Chill outside.

I am going to recommend that we chill back everything we do in the outdoors. Here’s why. 

These are little Hitlers. Photo CDC

You can meet all requirements for social distancing while doing that gnarly trip you always wanted to do. Hell, if you gotta stay away from other Homo sapiens, what better way to do it than heading hundred miles into the backcountry? I am tempted. But if I were to grab my pack and skis and try to ski across the Juneau Icefield, I take risks that are not mine alone.

If I break my ankle and I am miles from nowhere, I need a rescue. If I am lucky, they will come and get me. They will be really pissed off. Deservedly so.  The Juneau Mountain Rescue don’t have masks or most infectious disease equipment. My fun in the mountains could risk all their safety.  If I break my ankle and I am not lucky, the helicopter will be somewhere picking up COVID a patient and I will be left in the cold with a broken ankle for a very long time. The Coast Guard might refuse to pick me up. This is going to be the case everywhere, not only in Alaska. Emergency services are overloaded with COVID cases globally. 

EMS is stretched thin and you should do all you can to not need their assistance during this global crisis.

You want these folks to always have your back.
The news gets worse for my broken ankle though. Suppose I am lucky and a rescue comes. They are going to take me to the hospital. The doctors and nurses are going to make me wait until they are no longer busy with COVID patients. I am going sit a long time. I can't expect to get treatment when more pressing patients need medical care. I may wait hours or days maybe.  All the while, I am going to breathe the same air that all those COVID patients exhale. I will end up in quarantine and most likely  worse. A week later I could be coughing up blood because I contracted coronavirus in the hospital. 

Suddenly, a broken ankle is way worse and not just for me. If you don’t need to go to the hospital, don’t go near one. They are full of germs, including coronavirus. 

Eaglecrest View

Once again, I am hoping that folks do chilled out activities and use the outdoors to stay sane. At this point I am not climbing that mountain I have never climbed before. I am not climbing with ropes at all because ropes have germs. Right now that could be really bad. Lately I have been skiing at Eaglecrest, inbounds. Eaglecrest is closed so all skiing in skinning up. If we are still social distancing when the snow is gone, I may look at day trips in a sea kayak. It isn’t apt to get me in trouble. I might do nuttier stuff next year.

I don’t mean to be a downer. Getting outside is good for the soul. Go out, but think more about consequence  and risk more than usual.

Mount Stroller White. It's too gnarly for my tastes today. It was fun last year.