Re: Looking at Lindsey Lately
Posted: Tue Apr 26, 2016 5:46 pm
This is why Coombs left Alaska according to the STEEP film, if I am not mistaken. I think his big internal red flag, and possibly what JK has not yet noticed here, is complacency. I had a simple mis-step on the Mesa trail last month and sliced my finger catching a fall 3 miles out. I wound up with stitches. I was carrying nothing... heck, it's just the Mesa trail. I've done this 100 times in every month. I think a huge problem with repeated success in near-misses is not recognizing the possibility of the coin flipping the other way next time. Not talking to that for others to potentially learn from, as you said, is a dis-service to the community. To be honest, I haven't read all of his reports, but not recognizing near misses and/or continuing the same behavior to in effect tempt fate again, (a) leads very few to mourn when hubris causes Icarus to tumble to his death, as it were, and (b) leaves nothing for the rest of us to learn from to avoid repeating history.AlexeyD wrote:I do, however, think that one needs to be honest about that risk level, both with themselves but especially when you are writing about your actions for others to read. Not doing so is a disservice to both oneself and one's readers, and in particular to aspiring climbers/skiers or whatever who hold the person in high regard. Like, when you trigger an avy and still insist you made the right decisions and write so publicly, what kind of message does that send to the young guy/girl just getting into skimo? It's not just about what you do and why, it's also about how you present it and what lessons you learn from it.