Walks Secretary's Blog

You don't make an activity safer by discouraging people from doing it

There are risks in bush activities, but what we can do is to manage them. Don't be the person that says dangerous places are dangerous, it means nothing and doesn't make them safer. The likelihood of risks depends on how easy/hard the trip is, and that'll require different levels of skills to mitigate them. Safety comes with the ability to manage risks. Things can go wrong, but there's also a lot of ways to fix them. Not doing anything slightly risky will never make an activity safer- you wouldn't build up the experience essential to make an activity safer, and sometimes a misguided approach to risks makes accidents more likely (eg. it can be safer to take a more difficult bush track than a long detour when people are tired). Evaluating safety should start with the confidence that the vast majority of trips are safe, helping us focus on the real risk factors and giving us a good starting point. 

There are two parts to risks. Some can be planned, while some are unpredictable from your air-conditioned room. Routes can be planned, but tracks can be overgrown and you'll only realise when you get there. We can check routes and conditions based on what we know, but when the unplanned comes, trip leaders will need to act. The realm of handling the unexpected is broad and there's no way we can realistically check how a trip leader can handle (plus it'll discourage people from doing the activity), so all these come down to two main ideas: being reasonable, and ability to improvise. Being reasonable means knowing the limits of your ability, and making a call when it doesn't look right. If a track looks too overgrown, there's no harm in heading back. If a member is looking sick, then consider getting them out of the bush. For more complex environments such as camping in remote areas, or when the way out isn't as straightforward, improvisation is key. Arranging people to support those in need, camping somewhere else, or sometimes sharing resources within a group.

Wayfinding

The textbook answer to bush navigation is always a map and compass. However, modern technology has evolved and most offline GPS apps on phones are reliable for most bush trips, combined with a reasonable degree of terrain awareness. Phones do run out of battery, but with fully charged power banks and airplane mode for most of the trip it can survive for weeks. They're also good for taking photos by the way :)

Some people will be concerned about the accuracy of GPS locations inside the bush, being obscured by trees. In tight canyons, getting location does become tricky, but usually canyons are one massive landmark and will be fine with just an offline map on display. In other places obtaining GPS coordinates is barely an issue. Some Android phones may struggle in this regard but iPhones are built rigid enough for most bush ventures. In addition to GPS, real-life landmarks are often cross-referenced to plan a way out. Ridges, gullies, rivers, creeks etc are all great landmarks to help us make sense of the topo map on our hands. Especially when you go out with a few others- if everyone has offline maps installed, very rarely would 3-5 phones die at the same time. 

When there is a risk of an indistinct track it'll be good to check how they navigate. This can be minor tracks on the map, or in more remote places where tracks are known to be overgrown. Asking the question of what app will you use to navigate will help, but it would never be an adequate answer. The only proper way to find out is to check with their previous experience for familiarity in this terrain. Check if they have been to anywhere similar in track conditions, and that will give you an indication of their proficiency. Also check for their involvement- for big trips people at the back wouldn't be as involved in wayfinding. 

In off-track bushwalks, terrain awareness is also something to check. Are they confident in planning a bushbash that is easiest for the group? Instead of checking GPS maps every 5 seconds, can they utilise visual landmarks such as a river or ridge to wayfind? If they have key experience of doing something similar, this is not a concern. If not, a tiny quiz on their intended route will clear things up. Look into the topo map of their intended route, quiz on key landmarks they will see, and how they aid navigation. Section 3 of Trip Leading Basics describes the common scenarios where one would need to go off-track. 

In the case of a slight concern- they feel experienced enough, but you are not 100% sure, they can still go ahead with conditions imposed. Conditions would mandate turning back if the expected track becomes overgrown, or having someone competent tag along the trip who is ready to take over. 

In big concerns where there is a massive mismatch between navigational skills demonstrated vs what they have, it will be fair to reject the trip. 

Weather

Slight rainy forecasts would likely turn out to be fine. In the case of heavy rain, whether a canyon/gorge/river will overflow will depend on its catchment size. Look at the topo map and see what feeds into the waterway of interest. Avoid them during rain- it's usually fine before and after a rain. After a rain, rivers can be overflowing meaning they cannot be crossed. 

On hot summer days, walk distances will need to be cut back to be realistic. Make sure the trip leader knows how much water everyone should bring. 

Outback bushwalks are generally not recommended when the temperature is forecasted to be 30 or above. 

In winter, snow conditions will be expected in Snowy Mtns and around Canberra.  

Elements

In most cases this isn't an issue. Most scrambles are easy enough where people will be fine. Canyoning trips are relatively easy to screen- has that person done it before? There's abseilling and non-abseilling canyons. Non-abseilling canyons are fine for leaders with decent canyoning experience, aware of basic canyoning safety and familiar with canyon environments. Abseilling canyons will require rope skills. 

Realisticity

Trip times can be easily calculated with distances and elevation. Weighted against track difficulty, no. of people in the group and their experience levels give a more accurate estimate. Difficult walks with a lot of bushbashing and scrambling will cut down on distances it can cover. Multi-day hikes where heavy backpacks are carried will also cut down on that. While there isn't a time limit on trips, people will be overly exhausted to continue after a certain distance. Trip leaders can always cut back on what to do on the spot, but it's always the best if this can be prevented. 

If a concern on realisticity is raised, trip leaders can either cut back on their plans, leaving the original plan as a plan B should things go smoothly, or cut back on the number of people they are taking. Smaller groups mean faster walks. 

In multi-day walks availability of water sources needs to be considered. There should be creeks along the walk where water could be refilled. 

Multi-day walks

They are physically demanding meaning there will always be someone struggling. There's never been overnight walks where no one struggled. Proper equipments are therefore key to safety- even if they struggle, they wouldn't be struggling as much. Sleeping bag and lightweight tents are bare minimum, along with sufficient food and means to cook them. Leaders leading bush camping trips should have done it themselves, but it's always good to check that they are aware of these. Trip leaders can always ask poorly prepared participants to go home if their packs are overweight, or if they didn't bring all the required food. 

Checking lists of participants

There are two things to look for:

• Experience of individual participants

• Experience distribution

While it's the trip leader's responsibility to screen for individual participants' experience, keeping an eye on them can prevent issues down the track. Most people will be fine with day walks up to 20km without prior experience. However, longer day walks and camping trips will require them. Some people are fine, but in most cases this sets them for failure. For beginner camping trips, previous intermediate walk experiences are fine. For more remote camping trips, previous camping experiences will be essential. The idea of camping experiences is so people know how heavy a pack will be and know their abilities. 

A lot of people may be from overseas and possess experiences from other countries. Make sure to ask for a description, eg. is it a day/multi-day walk, involving how many km, elevation gain etc. Places overseas can often sound hardcore when it's just a cable car ride or a drive to a lookout. This is especially true for mountains in China.

Many hard trips can have beginners. The fine detail is that there can't be too many. Beginners require more care, and there needs to be people to help them. A good distribution would be trip leader as the most experienced, 2-3 moderately experienced who can lead a sub-group independently if required, and each sub-group of maximum 4 people. For a hard trip of 8 people, there will be 1 trip leader, 2 moderately experienced, 2 with previous camping experience, and 2 beginners. Beginner and intermediate trips will not need this, but having some moderately experienced people to help can be an advantage.  

Camping trip experiences

With day walks all the walks you do builds up to your experience. A 15 km walk sets you up for a 20 km walk. That's not the case for camping, as the only way to find out whether you're experienced enough is to do it yourself. You either camp or not camp, there's no middle ground. Camping trips involving fire trails or formed tracks may be more beginner friendly, but to multi-day walk beginners there isn't much difference between doing an easy walk or an intermediate walk with a camping pack. 

Expect people to struggle. There hasn't been a camping trip where no one struggled. Both beginners and very experienced people can struggle. A lot of factors may contribute to that, eg. weather, physical fitness, whether they did a warm-up walk, pack weight, physical wellness, mental state and so on. Improvisation and management is key. If they struggle a bit, take off a bit of their load, and if they struggle a lot, consider setting camp earlier or changing routes. 

The best way to prepare a beginner for a camping trip is ensuring their backpacks are properly packed and fitted. In general, a backpack for a 1-2 night trip should not exceed 10-15kg, and longer trips not over 20kg. 

Communicating concerns

The first email to a trip of concern is usually one to clarify their experience or details of the trip. Usually a trip doesn't have to be cancelled and can be modified to fit the experience of trip leaders more. Exception to this is canyoning or camping- if they don't have experience, there's no such thing as a canyoning trip without canyons. 

Focus on the element of concern and offer suggestions to change trip plans, eg. an easier track nearby that isn't overgrown, or impose conditions, eg. no going ahead if the track is overgrown. There is often no need to take down the entire trip if these suggestions can be made.

Balance feedback- while there might be things that can be improved, there's always a lot of things that have done well. When mentioning negative feedback balance with positive ones and recognise their efforts. Just that a few elements went wrong doesn't mean the entire trip is unsafe or a failure. Surely for every trip people would have taken home something- friendship, experiences, heaps of photos and funny stories to share, and that's something good to recognise.

It's good to reach out to leaders on how it went in their first few trips. Recognise success and respond to concerns. Often people will mention struggling people on trips in which the Walks Secretary can recommend a better vetting process or arrangement of people to care for the slower group. 

When an incident occurred, a debrief can be beneficial to clarify facts and share points of improvement. Nothing will be perfect when everyone scrambles around for a solution, and this should be recognised. 

Trips running late

This refers to not returning to reception at midnight (12am) of the day. Trips can run late and often finishes at night. Rarely will the committee be contacted about whereabouts of the group but when it happens, it's good to remind people how running late is normal.

Ideally emergency contacts should be someone who knows where you are going, and details of the trip. This is often not their parents or relatives. It's better to put in a best friend (or a few in case some are on the trip) who you have spoken to about a trip, than a parent who knows nothing. Remember that people often fake their intentions to parents just to get approval to go out (or not be asked too many questions).

Modern iPhones (iPhone 14 and onwards) have a feature where a find-my location can be sent through satellite to a pre-set list of family and friends, without additional charges. For concerned parents this can be set up in advance before going on a trip. 

First Aid

Skills matter more than the presence of a certificate. Things like using snake bandages, or improvising a splint for a fracture. PLBs should be carried for remote trips but in most of Blue Mountains, prioritise getting to places with mobile reception, as this gives faster emergency response. 

When someone looks sick, they are sick. The call to evacuate is often made based on whether they can walk out. Using a stretcher like Hollywood movies is unrealistic, and when they cannot walk out, there will have to be an evacuation. PLB responses are slow and expect an overnight stay in remote locations. This can look traumatic but can happen even to the most experienced. In remote places, first aid is based on improvisation of your belongings and natural resources. 

Accountability

Cancelling a trip can be a big deal for everyone involved. Sound logic and proof must be present when this has to be done. Different people will certainly have different risk tolerances. Demonstrate the likelihood of such risks, and as a result this can/cannot be tolerated. Show that you have tried to trust that it would be fine, but the proof is not sufficient. 

Remember our role is to guarantee the safety of trips, not the quality of trips. There can be ones that sound horribly planned (eg. too much/little walking in a day, or too much driving in one day ) but they often don't justify action. 

Proportionality is key. Responses should be proportional to the severity of the problem. Minor issues in trips often don't even justify a message. A few friendly messages will normally be sufficient to reason with reasonable people. It's only reckless people that are a real concern, as they are unpredictable. 

The more rigid a decision is made, the less likely it will be challenged. If in doubt, it's always good to consult a second opinion, but there's no need to change your reasoning or decision just because of a second opinion.