3 Sons & A King

Parma

@parma26
Joined
Feb 12, 2014
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754
I just came across this short film about a double amputee that summits Kings Peak with his father and son. It’s only a little over 7 min. long and well worth your time to watch it.
Especially those who have summitted Kings Peak, the shots they get are pretty good. They used some drones for some unique shots I’ve never seen before of Kings Peak...I didn’t know you could use drones up there.
Anyway, here it is:

 
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Not to be a party pooper, but the drone usage in the designated wilderness really bums me out. I would have been livid if I'd hiked all the way in there that day to see and hear that thing buzzing around. Surprising that Petzl would sponsor that kind of thing but I guess it's not the first time a big brand has sponsored something like that.
 
Not to be a party pooper, but the drone usage in the designated wilderness really bums me out. I would have been livid if I'd hiked all the way in there that day to see and hear that thing buzzing around. Surprising that Petzl would sponsor that kind of thing but I guess it's not the first time a big brand has sponsored something like that.
I was thinking of the same thing!
 
I could see them granting them an exception with limited use on specific days...and a nice payment too.
 
Total guess, but I imagine the penalty is similar to using any other motorized contraption. And I know from personal experience that it can be harsh. Story time....

Close to 20 years ago I bought my first pickup truck. It was a 1990-ish Toyota pickup from before the Tacoma days. Fun truck to drive around in the mountains. One night we were exploring roads in the foothills near Smithfield, Utah. We followed the road up over a ridge and then it started descending down the other side. It started getting really faint like an ATV track as it descended a steep hill. I tried to back up and couldn't make it and ended up getting stuck sitting at a really awkward position on a steep hillside. The truck was stuck at such an angle that you could have given it a big push and probably sent it tumbling down the hill. We hiked out so that we could recruit someone to come back and help pull us out.

It rained hard the next couple of days and so we had to delay going back for it. I was worried about the soil getting soft and the truck tumbling so I hiked in with a tow strap and hand winch to secure it to a tree until the roads dried out enough to retrieve it. When I got there, there was a note from the forest service telling me to call them before attempting to remove it. I called when I got home and they informed me that I had driven through the Mount Naomi Wilderness to get where I was. I was no longer in it, but the road out cuts back through the edge of it. I apologized and explained I was following a well worn road until it petered out. They told me that that doesn't matter, that I should have a map and know where I am. I asked them why the road wouldn't be closed or have signs. They said there have been signs in the past but people take them down.

They then informed me that there would be absolutely no driving in to get it. There wouldn't even be any driving out if I were to get it un-stuck myself. I would have to use horses and disassemble the truck to pack it out of the wilderness. Unless of course I could convince congress to allow an exception to the rules. That wasn't going to happen. We went back and forth on this and got nowhere.

So the following weekend, we went in and got it despite their instructions not to do so. I had a friend drive me in and we winched it out and drove away. A few days later the forest service and several members of the Cache County Sheriff's office showed up to my work and requested I come outside. They demanded I tell them who helped me get out. They explained I would be facing multiple charges and so would the person who helped me. The sheriff was in my face, pushing me into a car, yelling at me, telling me they'd throw me in jail until I talked like I was a serious criminal. An obstruction of justice charge was threatened. I called my friend and explained the situation and ensured him I would pay for all of his fines and legal bills if he would let me disclose his identity. He reluctantly agreed.

A few days later the forest service contacted me and informed me I would be getting three charges for driving in wilderness. One for each time I supposedly crossed the line, as would my friend. Somehow, my friend was never charged. I ended up in federal court in Salt Lake defending myself. The defendant who was up before me had literally been charged with killing a bald eagle. I explained the situation to the judge. The maximum penalty was going to be $30,000 in fines ($10k per charge) and I think up to a year in jail per charge. The judge was kind and reduced it to the minimum fine of $100 each. He put me on probation for 3 years where if I committed any other kind of 'watershed violation', all of it would have come back and I would have received the max penalty. Such a crazy experience. And I absolutely love the wilderness. I spent a ton of time in the Naomi Wilderness at the time and I would defend it vigorously. On any given weekend there would be streams of 4x4's and ATV's going on the same road without penalty but because I got stuck...
 
That's a crazy story...I didn't know we were associating ourselves on this website with such a hardened federal criminal. haha

I did post a question on the YouTube video of the short film asking how they got permission to use drones in a wilderness area. We'll see what they say.
 
Total guess, but I imagine the penalty is similar to using any other motorized contraption. And I know from personal experience that it can be harsh. Story time....

Close to 20 years ago I bought my first pickup truck. It was a 1990-ish Toyota pickup from before the Tacoma days. Fun truck to drive around in the mountains. One night we were exploring roads in the foothills near Smithfield, Utah. We followed the road up over a ridge and then it started descending down the other side. It started getting really faint like an ATV track as it descended a steep hill. I tried to back up and couldn't make it and ended up getting stuck sitting at a really awkward position on a steep hillside. The truck was stuck at such an angle that you could have given it a big push and probably sent it tumbling down the hill. We hiked out so that we could recruit someone to come back and help pull us out.

It rained hard the next couple of days and so we had to delay going back for it. I was worried about the soil getting soft and the truck tumbling so I hiked in with a tow strap and hand winch to secure it to a tree until the roads dried out enough to retrieve it. When I got there, there was a note from the forest service telling me to call them before attempting to remove it. I called when I got home and they informed me that I had driven through the Mount Naomi Wilderness to get where I was. I was no longer in it, but the road out cuts back through the edge of it. I apologized and explained I was following a well worn road until it petered out. They told me that that doesn't matter, that I should have a map and know where I am. I asked them why the road wouldn't be closed or have signs. They said there have been signs in the past but people take them down.

They then informed me that there would be absolutely no driving in to get it. There wouldn't even be any driving out if I were to get it un-stuck myself. I would have to use horses and disassemble the truck to pack it out of the wilderness. Unless of course I could convince congress to allow an exception to the rules. That wasn't going to happen. We went back and forth on this and got nowhere.

So the following weekend, we went in and got it despite their instructions not to do so. I had a friend drive me in and we winched it out and drove away. A few days later the forest service and several members of the Cache County Sheriff's office showed up to my work and requested I come outside. They demanded I tell them who helped me get out. They explained I would be facing multiple charges and so would the person who helped me. The sheriff was in my face, pushing me into a car, yelling at me, telling me they'd throw me in jail until I talked like I was a serious criminal. An obstruction of justice charge was threatened. I called my friend and explained the situation and ensured him I would pay for all of his fines and legal bills if he would let me disclose his identity. He reluctantly agreed.

A few days later the forest service contacted me and informed me I would be getting three charges for driving in wilderness. One for each time I supposedly crossed the line, as would my friend. Somehow, my friend was never charged. I ended up in federal court in Salt Lake defending myself. The defendant who was up before me had literally been charged with killing a bald eagle. I explained the situation to the judge. The maximum penalty was going to be $30,000 in fines ($10k per charge) and I think up to a year in jail per charge. The judge was kind and reduced it to the minimum fine of $100 each. He put me on probation for 3 years where if I committed any other kind of 'watershed violation', all of it would have come back and I would have received the max penalty. Such a crazy experience. And I absolutely love the wilderness. I spent a ton of time in the Naomi Wilderness at the time and I would defend it vigorously. On any given weekend there would be streams of 4x4's and ATV's going on the same road without penalty but because I got stuck...


Wow- thanks for sharing @Nick . I read that 3 times, crazy. "Use horses and disassemble the truck and pack it out?" That's ....! (I can't print those words, but there is one Dutch word that immediately jumped to my mind and I haven't used that word in 20 years). It's good the judge was sensible and more practical. Scary experience, but I appreciate you shared it with us.
 
That's a crazy story...I didn't know we were associating ourselves on this website with such a hardened federal criminal. haha

I did post a question on the YouTube video of the short film asking how they got permission to use drones in a wilderness area. We'll see what they say.
lol looks like they deleted your comment...
 
That's a crazy story...I didn't know we were associating ourselves on this website with such a hardened federal criminal. haha

I did post a question on the YouTube video of the short film asking how they got permission to use drones in a wilderness area. We'll see what they say.

Hrm... that's interesting. I just looked for your comment but didn't find it. Maybe it was removed by the poster?
 
Interesting. I can't see the comment either. It's either waiting to be "Approved" or the poster deleted it.
 
Here's an image from someon'e YT vid of what was, at least at one time, on the HUW boundary sign along the Red Castle trail from China Meadow...

31064366_10155490108158097_2221757379819969359_n.jpg


I've had all sorts of debates with some people in Facebook groups who regularly post their drone videos of shots they've gotten in the wilderness there. They claim that the USFS can only enforce violations that happens on the ground and that once a drone is in the air, it is in federal air space and there subject to all FAA regulations and what not and not the USFS. Their argument is that while it isn't legal to take off and land within the boundary, being a motorized device, they can launch outside the boundary, buzz around the airspace above the boundary all they want, and then land back outside the boundary. That said, places like Kings Peak, even Naturalist Basin and those areas are several miles away from the nearest boundary and I find it hard to believe that anyone can fly a drone that far in, have time to shoot all their footage and fly it back out on one battery pack. But I've never owned or flow a drone, so....what do I know?

In fact, I thought this was a discussion that's come up in some other threads here at BCP in the past too. I think most here are on the side of preferring not to have them buzzing above and around them in the backcountry even if it was all legal everywhere.

And wow @Nick, that is some story! Hate how some bad apples in law enforcement can get on some real ego trips and come across as big jerks. Glad the judge was sympathetic to your case.
 
ya, it shows up for me when I'm logged in, but when I switch to my wife's account it isn't there. I'll let you know if they reply to me.
 
ya, it shows up for me when I'm logged in, but when I switch to my wife's account it isn't there. I'll let you know if they reply to me.

I'm quite sure that means they hid your comment. The only other thing is if YouTube automatically moderated it and they need to approve it, but that really only happens when the detect it to be a high probability of spam. Sounds like they don't want to have that conversation...
 
I did use my account which doesn't have any videos uploaded to it. The account I usually use has my wife's name on it and I didn't want a comment to be posted with her name on it so I switched to my rarely used account. So that probably did get flagged as a potential spam account.
 
I'm quite sure that means they hid your comment. The only other thing is if YouTube automatically moderated it and they need to approve it, but that really only happens when the detect it to be a high probability of spam. Sounds like they don't want to have that conversation...

No surprise there. Seriously I don't want to rain on that guy's huge accomplishment. Maybe the discussion need to be taken to Petzl.
 

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