Planning Your Next Adventure Like a Boss: 5 Easy Tips
You’ve brainstormed your next adventure, outlined the objective, enlisted your buddies, and marked the dates off your calendar.
An intimidating task lies ahead: a new route up an unclimbed face; an unexplored slot canyon far off the beaten path; an alpine traverse over snow-capped peaks.
Brainstorming an epic adventure is one thing — successful planning and preparation is quite the other. Unfortunately, far too many of our adventurous ideas are lost or forgotten somewhere in the midst of the planning stage.
How many times have you told your buddies “someday we need to climb that peak” or “we gotta backpack to that lake?” I call this the “someday list”. In other words, I really want to do it, but don’t have the time, money, or knowledge to take my idea from concept to completion.
We’ve got 5 easy steps that you need to start planning your next adventure like a boss.
Tip 1 - Write down all of the questions you need to ask yourself.
This will narrow down what you need to know. We break these down into a few different categories with examples.
What is the Timeline?:
How many days/nights will the objective take?
Is the timeline contingent on the amount of weight I will be carrying?
How do the conditions affect the timeline?
What gear do I need to safely complete the route?:
What technical gear do I need? (e.g., rope, cams, ice tools)
If multiple days, how important is a good night's sleep? Is gear weight more important?
What is the route?:
What is the overall vertical gain/loss on the approach/descent?
Where am I most likely to get off route?
Has this route been completed by other people before?
Do I understand the descent? (This is really important and often overlooked)
Do I have a gpx track, is it accurate?
What’s my backup plan?:
Where and who will conduct a rescue?
Do I have a contingency plan?
Am I ready for this adventure?:
Am I physically and mentally prepared to complete this objective at this time?
Are there people on my team that do or do not have the necessary skills for this task?
Tip 2 - Don’t do all the hard heavy lifting yourself; piggyback off others.
There's a good chance that you can source a majority of the information you need from other people. Read trip reports and note important information. Here are a few things we look for specifically:
The time of year/route conditions (both approach and descent)
The gear used (what gear was used, what gear should have been left behind)
A gpx track of the route or approach trails
Tricky spots and red tape (potential places to get off route, hazards, etc.)
Tip 3 - Make sure every piece of gear has a purpose.
This one is obvious but it’s also one of the hardest. The goal here is not to get caught bringing more gear than you need. We start by pulling down everything we think we might bring on the trip. Then we go item by item and name its exact purpose; if you can’t state its purpose, you don’t need it. This sounds a bit excessive, but we guarantee you’ll shed some weight off your pack.
Tip 4 - Understand your objective.
When you understand your objective, you can identify how it matches with your strengths and weaknesses. Determine which parts of the adventure are going to be challenging and which parts are going to be easy. Tailor your gear, approach, and timing accordingly.
As an example, when lead climbing on traditional gear, I struggle with finger-sized cracks (#0.75 to #1 sized cams) and excel at hand- to fist-sized cracks (#2 to #3 sized cams). Therefore, if I know the route I’m going to be climbing is mostly hand- to fist-sized cracks, I’m more comfortable bringing less gear and placing less protection. Conversely, if the route is out of my comfort zone, then I will plan to bring more gear.
Tip 5 - Get organized!
Once you have a list of the gear, compile your notes into a centralized location. We like to have a digital document with all of our route descriptions, maps, pitch details. This is also a good way to divide up gear throughout your group.
Bonus Tip - Download maps onto your smartphone.
We do around 90 to 100% of route navigation with our smartphones. There are plenty of good apps out there so find one that works best for you. It is worth the $5 to $10 app cost to have route information at your fingertips. We still carry a paper copy of a map as a backup.
Josh uses his smartphone to navigate on a one day ascent up Glacier Peak.