How dangerous is it?

Is it more dangerous to spend time on an expedition in a wild, remote and hostile place? Is it more likely that injury, illness, misfortune or death will occur? It probably is more dangerous. There are hazards like crevasses and avalanches, rocky, loose scree slopes, a slip on an icy slope, possible loss of gear from sleds if they tipover, the problem of clothing being wet and frozen, possible hypothermia and frostbite and the inevitable delays as clothing is dried. There are other hazards like falling and spraining a knee or bruising an elbow or breaking a ski. It is likely that some less serious injuries or breakages will occur. We may not find our route easily as we ascend the Jorge Montt glacier and we may have to deal with finding our way in white out conditions at times when the ground is not predictably safe. The consequence of a small accident is much greater than it would be at home because help is less readily available and it’s harder to get comfortable in order to wait for healing or repairs to occur. I don’t think however that it is more likely that we will suffer any misfortune. Each time I’ve been away on long expeditions I’ve come home to find out that there have been incidents at home while we’ve been away – a friend who broke ribs falling off a ladder, another friend had a car accident. Every month there is news about another person in the local community who is diagnosed with an illness or experiences some other difficulty in their lives. It seems that no matter where you are or how safely you try to live your life that illness and accidents happen or that relationships change or go through tough times. Going on an expedition doesn’t seem to make it more likely that something will happen. In fact the expedition has such a strong focus on thinking about the risks and making plans about what to do if something happens that it could possibly be safer.