XPost: alt.burningman, talk.politics.guns, alt.society.liberalism   
   XPost: nv.general   
   From: yourdime@outlook.com   
      
   The first time Masha Maltsava attended Burning Man – the annual “ephemeral   
   city” that attracts thousands of free-spirited revelers in the Nevada   
   desert – she over packed.   
      
   “I prepared for maybe three months,” she recalled in an interview with   
   CNN. “And I read all the packing lists, all the Reddit threads, all the   
   WhatsApp chats, preparing for Burning Man last year.”   
      
   But this year – when heavy rain transformed the remote venue into a muddy   
   mess that forced attendees to shelter in place and conserve precious   
   resources – Maltsava wasn’t as prepared.   
      
   She became one of about 70,000 people stuck at the event when Black Rock   
   Desert received over two months’ worth of rain in just 24 hours. The   
   storms, which started Friday and continued through the weekend, turned the   
   desert sand into a sloppy, slippery clay that made it impossible for   
   drivers to enter or exit.   
      
   “I was overly prepared last year – but I think that’s the right way to do   
   it,” she said.   
      
   While pictures of Burning Man’s elaborate art installations and people in   
   intricate costumes might make the event look glamorous, the weekend’s   
   severe weather has emphasized the challenges the experience poses.   
   Attendees spend seven days in an isolated, harsh desert environment with   
   limited access to outside resources and infrastructure.   
      
   And “self-reliance” is one of the event’s core principles, with organizers   
   emphasizing participants are ultimately responsible for their own health   
   and safety.   
      
   The event’s website advises attendees on how to prepare for the seven-day   
   festivities – including in the case of extreme weather. Here’s how   
   organizers suggest getting ready for the unique experience.   
      
   ‘It’s one of the most strikingly beautiful and utterly ethereal locations   
   in the world that will ever try to kill you’   
   The yearly celebration takes place in Nevada’s Black Rock Desert, a remote   
   and isolated area where the roads become unreliable in difficult weather   
   conditions. The closest settlement is Gerlach, a town of just over 100   
   people; Reno, the nearest city, is 93 miles away.   
      
   “The Black Rock Desert is a huge, flat, prehistoric lakebed, composed of a   
   hardpan alkali, ringed by majestic mountains,” says Burning Man on its   
   website. “Daytime temperatures routinely exceed 100°F, with extremely low   
   humidity.”   
      
   Organizers are blunt about the location on the event’s website: “It’s one   
   of the most strikingly beautiful and utterly ethereal locations in the   
   world that will ever try to kill you.”   
      
   Burning Man advises attendees that “ultimately the responsibility for your   
   personal health and safety falls to you,” part of the event’s “spirit of   
   radical self-reliance.”   
      
   While the festival provides “essential safety infrastructure” including   
   porta potties, ice for sale and on-site first responders, amenities are   
   few and far between. Revelers are typically reliant on the gear they’ve   
   brought themselves. Facilities for handwashing and showering are the   
   responsibility of individual camps.   
      
   The festival suggests a long list of gear for each attendee, including   
   food and beverages, an “extensive” first aid kit, warm clothing and fire   
   extinguishers.   
      
   Additionally, “Burners,” what the event dubs attendees, should bring a   
   “poop bucket,” especially in case rain makes porta potties inoperable. The   
   website recommends a 5-gallon utility bucket with a lid and garbage bag   
   liners.   
      
   And the list goes on: Attendees are urged to bring a portable shower,   
   waterproof protective bags for any electronic gear, a battery- or solar-   
   powered radio and warm clothing since temperatures can drop by as much as   
   50 degrees when the sun goes down.   
      
   In the case of rain, Burning Man emphasizes the importance of wood blocks   
   to help keep generators and other electronic devices dry and electrical   
   tape to seal off connections.   
      
   Nicole Gallub, who has attended four Burning Man events, said despite her   
   prior experience and serious preparations, she still wasn’t ready for this   
   year’s intense rain. “I don’t think anybody was really prepared for what   
   we experienced,” said Gallub, who left the event during a pause in the   
   downpour. “Typically, it rains, and it stops – but it just didn’t stop   
   raining.”   
      
   Amid the difficult weather, the atmosphere was “peaceful” when she left,   
   she said. “Everybody else was pretty calm and helping each other,” Gallub   
   said. “I would have felt actually okay if we stayed, too, even though it   
   would have been very uncomfortable.”   
      
   Like Maltsava, Gallub said preparing for the worst is a crucial part of   
   the Burning Man experience. “You have to basically plan out the next seven   
   days on your own in the desert,” she said. “It takes quite a bit of   
   planning to get it right.”   
      
   And despite the organizers’ best efforts to prepare and warn attendees,   
   “there’s always people that are not that prepared,” she said. And as the   
   event has grown more popular, it has attracted participants who might not   
   understand the “self-reliance” ethos.   
      
   “You get a lot of people that are just coming to party and they just think   
   it’s like a big festival,” she said.   
      
   Still, Burning Man veterans are supportive of these newcomers, according   
   to Gallub. “When people do need help, people are here with open arms   
   trying to help each other,” she said.   
      
   Omar Sedky, another of this year’s attendees, likewise said more-prepared   
   participants helped compensate for those in need.   
      
   “We’re overly prepared,” he said of his own group, who rented an RV for   
   the event. “And we were also able to bring others in when the rain   
   started.”   
      
   Participants who chose to camp in tents on the “playa,” the usually dry   
   lake basin where the event is held, were in some of the worst positions   
   when the rain started, he said.   
      
   Sedky said one of the main challenges at the site has been limited   
   communication on the radio station, as well as vehicles getting stuck in   
   the mud and creating traffic jams. He’s planning to drive a woman who is   
   seven months pregnant out of the area in his RV, he said.   
      
   “One thing you’ll see a lot here is the sense of community,” he said. “So,   
   if someone needs help, there’s plenty of people offering it.”   
      
   ‘I almost had FOMO leaving’   
   While the photos of muddy campsites and flooded streets may look daunting,   
   attendees said collaborating to survive a difficult environment is part of   
   what Burning Man is all about.   
      
   Maltsava, who left the venue Saturday for a work engagement, recalled, “it   
   was so beautiful to see people helping each other out and sharing supplies   
   and batteries and power and water and food and shelter.”   
      
   She walked 10 miles to get out of the site, crossing knee-high waters in   
   platform boots that slowly broke due to the thick mud. But still, she   
      
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