Poll: What’s the Dumbest Thing You’ve Done Outside?

Oh, we are so smug. We are so smart. We are so much better than those idiots who pet bison or run filming through Yellowstone hot springs.

Except, maybe we aren’t. Maybe we’ve just gotten lucky in our dumbest moments and escaped becoming a headline only by a tiger’s whisker.

Many years ago, on a 10-day ski expedition in a remote section of coastal British Columbia, I thought it would be a good idea if I took a pair of skis from a tiny, independent brand without skiing on them first or even checking the tune. On our first day, on my first downhill turn, I caught one of the railed edges, fell, and start sliding down a steep rollover, which ended a couple hundred feet below in huge cliffs. Fortunately, I was able to self arrest and survived to discover the bases were so badly tuned they never should have left the factory. And I never should have taken equipment I hadn’t used or maintained myself.

I have other near misses, cold nights, hungry mornings due to my own inattentiveness, but in the interest of maintaining some shred of dignity, I’ll keep them to myself. The point is that we all screw up. Yes, some of the incidents coming out of Yellowstone this season are shocking in their displays of ignorance. But I wonder, how would some of our actions look in the cold light of the internet?

Pretty stoopid, no doubt.

So, let’s confess. What’s been your dumbest moment? Use the poll as a jumping-off point, as there’s no way we could think of all the potentially dumb things we homo sapiens can do.

WIN SMITH SUNGLASSES JUST BY VOTING
This week, one poll participant will receive Smith Optic’s Lowdown sunglasses. We’ll pick the winner via random number generator (and announce it here) – all you have to do to enter is vote and leave a comment so we have your email to contact you. Must have a U.S. or Canadian address. Contest ends Sunday, June 19, 2016, at midnight PST.

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