Ouch!

[MickinOz]

https://www.news.com.au/travel/travel-u ... 0944cf4b60

[rjgimp]

Crikey! Is that channel 9 news a local feed for you? That infobabe in the video seems slightly more tolerable than the ditzy platinum blonde we have reading copy here in St Paul.

Oh, yeah... tough break for the dude in the tent.

[vs800rider]

I've always hear to never sleep under a dead tree branch, often called a widow maker, especially if in a tent. This proves why to never sleep under a tree branch if dead or not. Not sure how to decide if it is safe to sleep under a tree after hearing this story.

[MickinOz]

Crikey! Is that channel 9 news a local feed for you? That infobabe in the video seems slightly more tolerable than the ditzy platinum blonde we have reading copy here in St Paul.

Believe it or not, she's about standard.
Seriously good looking women on our screens. Best bit - they sure ain't ditzy bimbos.
University trained with usually international experience behind them.
Damn I love that beauty and brains combination.

Must really grind their gears when they have to read out the feel good "cat rescued from tree" stories.
Dunno how they do it, Australian TV News is dumbed down sensationalist claptrap.

I reckon that's Allison Langdon, I don't watch a lot of TV so I'm not certain.
Anyway if it is her, she's got a degree in journalism and did an internship with CBS in New York.

[MickinOz]

I've always hear to never sleep under a dead tree branch, often called a widow maker, especially if in a tent. This proves why to never sleep under a tree branch if dead or not. Not sure how to decide if it is safe to sleep under a tree after hearing this story.

Just don't get too cozy under any species of eucalypt. They'll drop live branches without warning, especially when stressed for water, so you have to watch it late summer before the winter rains come.

[tony.latham]

I live near the Middle Fork of the Salmon River. It's a popular 5-8 day wilderness white water trip for floaters.

It's a deep canyon that is prone to microbursts. I recall one fatality caused by a falling ponderosa pine in a windstorm. In another incident, it was a cottonwood tree that struck a tent and broke the legs of both occupants.

A co-worker packed the deadman to the nearest airstrip on his mule. Oh-boy.

Tony

[Tom&Shelly]

I worked at a Boy Scout camp one summer (in the 80's), and it turns out, early in the season, a scout had been killed by a falling branch somewhere else in the hundreds of camps the scouts owned. We had to go to each campsite and look for likely branches and take them out. Ever since, of course, I've considered that when picking a site for my own tent camping. But really, with due care, are the odds really much greater of being harmed by a tree falling than, say, being hit by lightning, or attacked by a bear?

Of course, the worst case scenario would be the camper who was burned by the lightning strike that knocked down the tree next to his tent, which broke both of his legs so he couldn't run away from the bear that attacked him. The really strange coincidence, though, was that when the rangers located the body, they found a winning lottery ticket in his pocket.

The winnings were enough to pay for his funeral. Some guys have all the luck!

Tom