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06/24/2008: "Now That's Using Your ... Ah ..."
They say necessity is the mother of all invention, but I'd argue that right behind that is desperation. Desperate times make for desperate actions - like in this example here.
Jessica Brunsma was hiking in the German Alps when she slipped and fell onto a rocky ledge. Unable to return to the trail and sustained only by water found on the ledge, she spent 70 hours trapped until rescued. How did the rescue teams even know where to look? They followed the path of her sports bra...
Berchtesgaden police officer Lorenz Rasp said that he helped lift the 24-year-old Bruinsma to safety by helicopter on Thursday after she attracted the attention of lumberjacks by attaching her sports bra to a cable used to move timber down the mountain.
"She's a very smart girl, and she acted very resourcefully," said Rasp. "She kept her shirt and jacket for warmth, but thought the sports bra could work as a signal."
An Alpine rescue team, including five helicopters and 80 emergency workers, had been searching for Bruinsma since she went missing June 16 after losing her way in bad weather while hiking with a friend near the Austrian border.
She badly bruised a leg and dislocated a shoulder in the fall, and the cliff was too isolated for her to climb free, Rasp said.
Rasp said the cable was only within reach because the timber transport system was out of service. When a repairman restored the line on Thursday, the cable car started moving up the mountain and Bruinsma's bra reached the worker at the base. He knew of the missing hiker and immediately called police.
Rasp said his team followed the cable line up the cliff side in a helicopter and found Bruinsma standing on the ledge, waving with her good arm. After circling once, they lowered a winch to Bruinsma and lifted her aboard.
This was the perfect example of compromise. She sent the bra, but kept the shirt. Now, she could have sent more clothes down the line, but she'd have risked exposure and endangered her survival. I'll bet she'd have been rescued a lot faster, though ... 
