ADVENTURE #31 – ADVENTURE SCIENCE LECTURE 1

(This post will hopefully be contained in the volume “Essentials of Adventure Science:  Theory and Practice,” distributed by McGraw-Hill and/or Houghton Mifflin.)

What is adventure?  Adventure is the science of creating sensations in the human brain which are perceived as exciting, unexpectedly new, unique, instructive and strengthening of character, by means of conveyance of body and/or mind to new places or experiences with or without substantial goals or objectives.  Adventuring includes a broad range of activities with a multitude of sensory inputs, but a few rules aid the adventure scientist in determining what makes a great adventuring experience.

One model, or representation of a theory, for assessing adventure is called the 9 A’s of Adventure.  These are:

-augmentation

-aptitude

-approach

-awe

-ascertain

-apprehension

-accomplishment

-alliance

-additions

AUGMENTATION

Augmentation means that items, equipment, clothing, etc. that fall outside of normal day-to-day usage must be employed in the attaining of adventure.  For example, most Americans drive a four-door sedan, SUV, jeep, minivan or truck.  In it they carry daily essentials or job-related items.  Some carry bikes, luggage racks, or even small watercraft.  However, if someone requires use of a custom kayak/bike rack for their SmartCar, it is considered a high degree of augmentation by adventure scientists (see Fig. 1).

Fig. 1

APTITUDE

The intensity scale of an adventure is often determined by participant aptitude.  In other words, as the experience level of the adventurer increases the higher aptitude range of adventure possibilities opens up to him or her.  An adventure that requires kayaking and climbing would therefore be open to participants feeling apt at both, while simultaneously excluding participants who feel a sufficient degree of aptitude in kayaking or climbing alone, but not both.

For example, George (pronounced WHore-HAY) possesses a high degree of kayaking aptitude and sufficient climbing aptitude for tasks ahead on his adventure, thus leaving his companion Juan (pronounced Jew-AN), who is not an avid kayaker, far behind him with sore arms (see Fig. 2).  George’s adventure is enhanced, while Juan realizes a much longer paddle would be beyond him.

Fig. 2

The plus side is that Juan’s augmentation factor is increased, as he has never worn a flotation jacket before.

APPROACH

As a general rule, adventuring reaches its highest levels when it involves multiple and diverse forms of personal conveyance.  A hike scores low on the approach A, though skydiving onto a mountain, hiking down a trail, and then taking a boat to a rendezvous point scores highly for its multiple modes of conveyance.  The more approach, the greater the value of the adventure.

In George and Juan’s case, kayaking was only the first form of conveyance.  Using a rock climbing cam, George ties the boats to a cliff face on the water, for a climbing ascent into a secluded cave.  Not only is their approach value increased, the use of the cam increases their augmentation score (see Figs. 3, 4).  Their aptitude score is also boosted (equaling 9) due to the use of climbing skills (see Figs. 5, 6, and 7).

Fig. 3

Fig. 4

Fig. 5

Fig. 6

Fig. 7

AWE

The awe value can be calculated as the sum of moments the mind stops to observe fully, in order to take in spectacles or other sensory inputs so new to the mind that they must be savored and cataloged appropriately.  The amount of time spent with the body in stasis rather than moving forward, is often an indication that a particular frame in the timeline of adventure is contributing greatly to the awe value.

Awe is often spatially determined, though temporal elements such as time of day, season of year, etc. also play a major part, as one space may have differing awe values depending upon the temporal address of the adventurers’ visit therein (see Figs.8 and 9).

Fig. 8

Fig. 9 (the boost)

ASCERTAIN

Use of SureFires, which contribute to augmentation, as water excursions with expense flashlights often necessitate the use of expensive additional lanyards, is essential to George and Juan’s careful exploration of their chosen cave.  As there were approximately 4 small extensions of the cave’s main chamber that could not be bodily entered, visual examination of their dark depths was undergone.  This is part of the process of ascertaining, that is, forming an intimate knowledge of hithero unknown geographic or functional aspects of a given adventure.  Where unknowns exist, the more opportunity for adventurers to ascertain facts unforeseen, unresearched or generally new increases the ascertain value in the adventuring 9 A’s model.

APPREHENSION

This A refers to the perceived level of danger of a given adventure or segment of an adventure.  In the simplest terms, a climb to Mt. Everest, with its attendent oxygen tank proficiency, ladder-crevace walking, agonizingly long marches, etc. carries an extreme apprehension value, compared to say a walk in a new park, which most adventurers conclude to have a lower apprehension value.  Factors to apprehension value include but are not limited to:  likelihood of bodily injury gleaned from a review of statistical data, perceived intensity of likely injuries in the event of mistakes, number of incidences in which mistakes must be carefully avoided, and probability of survival if self-rescue must be effected.

Perceived liklihood of damage to vital adventuring equipment, such as a Sony Cybershot DSC-F717 (which is not waterproof) should also be taken into account.  See chapter on adventuring equipment for a thorough explanation.  Use of SealLine Baja drybags enabled George and Juan to lower their percentage chance of failure on the camera-threat scale (CTS).

George and Juan’s apprehension factors were:  water temperature (which was on the low side of Juan’s tolerance), likelihood of rainfall (which was better than average), high prevalence of cave crickets (of importance to George) and water depth, as related to Juan’s exit, seen below.

ACCOMPLISHMENT

Note the two figures below.

Unaccomplished adventure phase

Accomplished adventure phase

Had adventurer George not appeared inside the cave, the accomplishment level of the adventure’s cave phase would be 0.  Having appeared inside the cave, George has brought his adventure accomplishment value, as concerns the cave phase, to a 9.

Returning the kayaks to RiverSports — unlost — also contributes to the model’s valuation of accomplishment, as the two explorers did not need to forfeit their $200 deposits on the river vessels.

ALLIANCE

An adventure’s ability to be recalled and shared with others is often dependent wholly upon alliance, which means the cooperation of multiple adventures amicably.  George takes pictures of Juan in Fig. 10, while Juan takes stills of George in Fig. 11, proof of a high alliance score, which is also affected by the raw score of previous adventures shared.

Fig. 10

Fig. 11

Alliance allows for the promotion of adventure through sharing of media representations of the events, as well as for addition safety, comfort, and fun.  Alliance can be graded on a scale, called the total alliance score (TAS):

1.  Are you comfortable sharing food with your adventure companion when only one utensil is present?

2.  Have you ever faced a life-threatening situation in company with your adventure companion and both survived?

3.  Have you shared details of your love life with your adventure companion in confidential conversation?

4.  Do you implicitly trust that your adventure companion will not abscond with your adventure-related property when it is left to his or her care?

5.  Have you slept within 6 and 1/4  inches of your adventure companion before, due to tent camping, sharing a hotel, etc.?

6.  Have you ever placed your bodily safety wholly into the hands and skill of your adventure companion, as in the cases of rock climbing belaying, assurance of rescue if you do not return within a certain timeframe, taking advice about the results of certain actions, eating blowfish prepared by your adventure companion?

For every yes, add 9 points to the value of the alliance.  Where the adventurer is alone, add a value of 4 for nature as an alliance when in natural environments or a value of 1 when in society.

ADDITIONS

Additions are a way of extending adventure in new directions past the concept which initiated it.  In George and Juan’s case, dinner at a local restaurant was added to the end of their adventure, so Juan could add awe value orally, by ingesting 1/2 of a duck prepared in a Chinese manner.  Both adventurers perceived accomplishment high enough to warrant multiple pots of congratulatory tea at their chosen restaurant.

CRITICISMS OF THE 9 A MODEL

Future conceptions of the 9 A model may include an additional A, “actualization” when science is capable of measuring empirically the depth of philosophical effects adventure can have on a participants innermost self.  While George and Juan report certain spiritual gains by means of their adventure, which ended in contemplation of sunbeams over the water on their return journey, the current model is likely to reflect this in “awe.”  Scholars suggest that if the actualization measure is incorporated, the theory would lose credibility due to changing its name.  Other scholars counter that the current 9 A’s give the model a boost, and that addition of a 10th value could be carried out without changing the conceptualization’s academic namesake.

DEFINITIONS.  Define the following IN FULL SENTENCES.

A.  Adventure

B.  The 9 A’s model

C.  Ascertain

D.  Kayak

E.  Boost

F.  Apprehension

SHORT ANSWER  Answer the following in short sentences.

A.  From a scientific point of view, which scenario would have greater awe value:  jumping out of a slender cave into water of unknown depth or watching reruns of “Gilligan’s Island” at home?

B.  Name two factors in determining the value of alliance in the 9 A’s model and the benefits of answering yes to them.

C.  In the story of George and Juan, what type of augmentation was necessary to increase the value of their ascertaining score?

D.  How many forms of conveyance did George and Juan use in their adventure?

E.  What does TAS stand for?

CRITICAL THINKING  Choose one of the following topics and write four paragraphs response.  Discuss in class.

1.  In your opinion, which values in the 9 A model are likely to increase the chance that other values in the model attain high scores?  Why?

2.  Do you agree that the 9 boost should add actualization to the list of the 9 A’s?  If yes, why?  If not, why not?