Avoiding Accidents When Mountaineering

​Accidents happen in the world of mountaineering. And there are many things you cannot control in the mountains. But there is one big factor of risk management that you CAN control, which I believe doesn't get talked about enough. And that is what I explore today. 

Episode Transcript:

[0:00] All right, hello, hello, ladies and gentlemen. So in today's episode,

[0:04] we are talking through a really, really, really important subject in the world of mountaineering. And it's something which I don't feel like gets talked about enough. I think a lot of mountaineers are aware of this in the back of their head, but I feel like it just needs to be discussed a little bit more, just to kind of maybe bring it in the forefront a little bit for people. And this is the topic around avoiding accidents. In the sense that when it comes down to the world of mountaineering and mountaineering expeditions, climbing, whatever shape or form that may look for you. Accidents are some things that just do come up. There are so many situations, so many things, which can lead to some serious and not so serious accidents. You know, people literally falling off mountains, people having slips, people having gear malfunctions, people having whatever, people making bad decisions around weather or whatever it is. There are a thousand different accidents that do come up. And a lot of this stuff is unavoidable. A lot of this stuff is just freak accidents. A lot of this stuff is like, well, that's just what we expect on a mountaineering expedition. And we need to be flexible and adaptable and we need to work around it and this and that.

[1:16] However, there is a lot of stuff you can be doing for, let's just say risk management or accident mitigation. And we can sort of say, we're never 100% guarantee you're never going to have an accident. We can never say you're 100% guaranteed something's not going to go wrong, but there are certain things that you can do to mitigate this risk and give yourself a better chance. Now, first and foremost, the main stuff here is really just going to come down from the way you approach things, the way you plan things, the gear you're using, the checklist you use, the safety steps you take, all of that, all the technical side of mountaineering, which gets explained from guides and courses and this and that, and stuff you should know. And making sure you're bringing the right gear and you're checking your gear and like all of that stuff. And all of that stuff is always going to take priority. But that's not what we're talking about today.

[2:10] Outside of those priority number one things and those things that can literally make the difference between life and death, we're going to go a little bit secondary

[2:20] in regards to avoiding accidents. I want to talk through a subject which does play a big role in avoiding accidents and is really relevant to keep in mind. Because when it comes down to things going wrong, as I said, a lot of stuff is unavoidable or freak accidents. But a lot of times when things do go wrong, one of the contributing factors is fatigue. In the sense of if we are fatigued in certain situations, we're not thinking clearly. We're not making great decisions. We're halved. We're halved. We're low on energy. We've got brain fog. We may be in terrible mood and just like, oh my gosh, get this day over. We're not paying attention. Our attention span is gone. Our working memory may not be quite what it should be. On top of that, our muscles may be fatigued. Legs may be a bit wobbly. We may be a bit unsteady on our feet. Our arms may be pumped out or whatever it is. There's a lot of things that can cause fatigue and which can directly link to the risk of an accident.

[3:25] So when we're talking about training for mountaineering, a lot of the stuff we're talking about on this podcast is we're talking about improving performance and improving everything to get you in a better position so you can get through your adventures and you can enjoy yourself. But beneath all of that, there is also the fact that a lot of what you're doing with your training is important for safety as well. And as a general rule of thumb, we never really want you being at the point where you're just scraping through your climbs. You're just getting to the end of your days or getting the end of your summits and you've got nothing left in the tank. A general rule of thumb with your training is we kind of want to get you to the point where, yes, there will be fatigue. Yes, you will be tired. Yes, there will be challenges. But if possible, never getting to that point where you're absolutely at the end of your rope. Now, obviously, there are some climbs and some expeditions where this is just unavoidable. If you're doing the 8,000 meters and without oxygen, you are going to be at the end of your rope, even if you are absolutely top peak fitness. However, every single percentage we can kind of shift around this can potentially make a bit of a difference. So.

[4:38] I'm just going to go off from now, just a bit of a checklist around different

[4:41] things you can kind of go through, which can help with fatigue management. And I'm not going to get too deep into each of them, but this is more of a checklist for you just to keep top of mind. Just so you can kind of think about, okay, during my preparations, during my expeditions, during when I'm actually out like moving, am I doing these things? If not, if this is not part of your normal routine or normal whatever, maybe worthwhile thinking about, planning about and putting into action. So first and foremost, cardio. Are you developing your aerobic fitness? I'm not going to harp on about that. We'll talk about that in other episodes, but are you actually actively developing your cardio fitness in your training? If you're listening to this training for Mountaineer and podcast, I hope you are. As a subset of that, are you not only working on your cardio fitness, but are you developing the specific qualities of fitness that a Mountaineer needs and the specific type of situations you need to be prepared for? Are you doing pack work? Are you doing elevation work? Are you doing climbing sessions? Yada, yada, yada. Again, not going to harp on about that. Number two, strength. You know, strength and muscular endurance. Muscular endurance, muscular strength, two sides of the same coin. Very, very, very important for fatigue management. Because if we don't have the required strength, if we don't have the required endurance, we're probably going to fatigue earlier. Again, I'm not going to harp on about this. I'm not going to go into too much detail, but there's something to keep in mind. Are you doing strength training? If not, please start.

[6:05] Number three, fueling. Now, this is an interesting one in the world of mountaineering because nutrition in general, the general information out there on nutrition in the world is pretty hit and miss. There's so many people with so many opinions and even so many professionals, and they're all saying different things. It is an absolute mess out there in regards to nutrition. When we get into the world of mountaineering, this kind of gets a little bit worse because there are some strong opinions out there, some people putting some really good stuff out there. There's also a lot of people talking about things they just have no idea what they're talking about. And one of the biggest overarching issues when it comes down to nutrition for mountaineers is the concept of under-fueling. In the sense that so many mountaineers and so many people doing endurance activities, they can survive their expeditions or their activities eating whatever. They can survive eating anything. They can survive eating nothing. They can get through end to end.

[7:09] That approach isn't amazing for fatigue management. One of the biggest contributors to fatigue in your expeditions, in your training, is just not fueling appropriately, not giving the body the energy and the fuel it needs to work optimally. This isn't just to work survive because you can survive off anything. It doesn't really matter, but to work optimally. Now, I could talk about nutrition for hours and hours and hours and hours on this podcast, but one thing I will say is if, If it is practical, because I understand in certain situations on the mountains, certain expeditions, this is not practical. But when it is practical, you want to be staying on top of your fueling. A general rule of thumb is having a bite or two of something every hour or so on the mountain. So in between the meals, if you're stopping for meals, breakfast, lunch, dinner, or however your logistics are working out, in between your meals, trying to get some fuel in.

[8:09] Typically, for the majority of people out there, this is going to be high carbohydrate, low fat, low protein, low fiber. The reason I say that is essentially carbohydrates is one of the main fuel source, well, is the main fuel source during activities. You can only store a certain amount of carbohydrates in your body at one time. We burn through that. If we're not replenishing it, it can contribute to fatigue. I know there's probably already going to be people listening to this up in arms saying, oh, you know, fat adaptation, all of this. And if you're going down that route, absolutely fine. I'm not trying to convert you or anything like that. But if you are not intentionally training for fat adaptation, you want to be thinking about high carbohydrate snacks, low protein, low fiber, low fat, things that will digest quickly, give you easy fuel, which will benefit you on this fueling.

[8:59] So I'm not going to hop on about that too much more, but just ask yourself, have you ever thought intentionally around fueling for your expeditions do you know what you need to be doing to fuel appropriately have you sat down and figured out how much fuel you need for a day out on the mountain if not this is something i strongly recommend looking into there are quite a few dietitians out there who specialize in mountain athletes book in a consultation with one, dive into it, have a chat, get an action plan put together.

[9:31] I promise you that will be worth its weight in gold. So fueling, if we can fuel appropriately, it will minimize fatigue and it can play a big role in accident mitigation.

[9:42] Number four, hydration. Are you hydrating? Again, this can be really, really easy to forget about on the mountain. Again, in some situations, this may not be practical to have optimal hydration. I fully understand that. And in those situations, you just do what you can. But if it is practical, are you aware how much you need to drink? Are you putting that into action? Are you having electrolytes? Because electrolytes are probably going to be beneficial for the majority of mountaineers out there. And again, on that fueling front, electrolytes can be an easy source of fuel if you're getting a brand which has additional carbohydrates in it. If you're not aware of how to go about this, if you're not aware about how much you should be drinking, you're not aware about how you can practically put this into action on the mountain, talk to a dietician who specializes in mountain athletes. Very, very, very important.

[10:33] Number five, recovery. So this is a funny one. This is not so much what you're going to be doing on your actual movement. But this is going to be doing at the end of the day and again i will sort of preface this by saying some of this stuff may not be practical at certain situations and certain expeditions or whatever may be but when it is doable you want to ask yourself okay at the end of the day in between days of climbing what can i do to promote recovery to help the body bounce back so i can wake up tomorrow a little bit fresher and minimize fatigue for tomorrow, some simple simple simple things is number one make sure you eat even if you don't have an appetite at the end of the day get your dinner down number two is there some type of gentle movement i can do at the end of the day which can sort of help the body move over and just feel a little bit happier this can be really really simple 10 minutes of stretching it's not magic like bony means stretching you know can be great but it's not magical but it can sometimes just help us feel a bit better help us relax help us calm down help our muscles feel a little bit nicer so we can sort of chill out and feel a bit better. Can I do some self-massage? Can I get a water bottle or get something, you know, get a ball or something and rub it across muscles? Self-massage can be very, very useful. What am I doing to look after my sleep? You know, sleep on expeditions can be pretty tough. Are there certain things you can do which may aid your sleep?

[12:01] If you're in a noisy environment, can you get earplugs? Can you wear a sleep mask? Can you have some type of sleep aid, some melatonin, some lavender oil, if any of that's practical to bring with you? Can you do a nice relaxing routine before you go to bed? A little bit of deep breathing, a little bit of journaling, if you've got that in your pack, whatever it may be. Is there anything I can do to help chill me out and relax me before I go to sleep? Anything you can do in between days which will just help calm the body down,

[12:31] to help chill out the mind, that can be beneficial in recovery. It doesn't have to get too technical or whatever it may be.

[12:39] Now, in all honesty, I'm not going to, I can probably tell another like 12 subjects on this and go into the nitty gritty of it all. But realistically, it's just sort of something to keep top of mind.

[12:50] Avoiding accidents may never be a hundred percent possible. There are always risk factors on mountaineering expeditions. There are always freak accidents and this and that. At the first level, you want to be making sure you've got the right gear, you're following the appropriate advice, you're doing the right techniques, you're following a checklist, you're following the right protocols, all of that stuff. But below that, make sure you are doing what you can on fatigue management.

[13:16] Not only is minimizing fatigue and enhancing your energy going to be beneficial for getting you up the mountain, helping you feel good, helping you perform well and ultimately just having a good time but it can also play a big role in just avoiding missteps avoiding those dodgy situations making good decisions all of that good stuff make sure you're doing the right cardio make sure you're doing the right strength if you are not fueling appropriately or you don't know what you're doing on your expeditions reach out to someone for help there make sure you stay on top of your hydration and your electrolytes and make sure if you're on multiple days of expeditions in between you're doing what you can to help the body bounce back and recover in between days. This stuff, it's all really, really basic. It's stuff you probably already know. It's stuff you probably already heard. But I promise you, if you can put the basics into action and do it correctly and consistently, it can make a big, big difference. And hopefully, who knows, this may help you avoid a misstep or an accident. You may never know if you would avoid an accident because that's always the way. We can never actually know when we've completely prevented an accident because it just doesn't happen.

[14:24] But you might as well do it either way. So with that being said, I hope this was just a good reminder for a few mountaineers out there. I hope it sort of gives you maybe an area or two you can put a bit of focus into to make a bit of a difference. And I really do hope it helps a few people in the future. So with that being said, thank you so much for listening. If you did want to learn a little bit more about how we help mountaineers with their training and learn how we help mountaineers through our online summit program, which is our online personal training program for mountaineers, what you can do is go to summitstrength.com.au slash Mountaineer. On that page, there's a nice video, talks through our program in a little bit of detail. And if you did want to learn a little bit more about it, you can book a call with our team on that page. We can have a chat and see if and how we may be able to help you out. So if you did want to learn a little bit more, go to summitstrength.com.au slash Mountaineer, and we can take it from there. So with that being said, thank you so much for listening today. Hope you have a lovely day and we'll talk to you very, very soon. Bye.

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