greater risk than the people in Kansas...same applies here. Most people are not in the backcountry during such storms.

The odds of being struck by lightning should be included in any discussion of lightning safety. The author implies that the odds of getting hit by lightning in the backcountry are greater, but he doesn't have any statistics to back him up, because there aren't any. Anyone outdoors, whether in the backcountry or not, has an increased chance of getting hit by lightning (as opposed to those in buildings or cars).

So if the chances of being struck by lightning in the US in a given year is 1 in 500,000 (.23 deaths per million people), then one can naturally assume that the less thunderstorms or precipitation a given state receives, then the less chance of getting hit by lightning. So the odds of getting hit by lightning in Nevada, the state with the least annual precipitation, are probably even more miniscule than 1 in 500,000.

Sure, lightning safety principles should be followed in any thunderstorm, but what about the things you can't control? Check out these numbers:

http://www.bls.gov/iif/oshwc/cfoi/jeh5_05_45-50.pdf

1) Eighty-nine percent of lightning deaths are white people.
2) Eighty-five percent of deaths are male.
3) Fifty-four percent of deaths are people aged 20 to 44 years old.

So the best safety strategy regarding lightning would be to get as far away as possible from white males age 20 to 44 years old!

[BC9696]

Haha, you are funny. If you look you'll see the article above comes from AZ backcountry experts. For the stunning stats on AZ lightning (as it pertains to hunting season) visit http://cals.arizona.edu/backyards/ar...mmer07/p16.pdf. I will be in those mountain during the monsoon season when the vast majority of those 600,000 strikes occur. Oh and I almost fit the profile...a bit older than the average victim. Then again, I didn't have an elk tag before either.

[SilvrSurfr]

Haha, you are funny. If you look you'll see the article above comes from AZ backcountry experts.

Actually, it doesn't come from AZ backcountry experts - it's from a non-profit called the National Outdoors Leadership School that sells courses on, you guessed it, wilderness risk management, among other things. Seems like they have the market cornered because you find this same paper on several websites.

I personally found Dr. Gookin's paper to be a bit of fluff - fact-free for the most part. He collects a bunch of facts about lightning, but offers very little new information on how to manage lightning risks. In fact, he seems to be the only person in the world promoting "backcountry lightning risk management" as a field worthy of studying.

[IMScotty]

I think that given hammockers affinity to trees, lightening is a legitimate concern. I hope that everyone follows the advice above concerning the importance of site selection. I doubt rubber straps will make much of a difference. I would think that falling branches and tree tops as a result of a strike would be a bigger concern.

[BC9696]

I think that given hammockers affinity to trees, lightening is a legitimate concern. I hope that everyone follows the advice above concerning the importance of site selection. I doubt rubber straps will make much of a difference. I would think that falling branches and tree tops as a result of a strike would be a bigger concern.

If you are hit directly, you're probably toast however, the overwhelming majority of risk results from ground current and side flash...both of which could be mitigated by some sort on non-conductive instrument separating the hammock camper and the tree. If you are NOT hanging from or near the tallest tree around then you're at far less risk of having stuff fall on you. I'm looking at my whoopie slings and thinking I can swap out that metal ring with a ceramic or glass one w/o adding a lot of weight. It's a simple enough thing to do.

[frenchycamp]

If you are hit directly, you're probably toast however, the overwhelming majority of risk results from ground current and side flash...both of which could be mitigated by some sort on non-conductive instrument separating the hammock camper and the tree. If you are NOT hanging from or near the tallest tree around then you're at far less risk of having stuff fall on you. I'm looking at my whoopie slings and thinking I can swap out that metal ring with a ceramic or glass one w/o adding a lot of weight. It's a simple enough thing to do.

why don't you just attach (larkshead) the whoopies to the hammock directly. No hardware, less weight, I do that on all my setups.

[dingbat]

Don't hang from pine in a thunderstorm.