Getting Outdoors: Is There A Right Way To Do It?

“Don’t try to wing it. Get instruction and learn as much as you can.” 

We live in a world where every other app or social media network seems to be another echo chamber of entitled opinions, armchair critics and soapboxes (mine included by the way). It’s hard to remember the day when voicing an opinion was a well thought out process. Now you can just say what you like and switch off your phone, taking no responsibility for whom that tweet may affect or what repercussions that DM may have on the person you’ve sent it to.

Although the outdoors community is largely immune from this thanks in part to the lack of connectivity available for those of us venturing out into the world, there are still some who seem to have an opinion on just about anything from the angle of the glacier in the picture you may just have posted, to the tweet you may have just written about an ascent you found particularly difficult that some jackass with a connection and too much time to kill makes fun of because he may have found it easy or better yet, may have read that it’s easy on a forum and decided to relay the message.

So here’s an article about the right way to get outdoors that will help immunize you from the insane amount of noise out there.

DO IT FOR YOURSELF
It seems simple enough but when you get out onto the trails or under the water for yourself rather than for the twitterati you really won’t care about what @ImAShit273 thinks.

IF YOU LOVE IT, LEARN ABOUT IT
Ok so this is less to do with what other people think and more to do with a good ethic to set in any outdoors environment. Getting outside, especially when you’re getting into technical sports like climbing or diving, can require a good deal of expertise to do it safely. Don’t try to wing it. Get instruction and learn as much as you can. There will always be someone who knows more about a particular skill, summit or environment. Ask. And never stop asking. If you do, you’ll have the confidence to enjoy wherever it is your path leads you.

AVOID THE GUY WHO GIVES YOU ADVICE BEFORE GIVING YOU HIS NAME
We all know that guy. He’s the one with all the opinions on your climbing technique at the local gym and who feels the need to check your scuba gear even though he’s just as inexperienced as you are.

“Advice is important and listening is important. But don’t feel obliged to take on anyone’s chatter as the holy grail of instructions just because he appears to say it confidently and persistently.” 

Advice is important and listening is important. But don’t feel obliged to take on anyone’s chatter as the holy grail of instructions just because he appears to say it confidently and persistently. You’ll be surprised just how confident people can sound when talking about things they haven’t a clue in the world about. With proper instruction and guidance at an early stage you’ll be able to drown out the fluff and only take in the valuable bits. In the meantime don’t get discouraged by that guy (or girl).

YOU DON’T NEED TO CLIMB IN A PARTICULAR STYLE OR SKI ON PARTICULAR SKIS TO DO IT RIGHT
Alpine style, expedition style, fat skis, thin skis, with a helmet, without a helmet, GUI diving, SSI diving, these are people’s opinions on how best to enjoy the sport they love. Even wearing a helmet is on the slopes is really a matter of opinion. Some skiers feel safer with the gear they got used to in the 90s when helmets were non-existent. Others think that the plastic bubble on the head is the measure of the modern adventurer. Just because you top rope at the gym doesn’t make climbing any less of an enjoyable sport to you as it does to the free soloists. I still ski on good old fashioned all mountain skis even on steep couloirs in the Chamonix valley and I do it because it makes me happy and I feel safe that way. If you feel confident, safe and you’re not putting anyone else at risk, do it your way.

GET STARTED
None of us were birthed into a harness. None of us came skiing out of our mothers. And just as I was about to write that none us came into this world as natural scuba divers I realized diving is probably the one exception that proves the rule! The point is that we all stumbled into a climbing gym or local bouldering area without having a clue what we were doing and we all got to where we are after face plants, retying that figure eight 100 times before a single climb and buying scuba gear from the local store for technical diving and wearing it to our first open water class. Embrace these moments because they are the ones that will be the most valuable to you when you progress and look back at how it all began.

And to anyone who tries to bring you down, well there’s an emoticon for that now.