- Perseverance is good, but come on.
Look, we all make mistakes. And that’s alright — it’s just a part of life. Just learn from your screw-up and move on.
Of course, some people either can’t or don’t want to grasp this concept. Take, for example, the man that recently had to be saved from an Arizona mountain — twice.
Not only that, the rescue operations took place less than 24 hours apart.
The man in question is Phillip Vasto, 28, from Brooklyn. According to Arizona Daily Sun, he’s an independent contractor and a self-professed “experienced hiker.”
Somehow, we’d take that self-evaluation with a grain of salt.
Online Misinformation
Vasto’s escapades began on March 2. While in Phoenix, Arizona, on a business trip, he decided to feed his lust for hiking by climbing to the summit of Humphreys Peak in Flagstaff.
That’s no small undertaking — at 12,637 feet, Humphreys Peak is the highest natural point in Arizona. But Vasto believed he was up to the task.
We also can’t in good conscience claim Vasto didn’t try to prepare for the hike. Based on information from YouTube and AllTrails, he determined that a fit person could climb to the summit in about three hours.
What he failed to realize that the guides and reviews he read were for warmer months. Although Arizona gets hellishly hot (it’s a dry heat), in winter the mountains still get plenty of snow and freezing temperatures.
You may be starting to see the problem.
‘Easy to Get Off the Trail’
Vasto started his first attempt to scale Humphreys Peak at 2:30 p.m. on March 2. He ran into issues right off the bat — it took him an hour just to find the trailhead under all the snow.
When he finally found the trail, he started his hike. However, he had serious troubles following the path, again due to the snow.
“It was very easy to get off the trail and fall into the snow,” Vasto recalled.
Additionally, the man hadn’t brought any kind of lighting with him. As he trudged on, the shadows started to lengthen until the sun was just about to set.
At 6:50 p.m., more than four hours after starting off, Vasto admitted to himself that he was lost. He called the Coconino County Sheriff’s Office Search and Rescue team.
He told the officers that he didn’t know where he was on the trail but would try to find his way off the mountain. Concerned for his safety, a rescue crew went after Vasto and eventually found him off the trail around the 10,600-foot elevation mark.
While they brought Vasto down from the mountain, the rescuers told him that proper planning is essential on challenging hikes. They also suggested that he should wait a couple months for better weather before trying again.
Let’s Try This Again
Vasto took the officers’ advice. He spent a whole 12 hours preparing for his next attempt.
“I was thinking if I start early in the morning, I’ll have all the time in the world to reach the summit,” Vasto said.
So, at 9:30 a.m. on March 3, he took to the trail again. This time, things seemed to go a bit better.
Vasto stayed on the trail and even met two other hikers — Jonathan and Alberta O’neill. The three thought there’d be safety in numbers and started heading towards the summit together.
However, when they reached the saddle of Humphreys Peak around 2:30 p.m., another hiker told them that they were still about an hour from the summit. They went on, but when the peak was still out of sight an hour later, the O’neills turned back.
But not Vasto. He pressed on… For 15 minutes, and then he swallowed his pride and turned around as well.
“The reason why I turned back, what was slowing me down so much, was just how powerful the wind was blowing. It was an incredibly, incredibly violent gust,” he said.
Finally, a Lesson Learned
On the way down, however, things started going wrong again. Vasto slipped off the trail and injured his leg.
After he got back on his feet, he realized the cold was getting to him. The man said he got lightheaded and his body began to go numb.
“I did not know just how cold it would be to be up there at that time of year,” he admitted later.
It was 5:30 p.m. when Vasto, once again, called Search and Rescue. That was when her realized his phone only had 5% of battery left.
Luckily, a guardian angel appeared in the form of Phillip Wyatt, another hiker. He noticed that Vasto wasn’t feeling well, so he decided to stay with the man. Wyatt also gave the Search and Rescue team his number since Vasto’s phone was about to die.
The rescue crew, considering the worsening weather, decided it was time to act quickly. They broke out their helicopter and took off towards Vasto’s last reported location.
Fast forward a couple hours, and Vasto was again safely off the mountain. This time, though, the rescuers gave him a sterner warning, which we assume was roughly equal to: “Please, please don’t try this again.”
Luckily for both Vasto and the Search and Rescue team, he listened. Vasto still intends to reach the summit, but the next time he tries will be in May.