The following post from 14ers.com is generating some interesting discussion. For those responding to SPOT calls, it is worth a read. This incident took place in Colorado.
Over the last 3 weeks, I've spent a lot of time working with SPOT Customer Support as well as the Pitkin County Sheriff department. We've finally started to come to a conclusion on this, and have some important info to pass on to current SPOT customers and those considering buying SPOT service.
Some of you saw the trip report, but I was the subject of a rescue on the Maroon Bells on July 31st. During the incident, I had my SPOT Tracker with me and was able to use the "911" feature to alert SAR of my location. When "911" is active, the unit updates and resends the GPS location regularly for as long as "911" is on. As a result, about 20 "911" messages ended up being sent from my unit. While the rescue was successful, I learned after the fact that the SPOT had resulted in quite a bit of confusion at the sheriff's department as well as back at home.
I received word from Pitkin County yesterday as to exactly what happened. In short, when "911" is active, the GEOS Alliance (the company that manages the all communications when a SPOT is in "911" mode) updates the authorities (in this case, search and rescue), every time the subject moves 1/4 mile. In the ocean, where they do their testing, this makes sense. On a mountain, however, this does NOT make much sense. As you can imagine, this is rather frustrating for SAR teams, where 1/4 mile can cover a lot of altitude, and is basically the difference between two completely different rescues.
When I contacted SPOT regarding this issue, they stated "As official S&R they will be granted full account access and will be able to obtain exact coordinates from us directly if necessary. It may be a good idea to advise your emergency contacts of this, that way they can communicate this information if necessary. Our phone number is 1-800-OK1-SPOT." However, GEOS explained to Pitkin County that they cannot provide "full account access" because of sensitive information (credit card, etc). They had to rely on calling in to get new GPS coordinates. In the end, on my rescue, my parents ended up giving Mountain Rescue Aspen my login information so that they could access the online map and current GPS information directly.
I'm hoping sometime in the future there will be a better solution to handle this. In the mean time, I would HIGHLY recommend leaving the SPOT phone number (1-800-OK1-SPOT) as well as your login information to the SPOT website with your emergency contacts. Should a rescue occur, this will make things a LOT easier for SAR teams.
-Kev
Jeff Lehman