The Adventure Alternative

Colin Mortlock is a world authority on outdoor education. This is the major work on the subject. The book is divided into two main sections, the first concerned with establishing a framework of levels of adventure and their quality; the second with a philosophy of their potential value in broadening our minds and bodies.

Chapter 1

Adventure

To adventure in a natural environment is consciously to take up a challenge that will demand the best of our capabilities – physically, mentally and emotionally. It is a state of mind that will intially accept unpleasant feelings of fear, uncertainty and discomfort, and the need for luck, because we instinctively know that, if we are successful, these will be counterbalanced by opposite feelings of exhilaration and joy. This journey with a degree of uncertainty in the 'University of the Wilderness' may be of any length in terms of distance or time; in any dimension – above, on or below ground or water.

It may be climbing up a ten foot slab covered with large holds or the biggest and steepest rock face in the world.
It may be canoeing down the easiest or hardest rapid in the world, or the shortest or longest river.
It may be sailing on a lake or across an ocean.

In all cases you, the person in the situation, are being challenged to the best of your abilities. If you have given of your genuine best, and either overcome the challenge or retreated with dignity through skill and experience rather than luck alone, then you have had one of the greatest experiences of your life. You have had a 'peak experience' with feelings almost indescribable and beyond those common to normal and routine living. Ultimately life is about feelings, those that are concerned with the joy of living, rather than the anxieties of modern existence.