Skip to main content


Are you Mad? An investigation into the motivations of adventure sports participants as regards risk, fear and extreme hardship; for recreation.
(by Keith McGregor)
 

This qualitative research investigates why some of us (me included) want to put our minds and bodies through extremes of physical and psychological trauma. On a resent trip to Ben Nevis I was amazed to see some people trying to climb the mountain in some of the worst conditions I have seen. One of our party exclaimed “what are they thinking?’ needless to say we turned back and left them to it.

This is a typical example of my research area. What drives people to do such mad things and put themselves in danger (let alone others) to risk life and limb, for what? Firstly I needed to look at my motivations and to do this I have used a personal narrative to investigate this phenomenon.  The narrative is about a trip to the European Alps, which culminated in me falling into a crevasse. The falling into the crevasse was only part of the story and it led me to publish the story as a ‘Narrative of Fear’. The data revealed some of my fears but more importantly why I was putting myself through such ordeals for my pleasure.

I also needed to look at why others did the extreme sport of climbing and mountaineering. I had a collection of stories from recreational and some semi professional climbers, put together in a readable volume, ‘Merits of Afternoon Drinking’. This also reveals a huge depth of data and gives indications that there are many reasons why some wish to risk everything.

The research also looks at narratives from a broad range of story telling methods. Why do people tell these stories and who are they for? Are these stories needed to be told or wanted to be told? As non fictional stories are the way we learn and develop skills and understanding I want to investigate if the written narrative is a better way of  storytelling. 


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

1st year applied work at Plas y Brenin

1 st year applied work at Plas y Brenin During their first year on the BAHons Outdoor Adventure Leadership course , students spent 5 weeks at Plas y Brenin the National Mountain Centre, in North Wales. The focus of the first week was to consider the core competencies used when operating in the outdoors, and in that first week we kayaked, spent time in a canoe, rock climbed and had a day on a mountain. Over the subsequent four weeks, each group spent one week focusing on each of these adventure sports. Staying in the centre, the students also made good use of the climbing wall and rolling pool in the evenings, as well as attending talks from the staff at Plas y Brenin. Here are some of the thoughts from 1 st year students about their experiences at Plas y Brenin: “The environment was incredible as it allowed so many options” “The instructors that work with us are really good… they have a high level of experience” “Plas y Brenin allowed me to have an outlook i...
Post a Comment
Read more

Outdoor congress attracts stellar line-up

This year's European Outdoor Summit (EOS2015) is shaping up to be an unmissable event, with an exciting line-up of motivational speakers, engaging break-out sessions and workshops already announced. UCLan Outdoors Senior Lecturer Dr Mark Hickman has accepted an invitation to deliver a keynote speech at the conference, along with Professor Colin Beard of Sheffield Hallam University. Dr Hickman will look at the need for a focused social gerontology of the outdoors to help understand how the ageing population uses adventure sports and outdoor activities, and how this impacts on the ageing process. His presentation follows on from an appearance at the recent International Adventure Conference where Dr Hickman, along with colleagues Allison Inkster and Helen Hooper, delivered separate papers on the same subject. Former UK Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg tops an impressive list of speakers, with Professor Greg Whyte from The Centre for Health & Human Performance and Public H...
Post a Comment
Read more