The headlines within this ‘best of’ list received varying levels of attention at the time, but in retrospect add up to significant events that show some subtle changes in our adventure industry and society’s perception of what we do.
1.
Severe weather
Of course as a Canadian I, too, love to talk about the
weather, but this was the year of severe weather affecting the adventure
industry. There was crazy weather across both Canada (link to top stories here)
and United States, with notable massive flooding disrupting whole regions and
regional economies.
I noted here the effects of weather this past summer (here) and
have heard from my gradutes who work across the continent how severe weather
left them stranded, shaken, and considering how to deal with such things in the
future.
We pride ourselves on being a riks tolerant bunch, however
that tolerance is based on an assumption of stability in our operating
environment. We take risks in the mountains and on the rivers based on the knowledge that we can get out of there when we need to. Our business model is based on pretty hard deadlines focussed on trip start and end dates. Severe weather throws these assumptions of stability out the window, and has sowed seeds of doubt in conscientious operator’s minds as to how robust our emergency response systems are, and that we are as vulnerable as any other system when basic infrastructure falls apart.
2.
X
games pulls the plug on snomo freestyle
X Games crossed over an invisible line with Caleb Moore’s
spectacularly televised crash and eventual death (story here). ESPN (who owns X
Games) pulled the plug on moto X and snowmobile freestyle. My report on this at
the time wrote “This most recent news signals a corporate
wake up to how risk has creeped beyond what is acceptable –there was certainly
clear and instant backlash from the mainstream press that Moore’s death was a
signal things had gone too far.”
On a related and
tragic note, America’s Kurt Caselli, a rock star in offroad dirtbike racing, died
at the age of 30 while competing at the Baja 1000.
3.
Fist fights on Everestt
I didn’t report on this at the time, as I didn’t know what
to do with it. The short version goes like this: Commercial guide Sherpas were
slowly fixing line to set up the climbing season. A private ‘pro mountaineer’
rope team sped past and above the workers, which created potential hazard to
the rope fixing Sherpas. A high altitude confronation ensued that made headlines (story
here).
This makes me think of the inherent tension between commercial
guiding and recreation. I worked through tense times on the Ottawa River, when
both freestyle kayaking and rafting were booming. There were many yelling
matches in the eddies as to who had the right of way. Think of back country skiers and
rec snowmobilers, or any busy trail network in summer. Commercial operators run
their trips like they own the place, often forgetting that we operate with a
social license from society to use what belongs to all of us.
4.
Avalanche airbags actually work
Avalanches create a problem for operational risk management.
It is a ‘fail safe’ endeavor. The only options are to a: don’t set off an avalanche
or b: set off an avalanche and likely die. This is pretty hard to work with.
Most other areas of adventure activities have some built in margin of error,
which allows for ‘safe failure’ training (see my presentation on ‘Training to
failure’ from this year’s Wilderness Risk Management Conference here).
That these airbags actually work is a first step in wrapping
our heads around avalanche control* and mitigation, beyond just prevention.
*I don’t mean blowing avalanches with cannons, I mean ‘control’
of the direct risk in the face of potential slides
2013 footage of an avy airbag save: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hR7aAfuAOOQ