Human Factors in the Outdoors?

[Limaed]

I've recently been discussing with colleagues an article about Human Factors in Avalanche Incidents:

http://www.summitpost.org/human-factors-in-avalanche-incidents/188636#comments_logs

Although the article is based on avalanches the conclusion I've come to is that it can be applied to most outdoor sports & activities. Therefore I’d be interested to hear of any outdoor incidents people had been involved in that they could attribute to the Human Factors discussed?

When I was a youngster in the Air Cadets I went on a winter hill day in Snowdonia with an 'Instructor' who organised & led the day. The weather was quite poor and by the time we were on the tops the conditions we were in were near whiteout with temperatures below freezing. Unlike the instructor none of my fellow cadets were correctly equipped nor had the required level of skill to be out in such conditions; it amazes me still that none of us came down hypothermia. Fortunatly we all survived the day but I often recall the details as 'I learnt about mountaineering from that'.

Although my story doesn’t quite fit the mould in hindsight I think the instructor would have been influenced by the chance of a challenging mountain day (Scarcity) and as impressionable 15 year olds we would certainly be under an Expert Halo and be looking for Acceptance.
Knowing what I know now I believe the instructor was negligent and lacked the experience to make an accurate risk assessment and ensure his charges were correctly equipped. I think the article has highlighted things from a different angle and its good to see what if any lessons can be learnt.

 

[janso]

Summit fever!! I had to grip a fellow ML a while back who was incessant about topping out on Helvellyn with a group, even as far as not allowing them to bug out using a gps for quickest route. He was banging on about challenging adversity and I felt slightly Victorian in his outlook. I was slightly hesitant at first to take over as he seemed to deserve respect, I kept thinking he'd change his planning soon.
He wasn't happy when I called time out and took him to one side


Sent from my hidey hole using Tapatalk... sssh!

 

[Macaroon]

Over the years I've found one particular Human Factor to be highly significant in outdoor "misshaps", and it's Hubris................As the tale above from janso illustrates, it's not enough to know and understand your own limitations, but also those of anybody you may be responsible for, either directly or indirectly.

I've been astounded many times by the seeming inability of many people to be honest with themselves when in a challenging outdoor situation, and they're often people who are dispassionate and honest with themselves
in all other situations.

 

[Limaed]

Over the years I've found one particular Human Factor to be highly significant in outdoor "misshaps", and it's Hubris................As the tale above from janso illustrates, it's not enough to know and understand your own limitations, but also those of anybody you may be responsible for, either directly or indirectly.

I've been astounded many times by the seeming inability of many people to be honest with themselves when in a challenging outdoor situation, and they're often people who are dispassionate and honest with themselves
in all other situations.

Thanks guys, yes Hubris is a good one. I would think there have been a few cases in history where it has led to the demise of an expedition, military campaign or venture.

 

[Joonsy]

it’s also surprising how many people are afraid to say these three simple words ''I don't know'', they pretend they do then get in a fix because they don’t, people tell themselves lies all the time, unfortunately it has some tragic consequences not only for themselves but others too. For some illogical reason those that take undue risks are in the limelight more than those who do not and there’s a growing army who like the limelight.

 

[BlueTrain]

I agree with all of the above, including the linked article. But I think there can be more reasons, too.

We all start out doing things outside completely inexperienced, which we tend to forget. We may have started very young and began by going out with older and presumably more experienced people, but there's a first time for everything. Eventually you may find yourself attempting something by yourself that you've never done before. The simple fact is, most of us, when we're young, will take chances. You see it on the highway all the time. It might be that you do recognize the risk but you simply ignore the consequences. You just feel like you can manage it just fine. Usually you do.

Another thing that will make a person take a chance under questionable circumstances is pressure. It is not often recognized the pressure other people are under and that the pressure forces them to do something against their better judgment. It's very similar to the lost opportunity or scarcity mentioned in the article. As an extreme example, in 1982 there was an airline crash in Washington, DC, about two miles from where I was working at the time. It was an Air Florida flight bound for Florida with 79 people aboard. It had started snowing that morning and it ended up snowing all day. We don't get many heavy snows around here but that was one of them. The aircraft took off and crashed on one of the bridges across the Potomac river, flipped over and landed in the river. Five people survived. The pilot was experienced but there were problems with de-icing of the wings. Basically the wings wouldn't support the aircraft in the air. But in spite of everything, the pilot attempted a take-off and didn't even make it the distance of the runway before the plane went down.

Why did he make the attempt? I'd say it was because he felt pressure to go from his passengers, even though none of them ever communicated with him. The first thing an airliner passenger wants is to go. He went.

A more down-to-earth example is something that I did. I had just acquired a Land-Rover, a short wheelbase 1965 model. I thought it could go anywhere. Well, it nearly would and I spent the next several years proving it. I went from one end of West Virginia to the other on unplowed, snow-covered roads more than once, partly to prove I could do it. When it snowed, I went out and drove up the steepest roads in town. But less than two months after I got it, I was attempting to drive a very old road near where I grew up and got stuck when I attempted to bypass an old bridge that was no longer there. I managed to get unstuck but it took me hours. What does someone here say? Something about bad experiences? I wish I could say that was the only time I got stuck but it wasn't. The other times were because I was young and inexperienced but rather because, well, let's just say they were accidents.