Summer - InsideOutdoor Magazine

Gorp
out of step with society and, in particular, the risk aversion of
modern parents? A 1991 study found that the radius around the
home where parents allowed 9-year-olds to wander had shrunk
to one-ninth of what it had been in 1970. … The notion that
accidents happen — especially fatal ones — is simply at odds
with what most parents today are willing to accept.”
If we don’t actively manage this risk aversion trend, it may
just regulate us out of meaningful existence. Getting the Parentocrats
on “our side,” by playing up the positive education side
of the outdoors, rather than the negative safety issue, is a key
way. And doing so would then help create a whole new, young
generation whose parents are fully supportive of their being in
the outdoors.
It’s true: Going outdoors to play can be dangerous. In many
ways that risk is exactly why some people do go out. Aron
Ralston has become a poster child for personal locator beacons,
not only because he appears in ads for them but, more tellingly,
because the media have used his seeming error in judgment to
push for such devices and the “safety” they represent.
But, of course, there’s more to it. Even after cutting off his
own arm, he still goes back into the mountains to play alone.
Whether he takes a PLB is really beside the point. In a 2004
interview with National Geographic Adventure, Ralston said:
“I realized that [my situation] was the result of decisions that
I had made. I chose to go out there by myself. I chose to not
tell anyone where I was going. … But I also realized that I
had made all of the choices up to that point that had helped
me survive. I took responsibility for all of my decisions, which
helped me take on the responsibility of getting myself out.”
A year later, as reported on www.outdoornewswire.com,
“Ralston … completed his seven-year project to solo the Colorado
14’ers in the winter. … Despite having only one hand,
Ralston bagged two peaks last winter and nearly a dozen this
year. His accomplishment makes him only the third person to
complete the Colorado 14’ers in the winter and the first to complete
the project solo.”
Ralston is an archetypal Innerpreneur, and whether you think
he is foolhardy or simply living on his own terms, the story of
his decidedly Emersonian self-reliance resonates with all of us.
Targeting such Innerpreneur C-Types makes singular sense,
since they “cross all demographics,” writes Rental. And while
they “are not driven by popular culture … sometimes they
themselves drive it.”
Hmm. That doesn’t sound too bad: a new generation of
youngsters, supported (even pushed) by their parents to go out
and play, and bolstered by a group of Innerpreneurs who can
inject the outdoors deep into popular culture.
That’s more than a killer app; that’s Outdoor 3.0.
Where every fixture has a story!
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78 | InsideOutdoor | Summer 2007
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