Another illuminating article (I have been too busy to post over the last couple of days, but have been reading things and thinking about what I want to say) on a topic discussed here recently - adolescents and risk taking.

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Deathly fear part of thrill: Prince Edward

James Madden

The Australian

30th October 2009

THE Queen's youngest son, Prince Edward, chairman of the Duke of Edinburgh Award scheme that encourages participation in outdoor activities, believes that one reason young people are attracted to the program is the possibility that they could die in pursuit of the award.

In an interview with The Australian yesterday, the Earl of Wessex, who is seventh in line to the British throne, said the program, established in Britain in 1956 and open to people aged between 14 and 25 in more than 120 countries - remains popular with so many because it offers the promise of adventure and the possibility of serious danger. Prince Edward was responding to a question about Sydney schoolboy David Iredale, who died in December 2006 in the Blue Mountains, west of Sydney, while on a bushwalk he undertook without supervision as part of his Duke of Edinburgh Award.

The prince said he was not aware of the circumstances of the Iredale case, but recounted that when a young man died while participating in a Duke of Edinburgh activity in Britain in the program's early years, interest in the scheme soared.

"All the trustees were convinced that (the boy's death) was the end of it, that it would never go any further," Prince Edward said. "And Lord Hunt, the man who masterminded the first successful ascent of Everest and was first director of the award, said: 'No, no, no, do nothing ... Just wait and see."'

The prince recalled that, in the days following the death, the number of inquiries from young people wanting to learn more about the award, and how they could get involved, skyrocketed.

"And he (Lord Hunt) said, 'There you go, that's typical young people'," Prince Edward said. "Suddenly the award, which was new ... (its) reputation among young people was: 'Wow, this is serious. You could die doing this.'

"And the sense of adventure, the sense of excitement, that it gave you that sort of risk element - young people are like that still, that sense of adventure, the sense that it (death) is possible.

"Obviously we don't want that to happen. Certainly it's not our intention: we give them the skills to go out there and do it safely and constructively. It was just that psychology, about what makes young people tick."

A coronial inquiry held earlier this year into Iredale's death found the inept conduct of triple-0 emergency operators, combined with inadequate technology used by emergency services, were largely to blame for the failure to rescue the 17-year-old before he died of dehydration.

NSW Deputy State Coroner Carl Milovanovich also recommended that the Duke of Edinburgh Award scheme review key areas of its program.

David Iredale's mother, Mary Anne, did not wish to respond to the prince's comments when contacted last night. But she did say the award scheme had serious shortcomings.

"I don't think it's regulated well enough in Australia," Mrs Iredale said.

The NSW State Emergency Service last night said while it encouraged a sense of adventure in the community, people needed to be properly prepared.

I think there are considerable dangers associated with trying to take all the danger out of adventure. These dangers are greater than those of trying to take all adventure out of life because they are more insidious.

If those who participate in carefully controlled and totally safe, commercially organised adventures loose their fear of things that should frighten them greatly they will soon fail to respond appropriately to real danger, assuming they are able to recognise it.

Television and movies greatly compound a completely fallacious understanding of nature and the natural world that many in coddled society seem to have. No, you cant climb a climbing rope by gripping it with your hands. And, after the blood a gore have been washed off, there will be many hours of making statements to the police, meeting grieving relatives, trying to find a parking space near the coroners court, and months and years of personal grieving.

Those who take up activities such as real rock climbing, hang gliding, kayaking etc. are at greatest danger as novices, because of ignorance and lack of skill, and then again later when they become too comfortable and complacent in potentially very dangerous environments.

In my experience with outdoor recreation teenage boys respond extremely well to adventures with real dangers and are very accepting of the notion that actions and omissions have consequences. They become good at managing risk if given the chance of experiencing and dealing with risk.

If you make a good job of pitching your tent you can have a comfortable even enjoyable night in a storm but if you fail to see the stinging nettle it hurts. If you witness an earthmoving machine fall into a flooded river you will be able to rescue the driver, a fun activity. If there is some unpleasant or arduous task to be done give it to the boy best qualified and he will take it as a compliment rather than a punishment.

Teen boys, willingly in the wilderness, are well behaved, good company and extremely easy to manage.