How to keep extreme sports safe: Reduce adventure travel risk

Every adventurer knows what they do carries some risk. But how do we keep extreme sports safe? And do we really want to? Are there are things we can do to reduce adventure travel risk while still getting the adrenaline buzz?

There’s a certain degree of risk in sports and even more so in many types of extreme sport. But only some are really dangerous, and many are only as risky as we push them.

Ways to reduce adventure travel risk

Ultimately adventure vs risk is a matter of choice. Crossing the road or driving can be dangerous but how you do it mitigates that danger. Both can be very safe or highly risky. Point is it’s down to you just like it is when doing action sports or going on an adventure.

If you are really worried about risk you can experience adventure vicariously through others on YouTube. You can never leave you home home but choose an extreme zoom background template to appear to be more adventurous. You’d be super safe but would that make you happy?

Safety isn’t even a linear scale of risk vs reward. You can keep the risk very low and still have most of the reward just by understanding and accepting risk and managing it accordingly.

How to keep extreme sports safe

From here on in we are going to assume you are on the same page as us. Which is wanting to be adventurous but to manage the risk. In which case, the question is how to keep extreme sports safe. With that in mind here are four points on safety and risk:

Extreme sports involve risk

Action sports are not commonly reckless or inherently dangerous pursuits, when practiced within reasonable limits. It’s about taking the correct safety precautions and pushing only as far as you can go, not mindlessly trying tricks or courting danger.

So wear a helmet snowboarding, mountain biking and when ever you should, look before you leap, and listen to your instinct. Basically to reduce adventure travel risk wear appropriate safety gear and be sensible.

Life involves risk

Accidents in the home happen to people everyday – making dinner, doing house work or taking a shower can result in serious injury or death. So sitting in a safety bubble, thinking nothing will happen to you is misguided.

We were made to be active. To walk, run, climb, swim or transit through nature is what we do. Adventure and extreme sports commonly harness the power of nature, and with this comes risk.

Accept and manage the risk

If you like adventure travel, extreme challenges and outdoor life, or just find yourself drawn to extreme sports, then you have to accept risk. Still, you don’t automatically become a Red Bull snorting adrenaline junkie!

If anything, the opposite is true. You learn to calmly evaluate and decide for yourself which jumps to take, how fast to go and when to say no. You decide your fate, you have the control, and with this comes responsibility.

So, take lessons if you need them, and get advice from people in the know. Join networks and online forums, so you can pick up safety tips and learn fun stuff like new tricks in a safer way.

Fear not

There are always people looking for the next scare story, but they rarely have any first hand knowledge to work from. Contrary to what the mainstream media tells you, extreme sports enthusiasts do take safety seriously. But we don’t fear the world.

Life doesn’t just happen to us. We move to it, we live it and we love it… Bring it on!

We hope you found this article about how to keep extreme sports safe interesting and helpful. You cannot eliminate danger, but there are always ways to reduce adventure travel risk. Want an adrenalin kick? Then check out these adventure holidays and extreme experiences.