I've done a lot of Googling on hiking accidents. Falls are by far the number one cause. Many are in areas where simple precautions would have prevented them. The next cause seems to be falls near water near falls.

Flash floods are seemingly the second cause, but only because they tend to take a lot of people at once.

Rescues are a little harder to determine as only dramatic ones seem to make the news. There are a lot of people calling for help on cell phones after getting lost. But the primary cause of rescues seems to be injuries after falls.

There are a lot of avalanche deaths each year in Colorado. I put these in a simple category to avoid. Learn about avalanche conditions and then don't go there.

Jbylake seems to want to go to the next level. After reading about fatalities and incidents, I'd say the first thing to emphasis to a person new to hiking and backpacking is DON'T GO PLACES YOU MIGHT FALL FROM.

The first layer of safety will probably prevent 80% of problems. The last 20% is more difficult.

I'm not saying people shouldn't learn about hypothermia, dehydration, heat stroke, bear safety, etc. Maybe emphasis on these have kept people out of trouble.



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