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The Manaslu avalanche is a serious and devastating tragedy.  The hazards in outdoor adventure sports are serious and real.  With new developments in technology we can mitigate risks better but there are still there and very real.  Events like these remind us of that fact.  Could this horrific accident have been prevented?  Right now, it sounds like that was not a possibility and those that were caught in the avalanche were victims of mother nature’s unpredictable beahvior.  As lovers of the outdoors and adventure sports we need to keep in the back of our minds the potential for accidents to happen.  We are out there to push ourselves and have fun, but we shouldn’t forget that the sports we choose to do have very real dangers and it’s important to know when we are getting close to the threshold of those dangers.  The boy scout motto of “be prepared” goes a long way in the field of adventure sports. 

We are our #1 risk.  It’s because we are seeking to push ourselves or to extract a little more adventure out of an experience that leads us to make risky decisions.  The news of the Manaslu avalanche arrives on the tail of another tragic season on Mt. Everest.  This spring was the 3rd highest record of deaths on Mt. Everest.  What was eye opening was that all the deaths this year were caused by the human factor – poor decision making.  It is great to have goals, they are what drive us, they are catalysts but sometimes we need to stop and realize when we are driving too hard towards a result and risking our lives for that result and not appreciating the journey because that is where we learn and grow.  

 Here is an update on the Manaslu avalanche from Outside Magazine

http://www.outsideonline.com/blog/outdoor-adventure/nine-reported-dead-at-least-six-believed-missing-on-manaslu.html