Sports Bra Saves Hiker
Here’s one for the “unusual survival equipment” file. An American woman lost in the Bavarian Alps used her sports bra to signal for help. Jessica Bruinsma, 24, was hiking with a friend near the Austrian border when she got lost during bad weather and ended up falling nearly 16 1/2 feet to a rocky overhang. She spent the next 70 hours stranded on the ledge, with only a logging cable within her reach. When the cable started moving several days after she had fallen, Bruinsma decided to tie her sports bra to the cable to attract the attention of the lumbermen at the base.
It worked.
Three days after she became lost and stranded, she was found by a team that followed the cable line up the mountain. The Colorado woman suffered some bruises and a dislocated shoulder, but was was otherwise fine.
This is precisely the kind of resourcefulness one needs to have should they become stranded during an hike. Bruinsma was clever – she kept her warm clothes and socks on but abandoned her sports bra because it was the least necessary item of clothing she had on at that moment. She also had enough water to sustain herself and even was able to find water in an old supply box near the ledge. Finally, she was in shape, fit enough for the type of hike she was on. Knowing what you are doing while hiking can really save your life.
