Three Questions to Keep Up Your Situational Awareness for Climbing, Mountaineering, and Backpacking

One of the things I like about climbing mountains is the necessary bias towards action. It sounds a bit absurd when stated in the extreme, but it is also true: when you are on the side of a mountain, you must go up or you must go down, but you must move. That’s the reality of it. If you stay put, indefinitely, you’ll die. Again, absurd in the extreme, but you are in a place where humans can survive for very long. As the rule of thumb goes: three hours without shelter; three days without water; three weeks without food. You have to move of you will die from the cold or the lack of resources or something else. We place ourselves in a situation that demands that we act, and I’ve found that the habits I’ve developed around evaluating a circumstance and then making about how to proceed are something I draw from in my day-to-day life.

So, there is a lot of risk involved in something if action is demanded in order to avert your demise. With all of that risk surrounding me, I need to ensure that I am taking in the information I need to assess what particular risks I am facing at any one point in time. That is where the three questions from the video come into play. They are a prompt to keep me focused on the risks that may be accumulating in the environment or within myself.

Whether I am alone or with a group, I ask the same questions. Of course, the advantage of asking them with a group is that members of the group might notice something I am missing. But, nonetheless, asking them of myself at least reminds me to take a purposeful look around.

I also think the questions apply to any pursuit in the backcountry. Sure, they may become more relevant the more unforgiving the route or the conditions. Unstable snow, rock fall, lightning, altitude illness: these are some of the more severe things that can happen on big peaks. But even on a hike, these questions will help me identify things like pulled muscles, incoming weather, or loose footing. There is always risk on every type of trip, and while the probabilities may be higher on more difficult terrain or higher elevations, there is always some kind of issue that is the most probable for the circumstance we are in. And it makes sense to try to identify that risk and mitigate it as best as we can, regardless of how small.

Often times, just recognizing the risk goes a long way. Take loose footing as an example. There might be no better bath than to head down a trail that is filled with shale and scree. Maybe any other direction puts you on a cliff face. Or, maybe the trail is covered with tree fall, and you have to step over and around and under innumerable fallen trunks and branches. There might not be anything you can do to avoid the risk, but just being aware that a slip - and maybe winding up with a broken ankle - can be enough to make you focus in and watch every step carefully, thus reducing (but not eliminating the risk).

These questions aren’t a magic bullet that creates safety, but they are profoundly helpful in increasing safety.