A hiker’s responsibility

Why hiking in the mountains requires awareness and preparation

A few weeks ago, while I was guiding in the Dolomites and I was getting ready to set off for another day of hiking with my group, a guy came over to me and asked me a question: “Is that path over there a via ferrata?”. To an easy question I replied with (what I thought was) a simple and straightforward answer: “Yes, it is”. But the guy wasn’t satisfied, he had not heard what he wanted to hear, and asked again: “Are you sure? Is it really so difficult?”. So I went into a little more detail, to make sure he understood: “Yes, it is a via ferrata, I’m sure. If you want to go down that way you need a harness, a via ferrata kit and a helmet, as well as the capacity to descend on technical terrain”. At this point the guy looked at me, visibly annoyed, and said: “Thank you, but you gave me the wrong answer”. Wrong answer? I gave him the only answer, just not the one he wanted to hear.

A group of hikers after a short scrambling section in Val Veny, Italy. Ph. Cecilia Mariani

Having just finished my fourth season working in the Alps as a guide I can say that this type of behaviour is becoming more and more common. I’ve seen way more unprepared people this year than I ever had before. People that come over to hike not knowing much about the place, about its rules, and arrogant enough to think they can do whatever they want all the time. This is something I struggle with as a guide because, when things like these happen, I automatically start thinking about what I could do to educate these people and make sure they understand that the mountains have rules and they have to follow them. But maybe the problem is deeper than that and it should be addressed way before people come out in the mountains. It has to do with the reason why people decide to go hiking, sometimes even though they’d never done it before.

Hikers on a technical part of the Tour du Mont Blanc. Ph. Cecilia Mariani

Yes, in recent years hiking has become way more popular and that is (in theory) great. But why is this happening? Everybody suddenly started feeling the need to exercise and hike and travel or does it have something to do with the fact that we want to do what we think is cool, i.e. what everybody else does? That some weird dynamics somehow pressure us into feeling inadequate if we haven’t seen a certain thing, or done a certain thing, that has become THE thing to do and see? And so we run after that experience, that photo, that list-ticking exercise that brings with it a feeling of acceptance but not necessarily one of accomplishment? Maybe that’s what brings people to rush into something new without necessarily researching enough on it or preparing enough for it?

A group of hikers about to start a guided Tour du Mont Blanc. Ph. Cecilia Mariani

Well, I won’t go into too much detail about this but I will say that this mentality, these dynamics, don’t work in the mountains. Some now will say that the outdoors are and should be accessible for everybody at any time but I am and always will be convinced that this doesn’t mean that they SHOULD be accessed by everybody. The outdoors have rules that need to be followed carefully and it is the responsibility of the person who decides to accesses the outdoors to learn these rules and respect them. The guy from the start of this story did the right thing in coming to me, a qualified guide, to ask more information about a route that he wanted to do but he should have then accepted my answer and made his plan according to the compatibility of that answer with his preparation. Otherwise what’s the point in even asking, if you already know that you’re not going to follow my advice?

A group of hikers after a steep section on the Haute Route Chamonix-Zermat. Ph. Cecilia Mariani

I don’t know which path that guy took in the end and I hope, whichever it was, he made it down safely. I told my clients this story after it happened and they were all surprised about the guy’s behaviour, they didn’t think it was right. And it’s by doing this, by sharing these experiences, that I hope I can have a positive impact on the people who choose to come hiking with me. And if they then decide to share it with someone else, I hope that will help to create more responsibility and awareness amongst the new hiking community. It’s my responsibility as a guide and I’d be happy if it made even the smallest difference.

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