Outdoor Adventure Experiences Research Articles

Recommender Systems for Outdoor Adventure Tourism Sports: Hiking, Running and Climbing

Adventure tourism is a popular and growing segment within the tourism industry that involves, but is not limited to, hiking, running, and climbing activities. These activities attract investment from foreign travelers interested in practicing sports while exploring other countries. As a result, many software companies started developing Artificial Intelligence solutions to enhance tourists’ outdoor adventure experience. One of the leading technologies in this field is recommender systems, which provide personalized recommendations to tourists based on their preferences. While this topic is actively being researched in some sports (running and hiking), other adventure sports disciplines have yet to be fully explored. To standardize the development of intelligence-based recommender systems, we conducted a systematic literature review on more than a thousand scientific papers published in decision support system applications in three outdoor adventure sports, such as running, hiking, and sport climbing. Hence, the main focus of this work is, firstly, to summarize the state-of-the-art methods and techniques being researched and developed by scientists in recommender systems in adventure tourism, secondly, to provide a unified methodology for software solutions designed in this domain, and thirdly, to give further insights into open possibilities in this topic. This literature survey serves as a unified framework for the future development of technologies in adventure tourism. Moreover, this paper seeks to guide the development of more effective and personalized recommendation systems.

Lasting Impressions of a Mandatory University Outdoor Experience Program: A Retrospective Study

A mandatory outdoor experience program (MOEP), involving a three- to four-day outdoor canoe excursion, has been a compulsory university course for undergraduate students for nearly five decades at a post-secondary institution in Northern Ontario, Canada. However, the experiences and perspectives of students who participated in these excursions have not been fully investigated. The aim of this study was to harness the power of storytelling by alumni to improve our understanding of the long-term impact of MOEPs. Using an innovative methodology combining computer-assisted qualitative data analysis (Leximancer) and framing theory, the links between alumni stories became evident through three main interconnected frames: people, activity, and environment. Although there are unique components of the MOEP program described by our participants, the results contribute to the retrospective literature on the critical and memorable features that students recall years after completing an outdoor adventure experience.

“You Feel a Sense of Accomplishment”: Outdoor Adventure Experiences of Youths with Visual Impairments during a One-Week Sports Camp

There are many cognitive, physical, and social-emotional benefits for youths from participating in outdoor adventure activities. However, youths with visual impairments are not given the same opportunities to participate in outdoor adventure activities as their peers without disabilities. The purpose of this study was to examine the outdoor adventure experiences of youths with visual impairments participating in a week-long sports camp. Thirty-seven youths with visual impairment (ages 9-19 years) attending a one-week sports camp participated in this study. Participants engaged in a variety of outdoor adventure activities throughout the week of camp (e.g., sailing, hiking, rock climbing, biking, kayaking). Participants provided written accounts about their outdoor adventure experiences and were observed throughout the week during each activity to examine instructional strategies and task modifications. Additionally, 10 randomly chosen athletes, their one-on-one coaches, and five outdoor recreation specialists participated in focus group interviews. The data analysis revealed three major themes: (1) Benefits, (2) Support, and (3) Barriers. The subthemes of benefits were enjoyment, independence, and relationships; the subthemes of support were instructional strategies and task modifications; and subthemes for barriers were fear and anxiety, exclusion and low expectations, and lack of equipment. These findings support the inclusion of youths with visual impairments in all outdoor adventure programming with appropriate instruction and modification.

Women’s outdoor adventure experiences on Instagram: exploring user-generated content

ABSTRACT Little is known about how everyday women self-present their outdoor adventure experiences, and how these compare to mainstream media, which often reinforces narratives of hegemonic masculinity. To better understand how everyday women portray their outdoor adventure experiences, we examine user-generated content on Instagram associated with the hashtags #womenoutdoors, #womeninadventure and #shewentwild. In total, 1154 posts were collected. Analysis revealed that Instagram facilitates a ‘DigiPlace’ that contributes to new understandings and ways of being outdoors for everyday women. More specifically, our work indicates that the ubiquity of social media helps to reshape the nature of female participation in outdoor adventure activities as well as giving everyday women greater visibility in outdoor landscapes.

The impact of an outdoor adventure program on positive adolescent development: a controlled crossover trial

This paper describes a quasi-experimental crossover trial of an outdoor adventure program for Year 9 school students in Australia. Previous studies have reported a range of positive outcomes of outdoor camps and adventure programs, but cautious interpretation of some claims may be warranted due to limitations in research methods. This study examines a purpose-designed, seven-day outdoor adventure program intended to promote positive adjustment in young people. A total of 335 participants (aged 14–16 years) were recruited from across two Victorian secondary schools. In year 1 (2015), students from school A were recruited to the outdoor program while students from school B were recruited to a control group. In the second year (2016) the roles of each school were switched (crossed over). Outcome measures assessed on five occasions included a range of self-reported social and emotional health indicators. While quantitative analyses did not find support for positive, universal effects of our program, qualitative information gathered across the course of the study suggested that the outdoor program may have been both impactful and positive for some students. This complex picture suggests that effects of the outdoor adventure experience were quite variable amongst participants. Reasons for this pattern of findings are discussed, including the possibility that our quantitative measures may have been insensitive to some benefits. Future work should examine salient moderators of the beneficial effects of outdoor adventure experiences.

Looking back, paddling forward: perspectives on outdoor expedition participation over the lifespan

ABSTRACTThe purpose of this study was to investigate the experience of participating in outdoor expeditions over the lifespan. Thirteen participants (six female, seven male), aged 50–71 were interviewed using photo-elicitation interviews. Criterion-based sampling attempted to provide a cross sectional representation of outdoor expedition participants. Informants had participated expeditions varying in length from 8 days to 3 weeks in the previous year. An inductive thematic analysis was conducted using interview transcripts. This use of innovative visual methods advanced the research process and provided rich data describing participants’ lived experiences of outdoor adventure expeditions. Three themes were discerned from the data related to outdoor expedition participation: (1) childhood outdoor and nature experiences (2) the changing and evolving nature of outdoor participation through the lifespan and (3) facilitators to continued participation in outdoor adventure. Results showed that participation in a lifetime of outdoor adventure experiences bestowed many personal, physical, social and spiritual benefits.

Powered off-road wheelchair for the transportation of tetraplegics along mountain trails

Purpose: For off-road mobility, some manual or power assisted devices were conceived to be self-driven by paraplegics while for tetraplegics non power-assisted devices were conceived. These devices require one or more conductors who are subjected to a high physical demand thus potentially creating: precarious safety condition for the user an elevated physical demand of conductors could reduce the care and the attention to give to the user; the time of the outdoor adventure experience of the user could be limited.Methods: To address these issues, an innovative user-centered power assisted off-road wheelchair for the transportation of tetraplegics along mountain trails was developed. The device, structured like a trike, is driven by two healthy conductors; the user is placed in the middle of the frame. A movable seat provides for the transfer from the standard to the off-road wheelchair. An electrical motor, powered by a battery pack, provides for the actuation. All the design and prototype aspects, the control system and experimental tests are detailed.Results: The prototype satisfies mechanical, safety and duration requirements. No physical demand while using the device and for the transfer of the user to the device was identified. Fun and engaging tests were carried out and all the participants were involved.Implications for RehabilitationThe device has the potential to enhance the quality of life of tetraplegics in terms of new life experiences.The device revealed the real possibility of a full recreational experience, an enhanced participation and a better social integration of tetraplegics.

International Perspectives in Outdoor Education Research

International Perspectives in Outdoor Education Research Patrick T. Maher, Guest Editor To begin, let me introduce the starting point for this issue of Research in Outdoor Education (ROE); the 7th International Outdoor Education Research Conference (IOERC). The 7th IOERC was hosted from July 4–8, 2016 at Cape Breton University (CBU), on Unama’ki (Cape Breton Island) in Nova Scotia, Canada. This IOERC showcased the breadth of international perspectives in outdoor education research, as more than 150 researchers from 17 countries lived and learned together. The IOERC series, with 7 conferences down and the next one being organized for November 2018 in Australia, aims to build on the social, cultural and critical dimensions of research and theorizing in diverse outdoor traditions. This includes the fields of education (both learning and teaching), recreation, place studies, sustainability/environmental studies and therapeutic applications of nature and adventure. Thus, it serves as a natural fit with the Coalition for Education in the Outdoors, the network served by the publication of ROE. The focus of the IOERC series is squarely on outdoor education research with a particular emphasis on sociological and critical perspectives. The IOERC has never had keynote speakers, so as not to prioritize any one person’s research over another, nor has it ever engaged as a tradeshow or fundraising mechanism for an association. It has no constitution, no ongoing constituency, and no financing is provided. It relies on an academic institution to be the host and previous IOERC conferences were hosted by Buckinghamshire-Chilterns University (UK) in 2002, La Trobe University (Australia) in 2004, the University of Central Lancashire (UK) [End Page vii] in 2006, La Trobe University again in 2009, the University of Southern Denmark/University of Copenhagen (Denmark) in 2011, and the University of Otago (New Zealand) in 2013. With a change in hemisphere for each conference the IOERC typically takes place every 2–2.5 years. The 7th IOERC at CBU, was the first time the conference had been hosted outside of Europe or Australasia. The discussion about the need for an IOERC began in 2001 when a group of outdoor education researchers gathered at the Iron Bark Centre in Victoria, Australia. Their original vision “was built on a perceived need to see the outdoors develop as a significant discipline which engage[s] with and is informed by social, educational, cultural and other theoretical frameworks” (Humberstone, 2009, no page numbers). Essentially, the vision was to “foster the development of its critical dimension”, because outdoor education had tended to float about in “splendid isolation, perhaps similar to leisure studies around 20 years ago” (Humberstone, 2009, no page numbers). One might ask why a critical and reflective forum is necessary for outdoor education research. The answer is complex and connected to how scholars and their institutions perceive the “discipline.” Even characterizing outdoor education as a discipline is contested. Some suggest outdoor education is a field of study; others argue it is simply practice and programming. A full discussion of this tension is available in Dyment and Potter (2015) and Potter and Dyment (2016). The theme of the 1st IOERC conference was, “Whose Journeys: Where and Why?: The ‘Outdoors’ and ‘Adventure’ as Social and Cultural Phenomena: Critical Exploration of Relations Between Individuals, ‘Others’ and the Environment.” The introduction to the 1st IOERC conference proceedings states: The outdoor sector provides, makes available or engages with outdoor adventure experiences for a variety of purposes including, education, youth and social work, management development, therapy, leisure and recreation. In most cases, but not all, these experiences occur in ‘natural’ environments. Consequently, diverse outdoor traditions have emerged not only in relation with specific geographical landscapes, but also as a consequence of particular cultural, social and political contexts. Furthermore, ‘old’ romanticised ideals of outdoor leisure are becoming reconstructed though the demands of ‘mass-market’ consumers for ‘authentic’ adventure. Arguably, much outdoor experience, particularly that [End Page viii] concerned with forms of outdoor learning, is rarely subjected to critical analyses where it may be located within broader theoretical frameworks and diverse schools of thought. (Humberstone, Brown, & Richards, 2003, p. 7) With the 1st IOERC providing a forum for critical discussion on adventure and the outdoors, delegates saw a useful...

A new pedagogical model for adventure in the curriculum: part two – outlining the model

Background: This paper is part two of a discussion about a new pedagogical model for adventure in the curriculum. It builds upon part one, the advocacy paper, which considered important theoretical foundations, historical influences and research outcomes of outdoor adventure education (OAE) in the UK.Purpose: This paper outlines how a model for OAE might be implemented in practice in schools in the UK. Four non-negotiable features of a pedagogical model for OAE are identified as essential for pupils to gain maximum benefit from their outdoor adventure experiences. Consideration is also given to other essential features of models-based approaches to physical education that teachers need to consider to underpin the model's authenticity, including pupils’ readiness for learning, teacher expertise and knowledge, and assessment and future model validation.Conclusions: Four non-negotiable features of a model for OAE are identified as being mainly outdoors, experiential learning, challenge by choice and managed risk. Key concerns arising from the implementation of these non-negotiable features are considered. These include encouraging pupils to take more responsibility for their own learning, developing closer links between school OAE and local opportunities, supporting teachers in making judgements about pupils managing their own risk, developing teachers’ expertise in reviewing and developing assessment tools that measure pupils’ affective learning.

A Systematic Review of the Efficacy of Community-based, Leisure/Social Activity Programmes for People with Traumatic Brain Injury

Background: Many people who have a severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) are not able to resume employment and consequently experience profound changes in their lifestyle. They have increased amounts of ’spare time’ yet often find it difficult to engage in meaningful activity. Leisure activities are one way in which meaningful activity can be increased.Aims: This systematic review has two purposes: first, to identify and evaluate the efficacy of community-based interventions for leisure/social activity after TBI, and second to provide details on the types of intervention.Method: Systematic searches were conducted of Medline, PsycINFO and PsycBITE to October 2014, as well as hand searches of two occupational therapy journals. Inclusion criteria were as follows: peer reviewed journal articles on adults with TBI who had participated in a trial evaluating a community-based intervention specifically targeting leisure/social activity. All research methodologies using primary studies that provided empirical, quantitative data were considered. Scientific quality of the studies was evaluated using the PEDro Scale for controlled trials and the Risk of Bias in N-of-1 Trials Scale for single-case designs.Results: Two independent raters screened 196 abstracts, resulting in nine articles that met selection criteria. Data were then independently extracted by the raters. Four of the nine studies used a control condition in their research design (two randomised controlled trials, one controlled but non-randomised study, and one single-case experiment using a changing criterion design). Two of the studies conducted between-group analyses with significant treatment effects for mood and quality of life using active leisure programmes (Tai Chi Qigong and a combined programme of outdoor adventure experiences and goal setting respectively). Intervention programmes identified in the review were then grouped and described according to the approach or model used, including active leisure programmes, social peer mentoring, individual brokered leisure services and a therapeutic recreation model. Additional intervention models and approaches that did not result directly from the systematic review were also described because they provide information on the current approaches used in practice (Clubhouse model and leisure education programmes in the stroke population).Conclusions: There is some evidence for the effectiveness of community-based interventions for leisure/social activity for people who have had a TBI to improve mood and quality of life. The conclusions of this review are that the interventions for this area need to be planned and specific, structured and goal-driven, intensive and conducted over a period of months.

Making Sense of a Day in the Woods: Outdoor Adventure Experiences and Early Childhood Teacher Education Students

Less than one third of early childhood educators have a bachelor's degree, yet national indicators of high-quality early childhood program standards emphasize the importance of higher education for these practitioners. In order to adequately serve and retain these nontraditional learners as they strive to earn their degrees, teacher education programs must go beyond the standard curriculum and strive specifically to engage these adult learners. One innovative way to engage nontraditional students in higher education endeavors is to supplement coursework with applied experiences in outdoor adventure education settings. In this study, rich descriptions are provided of the trials and successes of groups of nontraditional early childhood education students as they participate in a fixed facility low ropes and team challenges course. Furthermore, these observations and narratives are also thematically examined in order to portray key characteristics of participant experiences of “a day in the woods.”

Assessing the Effectiveness of an Adventure-Based First-Year Experience Class

This study compares a first-year experience (FYE) course utilizing outdoor adventure experiences to a more traditional FYE class at a large mid-Atlantic university. This study compares the quantitative differences between responses by participants in the two classes using the First Year Initiative Survey (FYI), a measure of FYE outcomes related to successful first-year student transition (Swing, 2002). Findings indicate that responses by the adventure class participants had significantly higher mean scores (p < .05) on 8 of the 15 FYI variables. The use of an adventure-based program was effective in providing FYE course outcomes as measured by the FYI and was more effective than the more traditional FYE class on some outcome variables such as knowledge of wellness and connection with peers.

Mental Concentration as Influenced by Adventure Activity

One of the premises behind outdoor experiential education and/or adventure education is the authenticity of the experience; students are engaged and “in the moment” (Boss, 1994; Conrad & Hedin, 1981). Outdoor adventure experiences can potentially provide an educational experience during which increased awareness and the impact of the experience will be retained since the student's focus and attentiveness levels are enhanced. The purpose of this study was to determine if awareness and mental concentration levels of university students following outdoor adventure experiences would be greater than those following more traditional activities. Flow theory, according to Shernoff, Csikszentmihalyi, Schneider and Shernoff (2003), “is based on a symbiotic relationship between challenges and skills needed to meet those challenges” (p. 160). In this study, three groups had their concentration levels measured immediately following 3 one-day activities (nonchallenging hiking; abseiling/canyoning; snorkeling) in Australia through completion of the Flow State Scale (Jackson & Eklund, 2004). It was determined that participation in the outdoor adventure activities did result in higher short term concentration levels than traditional sporting activities.

Examining naturalistic decision making in outdoor adventure contexts by computer simulation

Participation rates in outdoor adventure activities have reached all-time high levels, with increasing numbers of adventure tourists and students in programmes which feature risk and adventure (McGillivray & Frew, 2007; New Zealand Department of Labour, 2010). More people are undertaking outdoor adventures such as hiking and mountain biking with friends and family groups as part of their leisure lives (Sport & Recreation New Zealand (SPARC), 2008). In New Zealand, all school children are engaged in outdoor education activities through the school curriculum and many tertiary institutions offer courses in outdoor recreation. Consequently, numerous students are receiving outdoor adventure experiences through formalised programmes. There are a worrying number of incidents and fatalities across outdoor adventure in both tourism and educational contexts (New Zealand Department of Labour, 2010). For instance, there have been over 20 fatalities in formal education and tourism adventure recreation in NZ in the last two years (2009-10). Of these, over half have been a consequence of decision errors (e.g. Devonport, 2010). Undoubtedly, decisions made by leaders in outdoor adventure activities affect safety and the quality of leisure experiences for participants. The New Zealand Department of Labour Report (2010) to the NZ Government identifies that a skilled, qualified and experienced workforce is extremely important to the outdoors. They suggest that the outdoors is a dynamic and uncontrolled workplace where weather conditions and the risks presented by height, water and speed compound safety management scenarios and call for "quick decisions and excellent judgment" (p. 36). The outdoor leadership literature identifies decision making as an essential component (Berman & Davis-Berman, 2009; Galloway, 2007; Martin, Schmid, & Parker, 2009; Tozer, Fazey, & Fazey, 2007). While there are numerous theories of decision making, this paper adopts the perspective of macrocognition, broadly defined as understanding how people actually make decisions in complex, naturalistic environments (Schraagen, Klein, & Hoffman, 2008). More specifically, naturalistic decision making (NDM) informs the work, where decisions by experts are guided by prior experiences to understand a situation, identify a course of action and implement it. Increasingly, NDM has attracted the attention of outdoor recreation researchers (see Galloway, 2002, 2007). Little is formally known about how an outdoor leader makes a decision in an outdoor adventure environment (Galloway, 2002). In particular, what information is recognised and how it is interpreted, how options for action are thought through and selected, and how decisions are enacted in the field. In a broader sense a cohesive curriculum for training decision making does not exist; decision making is difficult to assess in leadership qualifications, there are few teaching resources and it is difficult to teach because of the need for a strong base in experience. There are also challenges to NDM. One of these has been the lack of experimental work to counterbalance the vast amount of descriptive material (Ericsson, 2005). Other limitations are the applicability of NDM where the leaders are less experienced, or where there are unfamiliar tasks or goal conflict (Klein, Orasanu, Calderwood & Zsambok, 1993). Mosier and Fischer (2009) question the role of tacit knowledge, emotion and the affective domain. Flach (2008), and Kahneman and Klein (2009) identify the gaps between the view of cognition that shapes experimental paradigms and that derived from ethological studies of human performance. The two positions have also been identified as microcognition (how cognition takes place in the human mind, hence the building blocks of decision making (DM)) and macrocognition (the broader picture of human performance in actual working conditions). The present work goes some way to bridging the two perspectives. …

City Slickers: Let the cattle speak for themselves

Abstract City Slickers, the classic movie starring Billy Crystal, portrays a man who rediscovers a part of himself during a two-week cattle drive adventure in the rugged American West. His rediscovery arises from the challenge itself, with minimal psychologically oriented discussion or "processing." The belief that such a thing can happen-that, indeed, such self-driven discovery may be superior to an excessively verbalised experience-echoes the famous objection of Outward Bound leader Rusty Baillie, who said, "Let the mountains speak for themselves." Citing aspects of City Slickers for illustration, this article questions the efficacy and propriety of certain forms of adventure therapy processing, and offers cautionary notes on attempts to reduce great adventure experiences to words. Topics addressed include the principle of parsimony, the meaning of experiences, learning from experience, processing, training for processing, and the feasibility of relevant research in outdoor education. A popular film hardly constitutes scholarly work. Taken as an interpretation of common experience, however, a well-received movie may convey intriguing messages about phenomena of academic interest. Such is the case with City Slickers (Smith & Underwood, 1991), which was one of history's more successful films-ranking ahead of Rocky, for example, and Good Morning, Vietnam on the all-time USA box office list (IMDB, 2004). In the film, comedian Billy Crystal plays the part of Mitch, a middle-aged New Yorker. With his friends Phil (Daniel Stern) and Ed (Bruno Kirby), Mitch travels to New Mexico to experience a different sort of vacation, in the form of a two-week cattle drive. Under the terse, intimidating guidance of the old cowboy known as Curly (Jack Palance, winning an Oscar award for his performance), Mitch achieves a life change that is by turns dramatic, funny, and poignant. In the end, the city boy becomes enough of a cowpoke to take charge and make the drive a success, discovering an unexpected competence and rediscovering, as well, his ability to smile. That tale of personal achievement through adventure contains subtle commentary on the place of verbal processing. As an illustration, Curly disdains Mitch's small talk, and positions himself as something other than a warm, fuzzy therapist. Consider this exchange: Mitch: Hi, Curly. Kill anyone today? Curly: Day ain't over yet. Somehow though, the old cowboy, with his few words, helps Mitch to achieve something in the wild that had eluded him in his comfort zone in the city. Ultimately it is action, not speech, that makes the difference. This outcome evokes the view attributed to Rusty Baillie, an Outward Bound course director, who reportedly did not wish to make his students engage in extensive discussions of their outdoor adventure experiences. Baillie's memorable response: "Let the mountains speak for themselves" (Priest & Gass, 1997, p. 174; James, 1980). To every thing, says the ancient adage, there is a season (Ecclesiastes 3:1, King James Version Bible). It is not always necessary to articulate. Even in group psychotherapy, where people assemble for the express purpose of discussion, Yalom (1995) observes, [S]ilence is never silent; it is behavior and, like all other behavior in the group, has meaning .... [If] a group is tense and experiences a silence of a minute or two (a minute's silence feels very long in a [psychotherapy] group), I often ask for a go-around in which each member says, quickly, what he or she has been feeling or has thought of saying, but did not, in that silence. ... [But it] is a mistake to use [such] exercises as emotional space filler-that is, as something interesting to do when the group seems at loose ends. (pp. 376, 447) In the spirit of Ecclesiastes, the movie's suggestion is not that an overly chatty leader should completely withdraw from group interaction. Curly did, after all, burst into song when provoked. …

Who is Responsible?

On a continent crazed with litigation, it is sometimes easy to get carried away. This is a plea for taking responsibility in the outdoors. One of the great beauties of the so called 'pure' outdoor adventure experience is that it provides us with clear successes in a simplified world; a world over which we can exercise a higher than usual degree of control. Here the connection between actions and consequences are unmistakable. You reach for a handhold on a rock wall, or pick a break in the surf to make your landing and the feedback is immediate. Either you continue with confidence or you take a hit and hopefully learn something. This dynamic is a big part of wilderness adventure and it sets it apart from the experience of the tourist on a railed broad-walk at a roadside park where the most serious risk is likely to be an accidental slip or getting mugged. The 'pure' outdoor experience is probably an unattainable ideal, but a solo rock-climber approaches it when climbing without protection on a challenging wall. For the sea kayaker it may be the solo crossing in marginal conditions while for the back country skier, the moment likely comes from being utterly committed in the sort of conditions that stretch every nerve and sinew to survive. This moment may not last long, but it feeds the soul long after you've returned to civilization. My examples are mostly solo situations. This is because the intensity of the experience frequently has an inverse relationship to the number of people in your group. Also any ambiguity about exactly who is responsible is removed. For sure, group travel provides its own moments of intensity but the elegant simplicity of being alone is absent and often responsibility is passed off to a guide or leader. Solo ventures unfortunately tend to be frowned upon by peers and society in general, often on the basis of safety, but also because people who choose to act alone like that make the rest of us feel just a little bit uncomfortable. "Who are they to think they don't need 'us'?" Between the tourist on the railed broad-walk and the solo rock-climber, the field is graded unevenly and we select our comfort zones according to the situation and our familiarity with the activity. In North American society there are entire industries populated by people who need to be needed, including the medical and legal professions, police, coast guard, search and rescue, regulating bureaucracies, and many more. They are there to share the load, control the masses and catch us when we stumble, and they perform extraordinarily valuable services, for which we willingly pay privately or with our taxes. Each time we buy into one of these services, however, we assign them a little of our own personal responsibility and in exchange we agree to play the game by their rules. This leads in turn to a mind-numbing level of social complexity and an ever increasing sense of individual powerlessness that leads eventually to alienation. Enter the outdoor adventure. Here you get to choose your risk and the level that is manageable for you, and through the process of managing this risk, you regain some of the self-respect and empowerment lost in the social grinder. You look at the weather, check the conditions, then commit to the move. For the first time in months, you are totally responsible for your actions and what's that barely remembered sensation? An exhilarating sense of freedom sweeps over you. You realize there's a link between freedom and being responsible for your actions. As with all freedom, it is seldom handed to you on a plate, and when it is, it can be quickly lost. What was it JFK said about that? Vigilance is the price of freedom, or was freedom the price of vigilance? Of course, both are right in different circumstances. We need a measure of vigilance to maintain the source of freedom we've discovered. Vigilance against what, you may ask? Vigilance against losing our right to take these risks. …

A Photo Elicitation Study of the Meanings of Outdoor Adventure Experiences

This study explored the meanings of participating in college-based outdoor programs utilizing an innovative research methodology. Individual photo elicitation interviews were conducted with 14 participants of a college-based outdoor program. Photographs taken by the participants during their outdoor experiences formed the foundation of the photo elicitation interview process. Photo elicitation provided a model for collaborative research where participants interpreted their photographic images and meanings for the researcher. Qualitative analysis of the interview data revealed three explanatory themes: spiritual connection with the outdoors, connections with others through outdoor experience, self-discovery and gaining perspectives through outdoor experience. Results of the present study paralleled previous research findings while suggesting further avenues of inquiry using photo elicitation.

A picture is worth... capturing meaning and facilitating connections: Using outdoor education students’ photographs

Abstract The study examined the meaning of outdoor education experiences and the role photography plays in assisting students to make connections from their outdoor experiences to their everyday lives. Specifically, this exploratory qualitative study utilized photo-elicitation interviews to investigate the inner significance of structured university-based outdoor experiences for participants. Photo-elicitation provided a model for collaborative research in that the researcher became a listener as the research participants interpreted the images and their meanings for the researcher. The meanings that emerged from the data were grouped into three explanatory themes: spiritual connection with the outdoors, connections with others through shared outdoor experiences, and self-discovery and gaining perspectives through outdoor experiences. Additionally, photography proved to be a powerful reflective tool used by participants as anchors and triggers for past memories. Photographs assisted in capturing meaningful moments from participants' outdoor experiences, the images being used to share their experiences more easily with family and friends. This innovative approach contributes to both understanding outdoor experiences and to the ways in which photography facilitates participants' connections to those experiences. Findings suggest that outdoor educators facilitate participants' photography during outdoor experiences. Introduction We must remember that a photograph can hold just as much as we put into it, and no one has ever approached the full possibilities of the medium. (Ansel Adams, cited in Radeka, 2003, [paragraph]4) Photographer Ansel Adams' quote provides us with insight into how we might use photographs to research the meaning of outdoor experiences. Photographs are containers in which many things can be stored; they can hold details, memories, emotions, and meanings. They allow moments to be captured and stored for later recall and sharing. Photographs can 'speak' for us when we cannot find the words. Nature writers and philosophers have struggled for decades to find the words to adequately describe the meaning of their experiences in the outdoors. Several academic studies have also searched for the meanings of outdoor experiences (for example, Arnould & Price, 1993; Ewert, 1989; Kaplan & Talbot, 1983; Pohl, Borrie & Patterson, 2000; Priest, 1990; Quinn, 1990). The current study is the first to utilize participants' photographs to attempt to answer the question, 'What are the meanings of an outdoor experience?' This innovative research approach utilizes photo-elicitation interviews to investigate the research question (Collier & Collier, 1986; Harper, 2002). Along with illuminating various meanings of outdoor experiences, the study reveals the value of the photographic process for outdoor programme participants. Participants rely on their photographs to act as memory triggers, to provide reflective opportunities, to facilitate connection, and as potent reminders of their experiences. This paper explores the theoretical underpinnings of photo-elicitation, discusses the study methodology, presents results, and then makes recommendations related to both the use of photography in outdoor programmes and the further use of this methodology. Theoretical considerations Participants frequently document their outdoor adventure experiences with photography. This study utilized these photographs to establish rapport, to share in the narrative of the experience, and to delve into the meanings of both the photographs and the experience. A photograph preserves a moment in time. Photographers, mimicking a .lm manufacturer's successful advertising campaign, often refer to the act of photography as capturing a "Kodak moment." Photographs, then, emanate a past reality (Cronin, 1998). Walker and Kimball-Moulton (1989) noted that photography is about time in that "the act of photography anticipates the future by ripping the appearance of a moment out of its time, creating a tangible image for the future of what will be the past" (p. …

Risk and the outdoor adventure experience: Good risk, bad risk, real risk, apparent risk, objective risk, subjective risk

Life is an adventure, and whether you approve of it or not, most of us need risk to feel alive. It should therefore be no surprise that a mountaineer, upon reaching the top of a white-knuckle climb, feels a surge of elation, a joy for life. The heightened sense is not just a result of having earned a fine view through exercise, though that surely contributes. It is also because life has suddenly gained intensity from flirting with the stark alternative. While moving on rock, the climber had no thought for anything but the next handhold, the flow of movement, the 'now'. With the climb over, the relief at having succeeded (and survived), floods back. "It's great to be alive!" I was once driving through Switzerland with some friends. We stopped for lunch at the base of a small crag that sloped like a wedge of gray cheese beside the road. With a couple of days up our sleeves, we were in no rush to reach Genoa, so after eating and lying in the sun, we put on our climbing boots for some bouldering. I soon found myself traversing solo along a horizontal line that started halfway up the wedge. At an area of increasing difficulty, I made a long step up only to find the handhold smaller than I expected and sloping downwards. Back climbing was out of the question. Ahead, the line vanished. I looked down and cursed my own stupidity. I was forty feet above a jumble of boulders, my boots, hooked onto a half-inch wide ledge, were starting to pump like a sewing machine. My fingers screamed to let go. Eight feet above me, a piton protruded from a wall of smooth rock. I marveled that anyone could have put it there. It was my only hope. Releasing one hand from the wall, I slipped out of two tape slings and joined them with a cats-paw. I dangled the double sling and touched it against the wall to steady it, then I swung. The top of the sling snuggled neatly over that piton on the first throw. Gently I tested it with my weight, then scrambled up to safety. I flopped thankfully onto roughly horizontal ground and stared into the heart of a small white alpine flower, acutely aware of its life and my own, and the connection between us. The emotional rearrangement from that experience has lasted thirty years. At the time I barely mentioned it to my companions from embarrassment. The piton was luck, but hooking it first swing was not. Something inside my brain had cleared the way for one intense, precise calculation and everything worked. Although it was a stupid and embarrassing situation to be in, it was also one of the finest moments of my life. I survived! The risk in this case was a bad one but it was real and so were the benefits. I would never knowingly put myself into that situation again and I rank it alongside a time when I narrowly missed a head-on collision or another when I just avoided being mugged in a wild Central American city. In each case I found that as well as learning practical lessons in survival, colors seemed brighter, birdsong more noticeable, trees greener, and my companions more important to me. The problem, of course, is that if we go through life pumped up with too many of those situations, it is statistically improbable that we will live beyond our teens. Enter the concept of 'good risk'. What I call 'good risk' is risk where the odds are in keeping with the expected rewards and where you can maintain reasonable control over the process. It won't necessarily supply the life-altering results of a brush with death, but it does provide a tune-up and, besides, most of us can do without going eyeball to eyeball with the grim reaper. Combine this rush with the natural beauty of the wild, and you have the ingredients for the 'outdoor adventure experience'. Climbing, back-country skiing, mountain-biking, kayaking, canoeing, hang-gliding, diving, caving, and yes, bungie-jumping all provide the opportunity for this tune-up. But, you say, these can be seriously dangerous things to be doing. …

The Relationship of Age to Motivation and Skill Development Level in Outdoor Adventure Programs for Older Adults

As the number of adventure-based programs has increased in the past 40 years, the opportunities for older adults to participate in outdoor adventure experiences have grown steadily. Research by Sugerman (2000) indicated a variety of formats ranging from beginner (day hiking) to advanced programs (extended wilderness trips). As previous research has suggested different leisure motivations by age group (McPherson, 1991) and a relationship between motivation and skill development level (Bryan, 1979; Ewert & Hollenhorst, 1989; Kaufman, 1984; Robinson, 1992; Schreyer, Lime, & Williams, 1984), the current study examined the role played by age (pre-retirement aged adults versus older adults) in the relationship between motivation and skill development level in outdoor adventure programs. The data revealed significant differences in motivations according to age grouping and skill development level. Age also was determined to be an important factor in level of skill development. Significantly more people in the younger age group (55–64 years) participated in advanced programs and were more motivated to escape physical pressures and to challenge themselves. Significantly more people in the older age group (65 years and older) participated in beginner programs and were more motivated to meet new people and to be physically active.