Is Hiking Dangerous?

Is Hiking Dangerous compared to other Sports?

Let’s face it, ever pastime can be dangerous if you aren’t careful. But, Hiking, due to the extremely large number of rapidly changing factors involved can be a dangerous pastime for the unprepared.

In the following paragraphs we’ll highlight the main risks involved in hiking so that you can be better prepared for them, or better still, so that you can avoid them altogether.

What are the Risks of Hiking?

Safer than Hiking Apparently

The risks of hiking cover as broad a spectrum of risks as we could possibly imagine. I’ll list a few so that you can begin to picture them, then we’ll have a look at some of the more common questions about hiking dangers and see how we can mitigate the risks.

The Risks of Hiking:

• Mud Slides
• Avalanches
• Freezing Injuries
• Drowning
• Heat Exhaustion
• Animal Attacks
• Muggings
• Breaking Bones
• Tearing a Muscle
• Getting Lost
• Falls

The list is as depressing as it is long, but one thing jumps out at me when I read it. Everything on the list can be avoided with a bit of knowledge and preparation.

How Common are Hiking Deaths?

Well, it appears that Hiking Deaths are not very common at all, which is surely a good thing. The National Center (Centre) for Health Statistics in the USA state that the chances of the average person dying on a hike is in the region of 15,700 to 1, which are pretty good odds in my opinion. That is a 0.006% chance of dying on a hike if you prefer to see your own mortality risk in percentages.

Rather disappointingly, not many hikers in the report were killed by bears, wolves and snake bites. The most common causes of death were put down to:

• Lack of Knowledge
• Poor Judgement
• Inexperience

Do you, like me, see a pattern forming here. Like, if you don’t want to die on your hike, get educated…

Novice Hiker Dangers

Taking into account the reasons hikers die from above, then surely the group of hikers in the most danger are going to be the novices. Let’s take a look at the top novice hiker dangers next:

• Being unprepared for the weather conditions
• Not knowing how to deal with wildlife, snakes, bears, cows etc
• Hiking on Terrain that is too difficult for Novices
• Poor Equipment Choices or lack of Equipment
• Overconfidence in their ability
• Lack of Food and Water
• Not taking a First Aid Kit
• Poor Navigation Skills
• Turning a Hike into a Climb without proper equipment or training
• Running down hills
• Falling off Rocks and Cliffs
• Climbing Trees
• River Crossings
• Altitude Sickness

Really, I could go on and on, but these are some of the most common factors that put novice hikers in danger. Undergoing some form of training such as taking part on DofE Expeditions, joining a Hiking Club or the Ramblers will take care of the majority of the list above, a bit of common sense will take care of the rest.

Read more...