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Chapter 11 of 30 · 1 min read

Outdoor Adventure Camp Weather and Go-or-No-Go Decisions

Have qualified leaders define when the group starts, changes route, turns back or stops. Consider the activity, people, gear, forecasts and escape options together. Record decisions and make sure commercial pressure cannot override the approved plan.

Have qualified leaders set activity-specific conditions for starting, continuing, changing, and stopping. Include the actual route, participants, equipment, forecasts, alerts, and escape options.

Check current official weather and site information at defined times. Record what was checked and by whom. Do not rely on yesterday's screenshot or a general city forecast for a remote route.

For heat and smoke, use the relevant public-health guidance and the correct local air-quality system. Canada's AQHI is its own index and should not be treated as interchangeable with another country's scale.12

For lightning, use proper shelter and the approved stop-and-resume plan. A tent or open shelter is not a lightning-safe building.3

Give the field leader real authority to stop. Do not require a sales manager's approval while conditions worsen. Make sure pay and performance measures do not punish a justified safety decision.

Explain the customer outcome for a changed day before booking. A safe alternative may be valuable, but it should not be secretly substituted for a very different promised product.

Your task: Write the decision criteria, decision owner, notification method, and customer remedy for each likely disruption.

Sources for this page

  1. CDC, About Heat and Your Health. Heat precautions; use local alerts and a qualified health plan. ↩
  2. Environment and Climate Change Canada, About the Air Quality Health Index. Canadian air-quality health messages. Do not treat Canadian AQHI numbers as equivalent to another index. ↩
  3. U.S. National Weather Service, Lightning Safety and Outdoor Sports Activities. Shelter and activity-stop guidance. The book does not replace a site-specific weather plan. ↩

Put this chapter to work

Optional · Putting your plan into practice

Using Bookify for this goal

This part starts with your own planning and judgement. Use the guide and its worksheets to work through it with your team.

When you are ready to put your camp plan into a booking system, you can explore a sample camp in Bookify or see what the software can help you do.