Summit Journal Chat

Oh Magoo you old curmudgeon... I was just drawing a weak parallel between your comment and that of Sandy's reason for climbing Everest. However I will retract it now.

Bruce: I'm failing to see your humor (but what's new?). ;-P

As for the differences, I would point to my original message about yoga etc. If we're lucky enough we tend to find the activity that delivers the juice. as for myself I've found several activities that deliver a flow state.

And yet I cannot read stories about cave diving without passing out from fear. It's just wrong!

Bruce, it's a great topic to mine. Another random thought that might be relevant, which your sport of mountain biking served as a reminder--different activities have different consequences of screwing up--(for the most part) in cave diving, you don't have to worry about being injured, just dying. Maybe sky diving as well? And I'm really not trying to be cute here--my fear of death pales in comparison to my fear of serious injury.

Perhaps if you want to try and assess risk, you really should be assessing how much you love to do something. I remember telling a friend not to worry if I died cave diving, because it was an amazingly peaceful experience that I loved. Dan Osman obviously dug the sh_t out of what he did and it's easy to imagine a similar response from a man who will always be connected to the concept of risk. Although it's difficult for me to see how spending the rest of your life in a wheelchair would be worth the experience of jumping over fences with a horse, I'm sure there are those who can.

Thanks Tim, although I'm a bit perplexed as to why you'd SINGLE out mountain bikers. :) I also think that a measured approach to risk is perfectly acceptable, given the differences between individuals and their unique need for what Geoff Powter refers to as mastery. Some interesting discussion here from the always interesting Will Gadd and his blog:

http://gravsports.blogspot.com/

(scroll down a bit for the post on "Flow sports")

Magoo - Sorry to hear about the split, but hey that situation certainly worked for Sandy Hill ;)

Bruce, thanks for posting the stories, enjoyed them both.

I hadn't thought I'd lost the risk-taking gene, but a comment today made me wonder. Talking with some running friends and the subject of giving blood came up. I said I didn't give blood anymore because of the risk of nerve damage to my arm (1 in 130 chance). One of my friends (who hasn't known me too long) piped up: "Tim, I'm surprised you ever make it out the front door!" Maybe she has a point, or maybe I want to blend risk with some sense of control. So, the AMC Outdoors article really struck a chord with me by addressing the issue of "control."

Are you a risk taker if you only want it in measured doses? I went from a scuba diver to a cavern diver to a cave diver--I never looked at it as risk taking because of the incremental steps taken before I ever found myself a half mile back in an underwater cave. To me, it's a mistake to automatically categorize cave divers, rock climbers, sky divers, etc. as risk takers--yes, some of them are, but only a few are out there pushing the envelope. In cave diving, usually it is unqualified scuba divers who pump up the mortality rate, and I don't know if I'd classify them as risk takers because they probably have no idea how risky it is ...

Risk takers to me? Entrepreneurs who borrow money to try and get a company off the ground, the first folks who had lasik surgery, people with high cholesterol who eat fried shrimp; the only physical activity-related group that comes to mind are mountain bikersz: who have created, and know they will create in the future, some serious bodily harm.