Yep, I've been called "risk-averse" also. However, it has paid-off. Never was a Boy Scout, but I learned from the Cubs & Wiebelos and the army. Build skills and learn basic gear. I don't consider it a personality flaw that I don't like high-adrenaline activities (bungee, rollercoasters, etc.).

I may like Cody, Dave, Les & the others, but I know that my skills aren't to that level yet. I'll test my gear & skills this year on a 3-day camping excursion.

The Highlands in winter? Sigh...

Well said.

It's always tricky to speculate about underlying reasons for this sort of event. There is too much we don't know. Is it simple naivety about the level of difficulty and danger? Are there perhaps underlying psychological difficulties? Is it the deep disquiet with modern life that many of us feel -- and the need to test our mettle against something hard and absolute?

Regardless, it's a sad outcome.

I think it's a combination of idealism and a "I survived previous adventures, so I'll survive anything" mentality. Less so about "ballsy, but not to bright".

Is there a syndrome or other diagnostic for this type of behavior? When poking about as to what Chris McCandless was thinking, I found repeated references to a "Schizoid personalty".

Schizoid personality disorder (SPD) is "characterized by a lack of interest in social relationships, a tendency towards a solitary lifestyle, secretiveness, emotional coldness, and sometimes (sexual) apathy." I got that from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schizoid_personality_disorder .

There are certainly people who live by themselves in isolation without being grossly unprepared and accidentally doing themselves in. Someone with SPD would be more likely to not have told anyone what he was up to. The article didn't say as much, but I get the idea that he was excited about it.

It's hard to diagnose someone's mental condition from a news article, and I'm not a mental health professional. But it doesn't seem to me that he suffered SPD.