U of U Study being done on Extreme sports participants. PLEASE TAKE THIS SURVEY

[ratagonia]

Tom,
sorry if that came across like i was making fun of your near-death experiences you should just read your own messages. no matter the amount of experience you have in a sport you more than others should know that it happens no matter how much experaince. yep it only takes one tiny mistake and boom your gone. That is what determines an extreme sport. That margin of error. Smaller the margin, the more extreme the sport.

Like I said before sport climbing is considered extreme but less deaths and accidents happen sport climbing than most sports. More kids get concussions and brain damage because of (American) football (we all know soccer players are like the new WWE) but millions of people play football. stats show that its not that extreme due to the injury level or threat of injury. Id consider sleeping on a chock stone in a freezing canyon pretty extreme. But surviving it is what sepperates the ones that can do the sport and accept the risks from those who die or quit because they were not experienced enough (or didn't take their meds in my case). Some canyons definitely not extreme but some id say so. just depends on if your the type of canyoneer that is willing to train and challenge your abilities, or the type that is just looking for a chill pretty weekend.

I love sport climbing its good safe fun but i sport climb to get more confident to trad climb. Easy climbs/canyons are a means to greater end of self advancement and exploration.

We have very different understandings of how the world works.

[harness man]

Hi Doomedty
This is a GREAT thread, thanks for starting it!
I am an older canyoneer and DO find the sport to be extreme- extremely TIRING!
BIG packs, long days, brutal approaches, etc. that do not favor my flabby physique.
I am curious about your view of risk (and how that may have shaped the structure of your survey).
Your 'handle' on Bogley is "Doomedty": do you think you are "doomed" and why?
Also with your name the quote: "Be a Man". Do you think that taking risks are an important part of manhood?
Then there is the 'byline' on your posts: "I could fall off that and live."
Is this referencing "high ball" boulder problems, and if so do you use a crash pad? A big CUSHY one or a little dinky one (smaller target)?

Best, Todd

[flatiron]

Hi Doomedty
I am curious about your view of risk (and how that may have shaped the structure of your survey).
Your 'handle' on Bogley is "Doomedty": do you think you are "doomed" and why?
Also with your name the quote: "Be a Man". Do you think that taking risks are an important part of manhood?
Then there is the 'byline' on your posts: "I could fall off that and live."
Is this referencing "high ball" boulder problems, and if so do you use a crash pad? A big CUSHY one or a little dinky one (smaller target)?

Best, Todd

I saw that also and wondered same. Doomedty obviously thinks of, and practices canyoneering as an extreme sport. As a means to take highly risky chances. That is fine - it's his choice. But of course that does not mean the sport itself is inherently extreme.

And it would seem from just the replies on this thread most others do not see or practice it extremely. There is a difference.

"I love sport climbing its good safe fun but i sport climb to get more confident to trad climb. Easy climbs/canyons are a means to greater end of self advancement and exploration."
This pretty much explains his view - a means to a greater end. The greater end being extreme risk??

I

[deagol]

I blame Mountain Dew adds..

[Iceaxe]

Using Doomedty's logic I practice extreme driving because I only do it at night, while drunk, in a snowstorm, without a seat beat.....

[hank moon]

1:20 - yow

[deagol]

That's exactly what I meant about certain types of kayaking being truely extreame. If you canyoneering is anything like that, you have a good chance of ending up dead, IMO.

[hank moon]

That's exactly what I meant about certain types of kayaking being truely extreame. If you canyoneering is anything like that, you have a good chance of ending up dead, IMO.

What we're talking about here is culture. Many activities (or sports), once become sufficiently large, develop communities, cultures, and eventually, sub-cultures. Most so-called "extreme sports" (e.g. BASE jumping, Cave diving, Cliff diving, etc.) developed from less-extreme versions of the basic activity. First a few lone practitioners, then enough for community/competition to develop, numbers to enter the game, finally enough devotees to have a culture and be recognized as a "separate" activity. The extreme sub-cultures tend to be highly competitive (i.e. envelope-pushing). As Tom said, Canyoneering isn't like that. Perhaps one day Canyoneering will become big enough to have one or more "extreme" sects. From the no-rope, Parcours-style action seen on YouTube recently, the process is well underway.

[ratagonia]

on this same topic - an example to Type 2 Stupidity:

http://www.theguardian.com/world/201...lanc-avalanche

US climber condemned for filming his children in Mont Blanc avalanche

[COLOR=#666666][FONT=arial]Local mayor and climbing associations accuse Patrick Sweeney of recklessness and stupidity on mountain's 'corridor of death'


A US climber who filmed his children, aged nine and 11, being knocked off their feet in a mini-avalanche as they tried to set a newmountaineering record on Mont Blanc has been condemned by the local mayor and climbers' associations.
Patrick Sweeney, who caught the incident on camera and posted on YouTube, was interviewed with his children on US breakfast televisionabout how they survived the mountain's notorious "corridor of death".
On seeing the footage, however, Jean-Marc Peillex, mayor of St-Gervais-les-Bains – the town where mountaineers begin their ascent of Mont Blanc – went on the attack on Monday.
He denounced Sweeney's "recklessness" and the promotion of the incident in the media, and told FranceInfo radio that Europe's highest peak was "becoming an amusement park where we're going to have gendarmes, rescuers and Pamela Anderson to save us".
Sweeney, a self-described "adrenaline junkie", was trying to beat the record set by a 10-year-old boy from London in reaching the summit with his younger son, PJ, and daughter Shannon.
[COLOR=#333333]"He was trying to break the record for stupidity," said the president of the national mountain guides' union, Denis Crabi