Fool

Yesterday, I questioned whether a hiker stranded on Mount Charleston was a hoax or not, but it turns out that it was a Canadian hiker who was really lost.
From the Las Vegas Sun: A Canadian hiker rescued today after being stranded in a snowstorm on Mount Charleston said he called for help because he was afraid of getting lost if he tried to make it down alone.
The hiker, Gregory Rudowsky, and his dog, Tiki, were lifted off the mountain via helicopter by a Metro Police search and rescue team.
Rudowsky, an experienced hiker, said he walked up the Bonanza Trail in Lee Canyon on Wednesday with plans to camp overnight and hike out Thursday morning. But when he woke up Thursday, a winter storm had already dumped two feet of snow on the ground, he said.
Police were alerted at 8:34 a.m. Thursday that the hiker and his dog were stranded when he used an emergency locator — a SPOT Personal Tracker — to send a short text message, Metro spokesman Bill Cassell said.
Rudowsky, who said he checked the weather for Las Vegas but not Mount Charleston before embarking on his hike, said he knew he only had a two-mile hike to get off the mountain but was afraid of getting lost. http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2011/dec/02/rescuers-wait-break-weather-pluck-lost-hiker-mount/
Oh, I don't know- an elevation increase of about 7000 feet should have given the hiker a clue. And the forecast for the week was bad weather, even in Las Vegas. Maybe he read the forecast using the metric system.
But I am glad he is safe and I am glad he was prepared. Now, I hope he is prepared to pay for the search and rescue that he caused.