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With our crazy sketchy snowpack in the Intermountain Rockies, it is an appropriate time to bring out The Four Questions and Risk Assessment.

Interestingly enough, the parallels and metaphors between outdoor sports and the “adult world” are staggering.

In many outdoor sports, like in the “adult world,” one is always assessing the best line to take.

Often that line is weighing risk with reward. Within that dichotomy, the nuances are many.

To help my whitewater kayak and ski students objectively assess their comfort level with a given situation I’ve employed The Four Questions. In those river and slope side discussion we talk about how The Four Questions apply universally to all aspects of your life.

Are you about to change positions? Make a geographic move? Launch a company with limited financial backing? Drive after having too many drinks? Walk out on your significant other? Drop a line despite high avy danger? Ask yourself The Four Questions:

1. What are the moves to get from point “A” to point “B”?
2. Do I have the ability to make the moves?
3. What are the consequences if I don’t make the moves?
4. Am I willing to accept the consequences?

 Note that The Four Questions don’t just apply to you, and your fears of going to a cold, dark place. They also extend to your orbit of friends, family, loved ones, and the first responders who have to clean your mess up. Consider those factors before you drop that line as well.

Are you in a place where you will be putting it on the line?  Are you looking for a reality check in weighing risk and reward? The Four Questions can serve as your and your organization’s objective measure in assessing that balance.

The right socks for the adventure

Norwegian Ultra Light	37.5 Ski Light	Ski Merge Light