This week we had a meeting in the Mountain Safety Council, so why not take up the topic there and write about the concept of mountain safety?

Mountain Safety is a very broad concept, so it is important to limit the topic so it doesn’t flow out and become too large. It can be technique, it can be gear and also leadership for example. One of the discussion at the Mountain Safety Council was about accidents related to professionals in the mountain environment. A couple of the organizations at the meeting presented their work with how to prevent and mitigate risk and accidents and in what situation they could see that it was relevant. Risk is of course one crucial part of mountain safety, but you must understand and remember that a risk plan as a base is good to have, but risk is a very dynamic factor. But with a base of Identify risks, assess the probability and consequence, mitigation plan and follow up and document the result etc.

But mountain safety will always be impact of the individual. And here it doesn’t matter if you are a guide or a professional hiker or just a beginner…The knowledge and experience together with the ability will be crucial. Now its beginning to become interesting. What is ability? A capability is: the ability of a person or an organization to perform a certain action or purpose, based on its internal characteristics, competencies and resources. Ok, so what is the difference between a skill and ability then? Compared to skills, abilities are much more stable and enduring. Abilities can also include being able to apply and even transfer knowledge and skills in several different situations and contexts.

How can I improve my capability then? First you have to define, why this ability is so important for you. Next step will be to find out the conditions and how you best develop the ability. Third step will be to create a plan (a development journey) that really has an effect. Start from already defined training and supplement. Schedule learning in your everyday life. Establish and further develop the ability.

So what will be the key takeaways from all of this related to Mountain safety?

• A ground riskplan is important, but even more important is to have the ability to be dynamic due to the circumstances and demands.
• Knowledge and experience will be the ability, ability to make the right judgement (decisions)
• Clarify what ability you need to develop and plan.
• Do what you can in your “knowledge” area, but get out of the box (comfort zone) but in a controlled way. You must try and fail to be able to become better…

Tiger Army – Dark and Lonely Night (Official Music Video)

See ya soon…