Not Every Adventure is For Everyone, And That's Okay.

I was listening to Climbing Gold recently, Alex Honnold was talking about his foray into

mountaineering and what he saw as a big problem in commercial guiding and mountaineering. That people with no experience and skills are climbing Everest, and guides are taking them because they can pay. Everest is high stakes even when you have experience, things can go sideways quickly, throw in a bunch of inexperienced individuals and you are practically asking for something to happen at some point.

I have often had similar thoughts around Everest; it's incredibly reckless and selfish to take on Everest without putting in the work. The moment you step on that mountain you become a liability to the guides and sherpas tasked with getting you to the summit. You also become a hazard to all the other climbers around you as inexperienced climbers move slower causing delays for others to burn through their oxygen faster. This phenomenon of inexperienced individuals taking on challenges they don't have the skills for certainly isn't limited to mountaineering, more and more it's even trickling into hiking.

The Grand Canyon, Half Dome, Mt. Whitney, Angel's Landing and Havasupai, all these destinations have stunning scenery and sought after hikes, they are also some examples from within the US of adventures that should be treated with more consideration and respect than they are. Go on social media and there are countless posts about how to do XYZ hike, which sounds harmless, but a common thread is skirting around regulations such as permits, or self-guided/supported hikes or treks around the world. While this sounds fine in theory, when they are actively encouraging people who don't have the skills, experience, and sometimes confidence to complete the activity, it's encouraging people to be reckless.

Recently I saw two videos from the same creator that highlighted this behavior, one reel popped up on my for you page on Instagram, a reel on how to climb Half Dome with the cables down, the other was highlighted in a documentary on why Mont Blanc is becoming more dangerous and why more and more rescues are taking place, this reel was on how to summit Mont Blanc unsupported/unguided. In both videos, something that stood out and was called out was the creators lack of knowledge around their safety equipment and using the safety equipment, especially ropes, incorrectly. When called out about this and encouraging people to do things without the proper knowledge and skills, the creator's defense was " Well people will try to do this anyway, so I might as well help them". This attitude is a big part of the problem, it's not helpful and it contributes and promotes this carelessness and shortcuts to the destination, but not the beauty of the journey.

Being honest with ourselves around outdoor activities is important. While planning a recent trip to the PNW, Ashley and I decided to drop two hikes from our itinerary. We had initially

planned this trip for August/September, but due to other factors it was moved to mid/late June. This meant different conditions with snow and ice, after looking at trail reports around that time from previous years, we decided that we just didn't have the knowledge around things like snow bridges and skills that might be required such as using a snow axe, we decided to drop them because with our current skills/knowledge the risk factor was much higher and those hikes just aren't for us at that time. And that's okay. Sure, it was a little disappointing, but it also motivated to look for classes where I could learn some skills/knowledge that I'm lacking, it's also an opportunity to explore other adventures that we wouldn't do otherwise. Instead of forcing it or feeling FOMO, it's a chance to embrace growth and finding the silver linings.

Being honest with yourself around fear and confidence is also important. It's important to do things that scare us, by doing them we grow, we gain confidence and maybe those scary things become less scary. I started rock climbing with a fear of heights and a fear of falling, while sometimes am still scared of falling, I've also had huge changes to my mentality and the skills I have handling fear and when I feel scared while climbing. Hikes like Angel's

Landing and Half Dome can have a fear element for some people. On my first Half Dome descent I had to navigate around a woman who was panicking due to fear part way up the cables. Ashley had a similar experience on Angel's Landing where a woman was panicking from fear, and no one could move either direction because of the terrain. If you have that much fear around something and attempt it anyway, you become a hazard, to yourself and everyone around you. Mid cables is not the place to be working through that level of fear, it should be more normalized and accepted to not do things because you are scared. When we went to do a Via Ferrata, I noped out pretty quickly, there were several bail out points, I took the first one and I don't regret that decision. I had a lot of anxiety and fear around the height and other aspects. If I went to do another Via Ferrata today, I don't think I would have the same fear because I've spent time working through it.

In an interview post climbing Taipei 101, Alex Honnold was asked what he hoped people would take away from his climb. Alex's answer talked about how he hoped that people would realize that first off, life is short and people should want to put more effort into experiences. The other point he made was that he hoped he would inspire people to want to do hard things and know that if they trained and prepared for it, they would be able to do that hard thing. And that is what missing in this instant gratification, look at me culture, seeing something that you want to do, setting a goal and working hard to achieve it. There are a number of hikes, climbs etc that I would like to do, and I have long-term goals to do them, but they require me to put in the work; learn the skills, get the knowledge, gain the experience and then go on the adventure. We should find as much joy in the journey and process as we do in the final goal, which will seem so much sweeter and may even be a more positive experience all around when we take the long way.