Camping on Gas! Should we teach young people to understand and control inherent risk?

Camping outside – not easy in challenging conditions

Working with young people it is important I believe that we give them the skills to make good decisions when the ‘adult’ is not around, in preparation for becoming adults themselves. Running a walking expedition in October 2019 it was raining and very cold.

What was most interesting was the young people were cooking outside struggling to cook and freezing, some potentially hypothermic.

Freezing morning after a freezing night!

Inquiring why not cook inside the tent when suggested the common mantra of, “we are not allowed” and “it’s too dangerous”. On the second night I suggested they do cook inside the flysheet of their tent – a new experience and amazing how it lifted spirits. It definitely got me thinking – should we be educating our young people to be able to cook inside the tent?

Tent cooking in the right conditions

As a scout growing up doing winter mountaineering and hikes (as young as 12) we regularly cooked inside the tent using paraffin primus stoves, and never had a problem. The constant roar was a welcome distraction from the howling gale outside and the extra few degrees warmed the soul. I suppose we were very well trained although I suspect we did not fully understand the risks or have any tools if there was a fire. Likewise, in the military we regularly cooked inside tents, snow holes and shelters. Acceptable risk.

Bivi out – ideal opportunities to cook

As a scout growing up doing winter mountaineering and hikes (as young as 12) we regularly cooked inside the tent using paraffin primus stoves, and never had a problem. The constant roar was a welcome distraction from the howling gale outside and the extra few degrees warmed the soul. I suppose we were very well trained although I suspect we did not fully understand the risks or have any tools if there was a fire. Likewise, in the military we regularly cooked inside tents, snow holes and shelters. Acceptable risk.

Seeking views and evidence

I was interested in finding out the current views on cooking inside a tent. Postings on facebook, seeking advice and ideas, “I’m looking at running an advanced expedition course for young people. One of the skills will be safely cooking in your tent, under the fly sheet. Any views on this?” raised many interesting perspectives.

A scary post of a tent burning down posted by a real critic. modern tents comply with ISO5912 and are incredibly difficult to burn.

Most critics could not go beyond, “don’t do it”, “they will burn to death”, “it’s not allowed”, One very vocal critic was from British Columbia had an interesting insight, “have to learn about bear caches, actually another reason we don’t have youth cook in tents”.

Some postings had major concerns about carbon monoxide poisoning. After exhaustive research this is only a major problem if you have a BBQ smouldering in your tent with no ventilation. Most modern gas stoves produce little CO gas, and with good ventilation minimal risk.

Tragedy in Knoydart

Cooking in the rain and extreme conditions

One post showed some incredibly interesting insight, “Many years ago a DofE Gold Expedition from school chose to cook in their tent as appalling weather conditions in Knoydart. Sadly their stove was knocked and one of the lads ended up with horrific 1st degree burns. They were quite a few miles from nearest inhabited houses and it was pre mobile phones, etc so whilst a couple looked after the injured party one of them made it through the terrible weather over rough ground in the dark to get help. Lad/s were awarded for bravery but goes back to the question as to whether or not this could have been avoided if they had been trained to safely use the flysheet entrance as shelter to cook under pre exped or if the accident would have happened anyway.

A hot drink while supervising tent cooking

The reality is that if camping wild and the weather is that bad the temptation will be to cook under the fly so if youngsters were trained how to do this safely perhaps better than not at all….however, the lack of experience remains an issue and if an accident happened and they had been shown how to cook in their tent would this be seen by a court as encouragement to do so? Some pretty strict parameters/rules would need to be stipulated when undertaking risk assessments. But on the whole I DO think youngsters need to learn about such skills and the inherent dangers, more for their own futures in the outdoors than for DofE”

Managing the inherent risks

I’m very passionate about Benefit and Risk Assessments (BRA’s) as it allows you to analyse a task or activity somewhat objectively and how you can control it and make it as afe as possible. So I carried out a BRA for “cooking inside the flysheet of a tent”.

My Benefit and Risk Assessment

From this process it became apparent that we could carefully teach young people to cook within a tent as long as,

BRA For tent cooking!

“Cooking in a tent should be seen as a ‘last resort’ and not a regular practice”

So to teach young people to cook inside their tent a number of key things have to be understood and in place to ensure it is as safe as possible.

  • Clear rational for doing it – training for last resort not as ‘encouragement’ to do so
  • A Clear Benefit and Risk Assessment – more importantly the young people needed to understand it
  • Manage Carbon Monoxide – understand the signs of CO poisoning and how to deal with it
  • Managing condensation – it could become a ‘rain forest’ in the tent with out proper ventilation
  • Clear tent routines – kit away (this is the greatest fire risk)
  • Choice of tent and stoves – no portable BBQs, cooking under the flysheet not in the inner tent
  • Actions on – what to do if it all goes horribly wrong

Expedition chef weekend

In February 2020 we ran an expedition chef weekend with the aim to improving the quality of food on expeditions. Using different cooking techniques, we made bread, vacuum packed meals, stews, snacks, and soups.

Homemade boil in the bag

As part of this training the young people cooked two meals inside the tent – under close supervision after they had written their own risk assessment, and each tent had a CO monitor.

The participants were far more confident in cooking using stoves and were very creative. Some were confident in cooking within a tent some not so – but as I explained when there is no adult to defer to or when they are adults they need to balance the benefit with the risk.

Lessons learnt:

Making stew on a trangia!

Risk aware or risk averse? A lot of people are very risk averse – would rather avoid risk altogether. However by considering the Benefits as well as the Risks I think you make people more risk aware and better able to control the risk or not to take the risk.

Sharing BRA’s. What was incredibly insightful was sharing and getting young people to write their own BRA, it took time and they needed guidance but it is important aspect of the learning process for them to understanding potential risk and being able to manage it. It is what is done now in schools.

Perceptions. Cooking in tents will always be seen as a very high-risk venture, for some a risk too far. In fact the BRA without control measures does emphasis this. But having the correct training and control measures in place does reduce these risks greatly to a manageable level.

Teaching – tent cooking. Some ‘professionals’ might see training for this as rather flippant and unnecessary but surely we need to prepare our young people for the time when we are not around and adulthood. As a trainer it again emphasises the need for the invisible safety bubble around trainees that we must have until we are confident they can cope. Simple things like CO monitors, close supervision, fire extinguishers, first aid etc. The additional BRA control measures

In conclusion

This has been an interesting process and journey. As I delved into greater depth there is a growing culture of risk aversion to avoid harm and litigation. But young people need to understand inherent danger and be able to manage it – even things like cooking in a tent. For you can guarantee in appalling weather conditions in Knoydart people will look at the comparative safety of their tent and think why not? I would and have!

So, “Should we teach young people to understand risk?” Yes, without a doubt, but only if you have the experience and understand the risks and able to create a safe learning environment!

“But on the whole I DO think youngsters need to learn about such skills and the inherent dangers, more for their own futures in the outdoors than for DofE”

My summer project – develop a new company “Oxford Canoe Tours”

canoe oxford 02

Having paddled on the Thames and Cherwell for many years I was struck by how little commercialisation has gone on in terms of canoes and kayaks in Oxford.

Having recently done some paddling on the River Wye I was surprised how much business was going on in terms of canoeing and kayaking  – similar to that found in France. Putting people and groups up stream and collecting them at the end of the day – little instruction but reasonably safe and enjoyable. And some incredible views!

Having done a workshop on marketing and commercial practices as part of my MBA we studied tour operations in Oxford and it was obvious that there is a real lack of divergent opportunities for visitors to our great city. I really liked the idea we presented of different alternative trips – hence my thoughts for a tour of Oxford on the river by canoe. No one is doing it!

So with a friend, Richard, we have put together our embryonic business for the summer “Oxford Canoe Tours” to see how viable it could be.

Some of the details of our new business venture:

We will take you on an exploration of this ancient city by in canoes so that you can find out about how the river has made an essential contribution to the history of this famous city.

Our aim is to deliver a friendly, fun, informed and unique experience of Oxford for all participants.

Why? We want visitors to Oxford to experience an amazing journey through time and the city that informs and celebrates the world renowned heritage of Oxford as a fun, challenging memorable adventure, a lasting  memory.

How? Through a unique tour with friendly and knowledge tour guides along the waterways of Oxford.

What? we are Oxford Canoe Tours, want to experience an adventure with us?

We will be operating in collaboration with the Oxford Canoe and Kayak Club (www.canoeoxford.org.uk) and running tours from:

Riverside Centre, Donnington Bridge, Oxford OX4 4AZ

We will be running tours on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday mornings, other days by arrangement. So if you are in Oxford why not experience Oxford in a unique and different way!

Further information,   Book your tour

Looking forward to meeting you over the summer!

So lets see how it develops and perhaps we might see a second season?