So Gregg, you disagree with my assertion that grown scout leaders and instructors should be held responsible if they were aware of nearby rainstorms and left kids to sleep by a creek or in the bottom of a canyon?
I'm sure if it it had been your son you'd be satisfied with saying, "Well, chitt happens".
I know a bit about that country, and both of my sons have worked multiple summers at Philmont. The reality is that in a canyon like Ponil, the weather that causes the flood need not be anywhere nearby, but can be ten miles or more from the flood site, totally invisible from inside the canyon. From what I know about this incident, the boys were camped in an established campsite, some 20 feet or more above the level of the canyon floor. That site had always been safe before. Professional staff out there take great care to put campsites in safe locations, keeping in mind the environmental conditions and the lack of familiarity of the visiting scouts and leaders from across the country.
It's awfully easy for someone who wasn't there to sit back and do the Monday morning quarterbacking on something like this. You can scream for accountability and the pound of flesh all you want to, but none of that will bring back that young man. It truly was a fluke of nature.
We all feel terribly for family and the troop or crew.
