Luck may have another name for some people -- it's like a random number generator. Planning is all very fine and I recommend it highly, but planning doesn't cover everything. Bee sting, rock slide, one rock rolling under your foot, gopher hole, simple mistake, pilot forgets to drain condensation out of gas tank, weather change, trying to go another hundred yards can all change the equation, as can a million other things. Planning often puts you in a better position, but it doesn't nullify luck, chance, kismet or whatever else you call it.

It is ludicrous to think that you can plan for everything.

But luck is often what people depend on, and that's even crazier.


"The neophyte's error is not undue reliance on rescue, it is obliviousness of risk."

Sometimes that is true, but I think today's assumption of entitlement is also a big factor. I have actually heard people at a trailhead discussing their lack of an area map, and one of them shrugged and said that SAR could come out and find them. They weren't more than six feet from the car at the time, so please don't assume that it isn't actually considered.

Fools come with and without gear. Fools come with and without experience. Attitudes of It-won't-happen-to-me, I-can-get-back-before-dark, I-can-travel-faster-with-less-gear, etc, are all the mantra of people who lack common sense. Someone once said that television has indoctrinated many people with the sense that all problems are solved within sixty minutes (less commercial time), and that may be a factor, too.

Lack of judgment kills a lot of people, and luck is what saves others. Fate's random number generator. Or a crap shoot.

Sue