COLORADO SPRINGS — Let’s face it, spending a night out in the woods is kind of scary.
It’s dark out there. It’s lonely. Big creatures with sharp teeth and no regard for social norms lurk in the shadows.
Who hasn’t felt the hairs on the back of his or her neck stand up at the cold feeling that something out there is watching? But consider this: Statistically, a person is more likely to be killed by mouse droppings or mosquitoes in Colorado than by bears and mountain lions.
It’s not that there is nothing to be afraid of out there. It’s that we are often afraid of the wrong things.
We’ve busted out our own Out There ThreatDown (with apologies to the “Colbert Report”), so when you’re lying awake in your tent, you can be sure you’re scared of the right stuff.
THREAT NO. 1: THE Y CHROMOSOME
This tiny tangle of DNA that separates the men from the women is the most dangerous thing in the backcountry. It makes the hairier gender do really dumb things, such as climb mountains in thunderstorms, ski avalanche-prone slopes, and say things such as, “Get a picture of me trying to ride this mountain goat.”
Statistically, having the Y chromosome makes men three times more likely than women to be injured in the outdoors, and eight times more likely to be killed, according to a study by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. Just to round things out, guys also are five times more likely to be killed biking, seven times more likely to be killed kayaking and 17 times more likely to be killed by an avalanche. The Y chromosome may also be a factor in Threat No. 2.
Best defense: Listen to your lady friend.
Read the other nine threats at .
