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My annual overview of the year's adventure based risk management news attempts to synthesize individual headlines into trends or recognize significant events that show some subtle changes in our adventure industry and society’s perception of what we do. I do this by reviewing the year's twitter headlines and look for themes that emerge or received attention at the time. You can do the same by following me @JeffJacksonMRbk.
1. Social psychology hits the adventure world (finally)
This one is particularly exciting for me to recognize, given it is my field of study. There is a whole lot going on in social pyschology that we can learn from (going way beyond the forming/storming/norming/performing - which has been debunked now anyway!).
Of note this year is the backcountry ski community's whole hearted embrace of human factors thinking (or at least the social influence part of it). Bravo. Ian McCammon has been talking about this for years to the avalanche world, the twin sibling to the BC ski community.
Essentially, we recognize that humans are social animals, and everything we see, think, feel and do is influenced by those around us. The cold analytical decision making model is proven to not exist, likely only rationally justifying what we have already subconsciously or socially decided already. Start here for a primer. See Powder Magazine's excellent Human Factors coverage linked at the headline image above. There is lots more where this came from if you are looking for more reading. The industrial safety world has a long line of research on this stuff that I will happily direct you to.
2. ClifBar dropping sponsored climbing athletes
I admit I was surprised to hear this given the image on their product wrapper is a climber. This is a notable event not for the 'outrage' it triggered on social media, but for another example of a large seemingly 'extreme' company reeling it in based on their risk tolerance (or more likely a revised version of their risk tolerance). I applaud any organization for looking at the exposure inherent in their operation (or in this case brand image) and taking deliberate steps to define or redefine their tolerance level. This happened to be a very public version of that, likely timed as poorly as can be.
This parallels an older story (reported here) of the X Games dropping snomo freestyle. At that time I 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." The same applies to ClifBar in this case, however they managed to reel it in before tragedy struck carrying their name with it.
For the full story, click here
3. Ken Wylie's Buried
This book was highly awaited in the Western Canadian mountain guiding world, recounting the author's role as guide in the very high profile 2003 avalanche that killed seven people. The book is at its best when describing the guide culture and all the intense social pressures that go with it (i.e. human factors above!). Wylie tells a very intense personal story of how the event 'happened' - but not in the sense of analytic decision making. The story is about how Wylie's life and social needs found him in the guide role, and ultimately in his inability to intervene in a tragedy. There are many powerful lessons in here, making it an mandatory read for the guide world. Wylie's book tour includes a jaw dropping emotional presentation. See it if you can. I call that it will be a movie some day.
Read coverage of the book in the National Post here and Powder Mag's brief but insightful interview with Ken Wylie here.
Read coverage of the book in the National Post here and Powder Mag's brief but insightful interview with Ken Wylie here.
4. Classism on Mt Everest.
This is the third year in a row that Mt. Everest made it into the story of the year compilation - each time for different reasons. Up until this point I've not considered what goes on on this mountain as anything other than its own contained circus, however this year the mountain's newsworthiness broaches important social issues. I first hinted at this emerging crisis in 2012 (link here) but this year brought the issue into mainstream media and blew the lid off for all to see.
In April of 2014 16 Sherpa guides lost their lives in Mount Everest’s deadliest avalanche. It blared a high powered light on the elephant in the Everest room - who really bares the risks of high altitude climbing, and the classism that is inherent in the guide/sherpa model. You can find a long list of people who weighed in on this at the time with a simple Google search.
For an insightful analysis in the Atlantic click here
5. Nike drops snowboarding?
What do they know that others don't? It's not news that snowboarding is sliding downhill (!), and that Nike was not a big player. But know that if Nike wanted to own snowboarding they could have done so - and chose not to. Now jumping out altogether is a death knell. Note that Nike jumped out of road cycling before it started its own decline, and that was before the Armstrong debacle.
6. Immigration law - seriously
6. Immigration law - seriously
Changes to Canada's temporary foreign worker program catches outdoor companies in the cross fire. Ski resorts and kids camps, in particular, can't get the permits they rely upon to fill their staffing rosters. Story here. The 2014/2015 ski season seems to be back closer to normal. Another good example how bigger institutional pressures come to bear on a small industry - think way back to the Marine Liability Act and the scare it put into rafting companies in the early 2000's.