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| A close-up view of the mini-avalanche that I encountered in Everest, 2006 |
The recent accident in Annapurna, Nepal which claimed at
least 30 lives – and which happen to coincide with my (aborted) trek and climb
trip, seemed to make mountain accidents
closer and real for some.
Especially for
those who thought or considered joining the trip.
While we don’t want to over think bad things
that could happen in a trip, it pays to have proper preparation, should that
black-hooded guy carrying a scythe invited us for a dinner.
1.
An honest risk assessment. We all take risks in various ways. But if you
feel that the next trip is outright dangerous and risky or way beyond your
skill and experience level – re-assess if you’re truly ready and back out if
you don’t feel right. Don’t just
imagine nice summit pictures, consider
the ‘bad things’ and if after weighing the scale and you’d still feel Ok, then
go for it. The decision to go is yours
and yours alone.
2.
Estate Plan.
Who cares if you only have 100,000 pesos! That’s still money and without
a ‘plan’ in place, may be absorbed by the government or the bank, or at least a
3rd of it for taxes!
Significant assets demand for proper ‘last will and testament’,
notarized and managed by your lawyer.
For the poor guys like moi ;) it
could be a simple ‘how to access my small funds’ plan should the
dark-side-of-the-force guy appeared.
Example: for mutual funds, or bank accounts – one may consider
converting them to ‘joint accounts’ (co-depositor type). One may not reveal his
asset details to the 2nd party at all, just ask him/her to sign
papers declaring the ‘if something happened’ intent, and just put the right document in a sealed
envelope (account details) with a note of ‘in case…” Same thing can be done for ATM cards, leave
them behind – put the PIN code in sealed envelope (in a locked box, in a locked
room, in a locked house) but accessible to the beneficiary. Best to ‘code the
code’ so no 3rd party can easily use it. Ex. written PIN + partner’s
birth year (pre-agreed but don’t write this down) = real PIN. If you don’t do this, beneficiaries will have
to wait given the complexities of court proceedings, and of course, your
remaining fund will be highly taxed.
Hard assets would be more difficult to transfer so best to have a will. For your loans and debts/ liabilities – make
sure you have insurance or plans how to pay for these, lest your
‘beneficiaries’ inherit these.
3.
Life insurance. (A subset of your estate plan).
On top of the travel, medical and rescue insurances, one needs a proper life
insurance to benefit those who might be left behind. One may not be lucky to qualify for a life
insurance (ex. “living a dangerous life”), but the company where you worked for
may provide a group life insurance. If not, there are dozen ‘investment-ala-insurance’
type of options wherein a depositor allocates his money for investment of which
have ‘insurance-type’ of clause (like getting x3 of principal money should the
investor dies). I’m still not pleased
with insurances, in general – for putting this ‘dangerous life’ bias. A simple ‘trek’ or ‘dive’ check mark in the
application form already disqualifies you, or your claim greatly limited, or
your premium (to pay) highly priced. Why
not include “smoking”, “eating a lot of
saturated fats”, “over weighted by 20%+”, “sleeping less than 6 hours daily”,
etc. in the checklist! Those are more life-shortening than diving or climbing!
4.
Influence success of survival before the trip. Invest
on proper trainings, read a lot of useful knowledge. I heard a lot of news about climbing accidents,
some were preventable like lack of collective experience (of the group), or
lack of logistics support, or simply bringing the wrong cheap gear. If hiring extra professional guides help
increase success of survival (not even success of objective), do invest on those. This is one current point of debate in the
recent Annapurna disaster – whether to require guides for future treks. One
infamous Everest climber way back when died on his 3rd attempt (on
Everest), his expedition cost? Compared
to a hefty but typical 30-50k USD expedition cost, his last climb only cost him
around 7k USD. And his life. (At least
that’s what I read in the article, pointing to a dangerous thriftiness).
5.
Control success of survival during the
trip. You shouldn’t ask someone to keep
you alive. Even if you pay someone (ex. bodyguard, or a mountain guide). They
will help of course, but the mindset here should be ‘self sufficiency’, self
survival capability. Decisions made in
the mountains are also partly yours (we all co-own critical life decisions),
senior or more experienced members may have bigger influence – but they’re
there to provide options. If you don’t
feel that ‘you will make it’, say so!
(ex. pushing for the difficult summit or being left behind alone for a
day – but knowing that you are sick).
Let me add 1 more though this is
theoretical for me as well…
6.
What if Plan or Letter. For family, for friends. This is difficult to do and ‘awkward’, more
like writing a suicide note of some sort – but if you feel the need, go write
them down and hand it to a close friend (sealed/ unread). Family ‘last requests’ may include burial
type, minor asset allocation, etc. again
– it feels weird that’s why nobody likes to do this. Or maybe, it could be a simple good bye note
saying “I’m in a good place, don’t worry and be happy for me…” Some soldiers do this, maybe we should… It
would be fun burning the letter/document during the post-trip celebration. ; )
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