Competence and Conditions - June 29

On June 18, I blogged about Confidence and Optimism.

I don't want any readers to think confidence and optimism are all you need and then get into trouble with overconfidence and blind optimism. Given that worry I feel obligated to add a bit more.

There is another important safety aspect: Competence and Conditions.

The key is to never get into conditions beyond your competence. 

That requires the ability to predict and monitor conditions and understand the implications, and an accurate and honest assessment of your skills and knowledge. 

One of my favorite reading topics has always been wilderness survival books, and I am skilled and practiced in most areas.

I am not the mountain man that can walk into the woods for a couple of weeks with just a knife (I have met one of those guys!). I don't know edible plants and don't trap, snare or fish. I am only an intermediate paddler and winter backpacker, and a novice rock climber. I am also not strong and have a bad back, so I limit conditions accordingly.

I have been able to pitch my tarp and stay dry and warm in torrential rains and gale force winds, and my down sleeping bag has never gotten wet. Or, I can rig up an emergency shelter many different ways depending in conditions and resources.

But more importantly, I anticipate and avoid problems. I've studied the classic FAA Aviation weather text, and taken a course on and studied marine weather. I can tell from wind direction whether a storm is building or passing. I can feel the cold air drop out of a developing thunderhead and guess how rainy it might be. I can read the land and topo maps to find a place to hide from storms. I can sense where water will run and find a dry rise, even if only by an inch. I can interpret isobar charts to predict wind. And I understand that even the experts cannot predict weather accurately so I keep alert.

I list these skills not to brag (or bore), but to illustrate one level of competence, leading to judgements about the conditions I will enter. 

I'll stop if conditions might exceed my competence. I've stopped at glacier stream crossings and waited until morning for lower water, stopped on snow field crossings when fog might roll in, stopped before exposed ridges when afternoon thunderstorms might roll in. I've stopped when fatigue makes crossing a boulder field too dodgy. I've refused to trust my own judgement if I'm hypothermic, low on blood sugar, or took a bang to the head (I'll make myself say the alphabet backwards before I trust that my brain is thinking clearly).

I'm blessed with confidence and optimism, but also strive hard to not let conditions exceed my competence. There are many situations, especially on the water, where I bow out.

Fortunately I am not into adrenaline sports or feel a need to conquer nature to demonstrate my metal. I'm more likely to pick a flower than pick up a snake. That disposition (or testosterone deficiency) helps too. 

Sat 19.5 miles to NY 52 near Stormville NY.

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For those with interest, here's more on the competencies I do and do not possess. 

I like empirical data, so I run spreadsheets on local weather history and look at one, two and three sigma probabilities. I read drowning statistics, incident reports, and lessons learned. 

I read up on local conditions like seasonal weather patterns, insects and snakes. 

Before each long hike I again study the book on bear attacks, causes and mitigations. That pays off. Usually when I see a black bear on the trail I make noise to let him know I'm there and he runs away. But when a juvenile grizzly appeared around a bend just 25 feet away I made sure he had an exit to the right and I slowly shuffled up a creek to the left. Encountering a grizzly feeding on a large carcass in the trail I immediately retreated and found a different route. When a black bear stuck his nose in my tent in a National Park campground I just remained quite and still, knowing he would not find any food smells and move on. When I encounter black bear cubs I wait for mama to appear and then amble off when the cubs are a safe distance. Different situations call for different responses.

I've competed in orienteering, love teaching land navigation, and absolutely loved the map and compass work on CDT.

For many decades I have studied Wilderness First Aid, including Wilderness Medicine and Wilderness First Responder texts, and have taken specialized courses such as Acute Mountain Sickness. I've been certified as a Red Cross Instructor for CPR for Professionals. I have repaired lacerations, a broken rib, a stick in an eye, ankle sprains, and hypothermia, plus all the usual aches and pains and skin problems. I believe I helped save the lives of hikers suffering severe heat stroke and mountain sickness.

This trek had a new wrinkle: 700 miles by sea kayak. Spirit and I trained for three years.

My previous water safety includes Lifeguard Instructor Trainer, the highest water safety certification in the Red Cross. For BSA, I have staffed and directed National Camp School Aquatics which trains and certifies Aquatics Instructors, that program's highest certification. 

For this trek, we worked hard on strokes refinement, rescues, rolling, and group management. We practiced in good weather and bad, flat and moving water, cold and hot, and wind and calm. We practice surf landings and launches. We spent tons of pool and water time on rescues and rolling.

Marine navigation is a whole new area of learning. I studied marine navigation in Bowditch, the classic mariners bible, and Burch, the intense reference book for geeks, as well as the BCU Coastal Navigation class. I made up cheat sheets that I kept handy on the deck of my boat for a year.

I've been involved in four water rescues, three life threatening with one imminent.

There is much I don't know. On the imminent drowning rescue a more experienced kayaker took over and ensured success.

Again the key is making sure conditions do not exceed competencies. I have reasonable competence for this trek, but still there are conditions that I will not enter.