Outer Edge Edition 48(clone) | Page 28

ADVENTURE GUIDES SAFETY IN OUTDOOR ADVENTURES Exploring the great outdoors with all the adventures, experiences and amazing scenery, is not only great recreation, it is an essential part of our being healthy, both mentally and physically. There is huge personal and societal value in having healthy work life balance and as our cities and towns become crowded and busier; escaping to the Australian bush with all its forests, mountains, snowfields and waterways have to offer is a simple to access. While there are amazing places further away to visit and experience, there are also numerous walking and riding trails, urban bushland, cliffs etc. quite close to all major cities and towns, so short “micro” adventures are available to us all, from a few hours to a full day. We just need to make the time. There are also many skiing, caving, climbing, bushwalking and other activity based clubs to join for those that do not have close friends who adventure. Many outdoor clubs have State or Federal “peak” bodies that liaise with land managers to ensure safe access to public land etc but who also run activity and safety training. For the young, scouting, guides, lifesaving clubs and many other youth organization’s are great options for learning bushcraft, safety in the bush, plus the amazing life skills and social aspects of these clubs and groups. The great outdoors is just at our doorstep and while it is easily accessible we need to take care to ensure that we minimise risks when we experience its wonders. Ensuring your safety when adventuring is important, not only from a personal point of view but to reduce the community and tax payer cost of mounting extensive and costly search and rescue operations. Safety in the outdoors is primarily a personal and group responsibility so the key to managing personal, family and group risks are simple. Always ensure that the leader and the groups skills and level of experience is commensurate with the isolation, level of difficulty of the terrain, complexity of the activity, identifiable risks, available communications, weather and any other relevant issues. Ensuring that personal and group equipment, clothes, vehicles and communications are appropriate for the adventure that you are undertaking is also critical as this will not only impact on safety but will affect the level of enjoyment for the participants. Visiting easily accessible locations where communications are good and where the adventure or experience is easy to manage is a good starting point for adventuring and you can then raise the level of difficulty and isolation as your skills and experience improve. An activity plan might be developed informally as a chat amongst mates or be a detailed written list for more complex trips or expeditions but some level of planning should occur for all activities. 28