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Extreme Risk Taking

The leader must not fall while ice climbing.

In climbing circles, there is an old statement "The leader must not fall". This statement originated before the advent of nylon ropes and modern protection. Nowadays the statement only slightly applies to rock climbing, but it very much applies to ice climbing.

The following video & analysis shows the importance of properly managing risk, no matter what the sport. It also demonstrates that participants with a reasonable amount of experience can still make mistakes or do things incorrectly.

The video:
http://vimeo.com/20549603

Analysis from an accomplished ice climber:
http://gravsports.blogspot.com/2011/03/ice-climbing-is-not-rock-climbing.html

Good comments from other ice climbers:
http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=14697721&postID=2425966540458348533
 
Nootka, I finished reading "Strange and Dangerous Dreams: The Fine Line Between Adventure and Madness" by Geoff Powter. I’ve also got Deep Survival by L. Gonzales next on my reading list. I wasn’t sure what “We Cannot Fail”, also by Powter, might have to offer or if it is an overlap to his other book I just read. I did send him a Facebook question about that. As I do a little writing for Sea Kayaker Magazine and knowing the editorial staff prefers their contributors to have a working understanding of risk analysis, risk-management thinking, and other psychological aspects of risk-taking behaviour, your suggested reads have been - and I’m sure will be - beneficial. It may help me understand a little bit more about myself, having lost my father at 12 (a common theme in the stories in S&DD) where the next year found me climbing in the Purcell Mountains and eventually solo adventuring by kayak in extremis in the 80’s when most folks were approaching sea kayaking in a more prudent manner.

I’m not too sure what the final conclusion was in Strange and Dangerous Dreams, though obviously irrationality is an insidious master that has not only brought some adventurers to the brink - step by step in some cases - but caused some to walk off that edge beyond all apparent measure of madness. Irrationality and imperious ambition seem to not only be restricted to the adventures themselves but to those funding some of the exploits as well as those in positions of governance. It was fascinating reading in some of the chapters, revising my views on some of the great heroes I’d read about in my youth. There are veins of despondency and depression running through the book that are emotionally affective and mining the gold requires the reader to follow the writer’s logic and connect the dots to get that view of healthier adventure into the sharper relief promised.

Though Powter kept the clinic psychology to an acceptable lay-persons level of interest, he was obviously able to infer and render clinical observation based on what appears to be some very good research – some perhaps exclusive, much second hand of course. I don’t think I fully understood some of Powter’s thesis and expository rendering until I had finished the book, by which time I fully comprehended that much of the tragedy culminated at the end of each tale written wasn’t the result of the mental burden that weighed on each man and woman, but rather the burdens they were carrying were done so looking for resolve from deep, harrowing anguish. I think this applied to more than just the first four profiled in the book. I don’t think legitimate exploration and adventure in the wilderness are the correct props, obviously, for those so distressed, and certainly not the best place to be if a psychological malignancy is evolving. It can be a fine line, indeed. As a salve to life’s normal stresses, as a test of a man or woman’s resolve to respect and overcome challenge in nature, and as place to find light in a sometimes darkened life – well, adventure in the wilderness can provide sustenance and growth.

Me, I just like to get out and have fun and find some temporary respite from life’s demands at home and work. And if a guy wishes to paddle off a waterfall, I’m not going to judge. I just hope he makes it back home to bed that night. Though my wife did ask me once if I might be better on the couch when I got home late after night storm kayaking once; I assume she didn’t mean the one in the psychiatrist’s office. And if a fellow kayaker screws up on the water, I might ask some questions about where and why their heuristics failed to manage the risk. I won’t question their sanity.

Best, Doug
 
Geoff Powter got hold of me, both his books were the same. The "We Cannot Fail" version was for the UK market (maybe Australia too?).

I liked nootka's link to the ice climbing video incident. Looked like the climber was a little too aggressive near the point where he messed up. I imagine the qualities that motivate a climber up an incline are the same forces that must be reigned in and subjugated to better cognition.

Doug
 
Hey Doug: Geoff's book was interesting, but I found it more geared to the extreme cases. IMHO, it didn't dwell much on why (mainly) normal guys have a compulsion to do semi-risky things. I strongly suspect it is a function of genetics & culture.

The ice climber that fell made a series of not-so-good decisions. Eventually they caught up to him. Just before he fell, he had been lowered a rope from the top, but he failed to quickly attach it to his harness. He was trying to clip his lead rope (the rope below him) to either the ice screw or the rope above him. This was a good long-term decision but a bad short-term decision. He was very lucky that he wasn't injured worse ... broken legs are very common in bad falls because the crampons (boot spikes) tend to catch on the ice. One of his crampons came off his boot during the fall; this was lucky.

I am currently reading "The Worst Journey in the World" by Apsley Cherry-Garrard. It's about studying the emperor penguins during winter. It has many pages but is quite interesting. It is more about exploring than risk, but there is definitely risk involved.
Take it all in all, I do not believe anybody on earth has a worse time than an Emperor penguin.
Click to expand...
from the introduction.
http://www.edwardawilson.com/features/worst_journey.shtml
http://www.ralphmag.org/cherry1K.html
http://www.amazon.ca/Worst-Journey-World-Apsley-Cherry-Garrard/dp/0786704373
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/14363
 
Thanks nootka. I realize there are better books out there in terms of extreme adventuring where the participants invoke more rational approaches in a context of mental balance. By starting with the more troubled adventurers I can now work backwards.

I went through all the blogs, etc, that referenced the ice climbing incident. I realize now whay you replied as you did to Ken. :)

Doug
 
The oldest, most widespread stories in the world are adventure stories about human heroes who venture into the myth countries at the risk of their lives, and bring back tales of the world beyond men... It could be argued... that the narrative art itself arose from the need to tell an adventure; that man risking his life in perilous encounters constitutes the original definition of what is worth talking about.
Click to expand...
From Jon Krakauer's introduction to "The Last Place on Earth" by Roland Huntford.
 
Anything I offer, other than my opinion, has already been written more cogently and intelligently than I could say. My opinion, though, is that if a damn good boater wants to push perceived limits, it's not being reckless or irresponsible.
 
There is risk and there is ... I don't know what to call it without being insulting.

This thread started with a video of Tyler Bradt kayaking over a waterfall.

He and a friend of his have both broken their backs while another has busted a lung ... Considering how few people pursue the 'sport' and the high level of serious accidents, that makes the 'sport' an unacceptably risky 'sport'.

http://www.adventure-journal.com/2010/0 ... own-words/

http://paddlinglife.net/article.php?id=697

Terms like 'Darwin awards' and 'natural selection' apply.

There are risky sports where a small percentage of people get hurt. Kayaking over high waterfalls on a regular basis is different from any true sport in that it pretty much gaurantees a bad end. That makes diving off a waterfall above a certain height in a kayak a form of suicide. Do it often enough and you will come to a bad end.
 
Having just finished "The Last Place on Earth" by Roland Huntford, and having read "The Worst Journey in the World" by Apsley Cherry-Garrard, it is obvious that Amudsen carefully prepared for his successful discovery of the South Pole. It is quite apparent that Scott was ill-prepared and ill-suited to plan an expedition.
 
Thanks nootka

Skip to 2:20
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6Q8kvif ... r_embedded


I guess people do funny things when a expensive toy is being damaged in front of them. Not thinking of the big picture that the toy can be replaced and they can not.

Also, anybody looking at a “slightly used” Arctic Cat may want to pay special attention to any sled that claims to have “slight body damage”.
Click to expand...


nootka said:
There is no way in H*LL I would try to stop a sled that is tumbling down a couloir.
I would be way off to one side and 20 feet up the rock if possible.

http://www.earlyups.com/photos/sled-fail/
Click to expand...
 
Are "sport" and "expedition" necessarily two different things?

Boiled down to its essence, Tyler was attempting to do something that has never been done before. The expeditions cited were to travel to where no one had before traveled. Physical injury and death were risks in both types of endeavors. And once something has been done, a summit achieved or a waterfall run, do we stop there? People are still following Hilary's footsteps up Everest and some are, unfortunately, dying. We would lose a significant piece of our humanity if we stopped pushing perceived limits.
 
Are "sport" and "expedition" necessarily two different things?

Yes.

Intention matters.

'Expedition' is usually used in the context of military adventure or exploration.

'Sport' is usually used in the context of physical activity and often includes physical and mental challenge. Though I would hesitate to use sport to convey a description of 'stunts' as I categorize Tyler's undertakings.

There is overlap but the words do not carry the same meaning.
 
The intention by both parties being used as examples is to confidently do something no one has done before. I wish I had the skills and confidence to drop a clean 30 footer.
 
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