Arctic Lines Bonus Episode with 5 Types of Fun

A few years back when I was focusing on understanding more about training for unconventional sports and coaching myself, I read a book called Training for New Alpinism by Steve House and Scott Johnston. There is a short section in the book which describes different types of fun that a climber and mountaineer can have. The scale goes from 1 to 5, where 1 is easy and 5 is extremely difficult, perhaps deadly. 

On the first Arctic Lines bonus episode Miikka Hast talks about “not doing the type 4 fun anymore”  and I started to think that perhaps these scales would work quite nicely for snowboarding and freeskiing as well. Obviously,everything in these sports is weather and conditions dependent, meaning that sometimes an easy, familiar line can become much more dangerous. On our mission in Tamok, I think we were having TYPE 3 fun. What does that mean and what kind of fun do you like to have?  Watch the episode and find out more below!

TYPES OF FUN

Type 1:

Pretty much anything without much risk or pain. Happens in a fairly controlled environment, such as riding mellow terrain in the resort sidecountry, hitting the park without leaving your comfort zone, riding early morning groomers, snowsurfing in the backyard or enjoying powder turns in hazard-free area. 

Type 2:

So heavy physically that its rationality can be questioned. Type 2 usually starts with the best of intentions but gets easily out of hand. Climbing a big mountain, doing a long traverse or tour – undertakings where everything is put on the test physically and perhaps even mentally if the stress becomes too heavy. The biggest risk is injury due tophysical stress. This is fun in retrospect. It sucks while doing it, but afterwards, you feel great. 

Type 3:

This is risky fun, but you can control the risk with your own skills. You have to focus because if you mess up, it can go bad. Hitting a big jump, climbing and riding a big line, hitting big cliffs, charging full speed. This is exciting, but still manageable if the risks are well understood. 

Type 4: 
Very risky fun with an element of uncertainty that you can't mitigate. The circumstances are consequential and can't be controlled. If something happens, loss of life is possible. Climbing and riding a big line with heavy exposure is one example. Afterwards, you feel relief and excitement for having survived. Can give you a huge adrenaline surge that should be treated carefully, because it can hook you to seek out similar situations.

Type 5 :

The riskiest fun of them all. Return is not sure. A strong element of uncertainty – you don’t know what you’ll face. Expeditions such as the first Mt Everest climb or other voyages with very limited information beforehand. Nowadays, this is rather hard to find, since people have been everywhere already.

A lot of people have asked me when the next Arctic Lines episode is coming. We are currently working on the edit and it will be out March 2nd, so less than a week to go! Stay tuned!