Hamish Brown once commented "experience is the sum total of your near misses"
Hamish Brown once commented "experience is the sum total of your near misses"
True.
None of the runners who have died in English fell races from hypothermia believed they were "inexperienced" but there is a world of difference between having run in a thousand fell races following a crocodile of runners and a single time when you are alone, in clag, off-course, cold and wet and starting to wonder if you might actually die.
"...as dry as the Atacama desert".
I love that quote. It reminds me of a quote from Colonel John Bashford-Snell (retired) who said, pith helmet askew, "listen up chaps....Adventure begins with poor planning"
And he's so right. So called Adventure Holidays are such a misnomer.
Perhaps 'mountaincraft' is simply the knowledge, born of experience, to know that whatever you believe your level of mountain/fell experience to be, to never become complacent, even on apparently benign weather days when you're stomping around your old familiar and well loved fells!
Am Yisrael Chai
"mountaincraft" is more than your experience though. Experience is only any use if you learn from it - plenty repeat their near misses time and time again and it is luck, rather than experience, that prevents a problem! repeated luck is what breeds complacency.
Also, there are many elements of "mountaincraft" that can be learnt from the experiences, skills and knowledge of others, such as by reading the Eric Langmuir book or by specific training and then putting that knowledge into practice. For example, I've never personally had serious hypothermia, but I'm confident I would recognise the warning signs and have a pretty good idea of what to do to either prevent or treat it in myself or a casualty I came across on the hill.
Sorry but IMO theoretical knowledge can only be considered as a base on which to build experience, mainly because in the real world there are so many imponderables that the theoretical knowledge you have may fall a long way short of the situation you are facing, yes you need to have some theoretical knowledge but you can never be sure of anything until you have had practical experience and even then you have to realise that the next time you are faced with a similar situation it may well be a very different scenario to the previous one hence you never stop learning
Hence:- Experience= Mountaincraft = the ability to minimise the risk of finding yourself in a bad situation.
Last edited by JohnK; 29-01-2016 at 08:21 PM.
The older I get the Faster I was
err, that's why I said "and then putting that knowledge into practice". The point about hypothermia still stands though...
But are you sure? I have been severely hypothermic and although I recognised the onset carried on regardless. Stupid, I know but even 30+ years of 'Experience' didn't compensate for that. I guess I had been lucky in similar situations before. Not good in respect of personal survival but I'm not sure how bad that was in terms of mountaincraft.
Last edited by PeteS; 30-01-2016 at 12:27 AM.
Pete Shakespeare - U/A
Going downhill fast
Not sureuntil it happens Pete, but a much better chance than if I hadn't readabout the early onset symptoms.
Knowing the serious nature of hypothermia though, by reading about it - such asIan DP's excellent article - has meant that I've probably headed it off at thepass on a number of occasions, so to speak, by being better prepared clothingand shelter wise. Knowing the right kit to take to prevent something happeningcounts as 'mountaincraft' surely, even if that knowledge is learnt rather thanexperienced directly? Especially if that experience comes from beingstranded slowly freezing to death because you've broken an ankle orcragfast with no warm layers or emergency kit to see you through to anyhope of rescue.
Last edited by stumpy; 30-01-2016 at 01:00 PM. Reason: added a bit!