Of Course, Hiking Is Dangerous

The Grant Davis at Backpacker seem surprised that hiking is listed as the third most dangerous out door sport. If it were just wilderness sports, hiking would certainly pass sledding. As most sledding is not exactly a wilderness sport. It could even pass snowboarding. Most ski resorts now have convenient hospitals. Which would make the injuries not wilderness related but out door recreational injuries.

Also, illnesses, such as diarrhea, acute mountain sickness, and cardiac arrest, have been shown to cause considerable morbidity and mortality in outdoor settings but were not included in the study.^9,11,12 Finally, NEISS-AIP provides only national estimates and cannot be used to obtain state-level estimates.

Despite these limitations, this study's results have important implications for the growing field of wilderness medicine, for which wilderness injury prevention is central to the mission of minimizing the risks of wilderness environments.¹⁵ The definition of a wilderness injury has 3 aspects: locale, activity, and the injury itself.²⁶ Although in this study we could not determine if an injury had occurred in a true wilderness setting—1 to 2 hours from hospital-based care—the study did select cases that occurred in an outdoor, natural, or environmental setting. It also selected activities commonly considered to be outdoor recreation and identified specific injuries.^1,2,15 Although the study calls these injuries “outdoor recreational injuries” instead of “wilderness injuries,” many cases described here are subject to the same risks and complications as “true” wilderness injuries.

So according to this study, Harry Lewis who had a heart attack while backpacking earlier this week, would not have been included.

I think it is amazing that backpacker would be surprised that hiking could be dangerous. After all hikers are some times attacked by bears, mauled by mountain lions, attacked by rabid bobcats, bitten by poisonous snakes, not too mention ticks, scorpions or bees.

Just in the past month several hikers have died. Heat stroke, Hypothermia, Several Falls, Heart attack, this is by no means a complete list.

Mr Davis was probably trying to be funny. But hiking can be deadly serious for both the prepared and unprepared. It can also be a hole lot of fun. Be safe out there.