The What, Who & How: 1
How their interrelation affects safety
Recently during a conversation about canyoneering, I asked:
Tell me from most important to least important, what are your priorities when you go out to do a canyon route:
What canyon are you doing?
Who are you going with?
How are you doing the canyon?
In my experience, as recreational canyoneers, we all make these considerations, and as we gain experience, we arrange these priorities in different order as time passes by.
Newer canyoneers are all about "What canyon". That is their top priority.
Sooner or later, usually after an accident, mishap or epic, recreational canyoneers start to develop the awareness on how the combination of all these 3 priorities affect safety and enjoyment of canyoneering. Who and How start to become important.
Pro Guiding & Rec Leadership
But for Pro guides (or trained leadership), these 3 considerations are all interconnected from the get go. Pro Guides are fully aware of how these 3 choices interact. Pro Guides are in control of all these 3 choices and combine them into an optimal safe experience:
Who: Who are the clients that I'm accepting to guide?
Where: Given who they are, where should I take them?
How: And given who they are, and where I'm taking them, how should I guide them?
The rise of autonomos & defensive canyoneering
In the last decade, recreational canyoneering has been morphing from groups that used to resemble a guided group (Guide, Assistant, Passengers) to a group of peers where it is unclear the skill level of each member. In other words, the only thing that the group is in control and agreement is the Where and the Who, and the How is a question mark.
Several instruction outlets have embraced this new reality with curriculums that focus on self & indirect rescue. Basically trying to minimize the gamble on your "new impromptu partners" to handle the lack of control on the How. These programs have different titles, but one that is very descriptive is "Autonomous Canyoneer". The lack of leadership formation and skills has limits, though. Probably the difference between self-extractions and calling SAR, and the difference between smooth group dynamics and in canyon surprises.
When you go out, consider the rating of your chosen route, the What:
Who is joining on this canyon outing? Can they navigate? Can they rappel? Can they lead climb? Can they rig anchors? Can they self rescue? Can they provide first-aid? Can they rig systems for canyon extractions?
Given this, How is the canyon going to be rigged? Static, releasable? Top or bottom belays? Or no belays? Leapfrog? Push Forward?
Take a look in the reference section for the Autonomous Canyoneering curriculums that I know of. I suggested the creation and helped with the ACA one.
Next installment:
What Who How
And how they relate to community practices and culture.
Reference: