When’s the Right Time to Turn Around on an Adventure?

Turning around is a skill. The same as navigating, pitching a tight tent, or interpreting a weather forecast, it’s something outdoors people need to know how to do. Explorer Mat explains why.

I’m a marathon runner and an alpine climber. I’ve had years of training in first aid emergencies, navigation, and mental resilience while in the army. I can move quickly and safely on technical terrain, interpret weather forecasts, and assess snow stability. I’m a professional outdoorsman who has spent the last four years taking people into the wilderness as a full-time job. And, I turn around all the time.

I highlight these traits only to give context. When I say, sometimes you need to turn around, it’s not coming from a lack of fitness, ability, or experience but rather an abundance of those traits.

Turning Around Sucks, Getting Rescued Sucks More

Turning around sucks, there’s no getting around it. Failing is never enjoyable, especially when you have your heart set on a particular experience or achievement. It’s rarely black and white. The decision to turn around or keep pushing is almost always grey. It’s a complex and multifaceted decision, but this is the nature of risk management in the outdoors.

When and how do you turn around? What are the warning signs or red flags that indicate you’re about to have a bad time? And if your ego comes into the question, just think, do you want to be on the news because you had to get rescued?

We talk a lot about preparation. But, regardless of how well or ill-prepared you are, a lot of rescues could likely be avoided if the participants realise, in time, that they’re out of their depth.

Read more: What to Pack in Your Hiking First Aid Kit

The Western Arthurs are notorious for taking people out of their depth

An Uptick in Rescues in Tassie

Tasmania is a place of extremes, which is why it’s so inspiring. A place of wild beauty and vast wilderness, where you can both lose and find yourself. It’s a place that requires a lot from those who seek to experience its mountains and trails first-hand. It demands respect: from the wind, rain, and snow to the rugged trails that can disappear before your very eyes.

In recent years, an increasing number of Explorers have learnt that respect the hard way.

This hiking season in Tasmania has seen the continuation of a disturbing trend – a huge uptick in the number of rescues, and unfortunately, even deaths. It’s left the community shaking their heads and wondering what’s to be done. While this is indicative of more people enjoying the outdoors, it’s also a case of ‘You don’t know what you don’t know’. It’s high time we create a culture of skill sharing, and those of us who are able to communicate important lessons should do so.

Read more: How To Use a PLB

But I Want to Push Myself

If you aspire to do regular adventures or anything impressive in the outdoors, learning to manage risk is critical. In essence, risk management is looking at a situation and weighing up all of the factors to determine whether you have enough of a safety margin to achieve what you set out to do. It’s never ok to have no safety margin.

Pushing yourself in the outdoors is a beautiful thing, something I frequently do myself and encourage others to as well. But if you’re out there pushing yourself, the odds are good that you’ll find your limit eventually. More often than not, learning where that line is requires a hard lesson, and this is where the preparation aspect comes in. If you have accidentally gone too far, it’s important that you have the right equipment and skills to look after yourself.

But an occasion to turn around doesn’t only arrive during some groundbreaking adventure. Sometimes it’s the benign adventures, close to the road, that bring people unstuck. So, what are the warning signs to consider when you’re heading out that can put you in a good position to make the right decisions?

Read more: Knowing When to Call It

Time to Turn Around Red Flags

Below are a few examples of red flags that you need to be on the lookout for. These examples are based in Tasmania; however, they can and should be applied to adventures everywhere. While these red flags are not reasons in themselves to turn around, they are warning signs. In this case, they’re a warning that if something else goes awry, you may be in trouble. It all comes back to that safety margin. Once you’ve identified a red flag, your safety margin has significantly decreased; you need to be aware of that and act accordingly.

1. The Weather is Worse Than You Expected

Knowing what the weather is doing when you’re heading out is step one in any adventure. Wind, rain, and snow aren’t reasons to stay at home, but they are things you need to be prepared for.

Scenario: You’ve prepared well for a trip up Cradle Mountain. You’ve checked the weather – it’s a bit rainy and windy, but it doesn’t look too bad. You’ve brought a raincoat and a fleece jumper, along with the rest of your gear, and you feel prepared to endure the weather. As you begin to climb the mountain, you realise that the wind is much stronger than you thought it’d be and the rock is quite wet and slippery. Generally speaking, you feel the wind more as you ascend a mountain, and the temperatures drop with every 100m you ascend. If you choose to keep going, what are the potential risks?

Kitchen Hut, below the summit of Cradle Mountain is a great place to break and take stock of the situation

Solution: In this case, I’d be thinking, ‘If anyone in my party slips and hurts themselves, we’re in big trouble’. You’re not getting a helicopter ride if the weather is bad; best case scenario, rescuers will need to respond, coordinate, and walk in to help you. This could take hours. Better to turn around and try again when the weather’s more favourable.

2. You’re Finding it Harder Than You Expected

One of the most common causes of people coming unstuck in the outdoors is overestimating their abilities or fitness. Steep, rough trails with complex route finding are common in Tasmania. Fatigue can cause you to miss a critical trail marker, roll an ankle, or move so slowly that you become benighted.

Scenario: You’re attempting a circuit in the Western Tiers. It’s a popular trail, the weather is nice, and there are plenty of people around. A few kilometres into the circuit, you come upon a scree field that stretches off into the distance, you’re already feeling a little tired from the rough trail, and this looks like hard work. You decide to keep going. An hour further on, you’re exhausted and still have several hundred metres of scree to negotiate. You lose concentration, slip on some lichen, and injure yourself.

I think we can all agree that you should have turned around, but at what point?

A misty scree field on the way up Barn Bluff

Solution: In this case, I’d exercise caution when it comes to committing to the scree field – it’s ok to admit that a trail is a bit much, especially in this kind of terrain. Scree fields can be brutal!

I’d only commit to a short distance and set a target; aim for the top of the next rise or see what’s around the next corner. This way, once you realise that you’re in for more than you bargained for, you can make the call to turn around before fatigue really becomes an issue.

3. It’s Taking Longer Than You Expected

Many trails contain rough terrain and route-finding difficulties that significantly slow you down. The average rate of movement for hikers is about 3-4km/h, but it can often fall to less than 1km/h on complex, challenging terrain.

Scenario: You want to do a day trip up into the Walls of Jerusalem. Unfortunately, you left a little later than you intended to, stopped for a coffee, and took a wrong turn on the drive. Now you’re arriving at the trailhead at midday. You make up reasonable time, have a late lunch, and decide to keep going.

Just after lunch, you realise a member of your party is moving slowly and keeps falling behind. You’re psyched to continue, but it’s already 4pm. It’s taken four hours to get here, and the sun sets around 7pm. If you decide to push on, what are the consequences of potentially being caught out at night?

Solution: It’s common to start later than you intend to, but the real takeaway here is to remain flexible. Being too fixated or rigid doesn’t work in an environment as dynamic as the Tasmanian wilderness. Have a plan, but always be ready to adapt it. If you realise you might run out of daylight, a good strategy is to set a turn-around time. Getting benighted isn’t the end of the world if you have head torches and warm layers, but if you’re unprepared, you could easily get lost and end up in big trouble. This party needs to turn around now.

4. You’ve Forgotten a Crucial Piece of Equipment

Whether it’s that extra water bottle, rainwear, warm layers, or the map, forgetting a piece of gear isn’t a deal breaker, but you do need to consider how much it lowers your safety margin. 

Scenario: You’re in Mt Field National Park and decide to attempt the 16km Tarn Shelf Circuit. As you begin, the cold wind slaps you in the face. You go to put on your raincoat and realise you left it at home. 

‘Oh well, it’s not raining’, you rationalise and start walking. It starts sprinkling as you ascend the final section to Tarn Shelf, but you’re nearly there, so you keep going. You sit and take some photos while being blasted by the wind. Your jumper is starting to get wet, and you’re beginning to feel quite cold.

You decide to get moving and head back to the car. On the way down, you slip and roll your ankle. As you sit on the wet ground and rest your injured ankle, you begin to get really cold. You can’t manage more than 100m of walking at a time because of the pain, and now you’re approaching hypothermia. How would carrying all of the Parks Tas recommended gear change this situation?

Solution: In this case, your ability to move at a good speed is what’s keeping you warm; moving slowly will lead to getting cold, impairing your coordination and decision-making ability. This is an example of not having enough of a safety margin. This person should’ve turned around when they started getting wet or changed their plans to something less exposed.

The gear lists compiled by Parks Tas are done with exactly this kind of scenario in mind. You might not need some items if everything goes to plan, but if something goes wrong, you’ll be glad you paid attention to their advice. 

You’ll need some seriously expert gear to reach this peak

These are all common scenarios, things that could easily happen to any of us on any given day. That’s why it’s important to be prepared; take the right gear, check the weather, and know your route. Things happen, and while you don’t necessarily need to turn around at the first setback, you need to be aware of red flags and manage risk to the best of your ability. As you gain experience, you’ll get better and better at identifying when you can push on and when you should turn around, but in the early days, a conservative decision is a good decision.

Brush Up On Your Outdoor Skills & Safety

• How To Survive Hiking in Hot Weather
• How To Read the Weather: Pro Tips for Predicting Like an Expert
• 8 Survival Tips With Outback Mike
• How To Explore Safely in Bushfire Season