SEATTLE — Hikers, skiers and others who explore Washington’s vast wilderness will never get a bill if something goes wrong and they need rescuing.
Amy Allbritton, the state’s search and rescue program manager, explains why: “Our mission is to rescue individuals in the backcountry — not just the ones who can afford it.”
It’s an egalitarian ethos, carried out largely by volunteer rescuers who are avid backcountry explorers themselves. But does that guiding principle hold when those who need rescuing — like the passengers aboard the submersible that imploded while trying to visit the sunken Titanic — are megarich adventure tourists taking extreme risks?
Allbritton hesitated as she considered the question. “I mean, potentially,” she said. “I’m not sure where my opinion lies on that.”
Modern adventure tourism ventures into uncharted territory ethically as well as geographically. The tragedy that befell the journey by Everett-based OceanGate Expeditions, requiring an international rescue operation that may cost taxpayers millions of dollars, raises many questions. Should there be more regulation? If so, who should set and enforce the rules? Are rescue operations even possible in some places extreme tourists are going?
Take space, for example.
Josef Koller, co-founder of The Space Safety Institute, asked what would happen if an Apollo 13-like mishap happened to a commercial rocket — leaving tourists stuck in lunar orbit, unable to return to Earth.
“There’s no strategy in place,” said Koller, whose institute is operated by The Aerospace Corp., a nonprofit that advises government and commercial space programs. “There are no rules and responsibilities assigned. … There’s no Coast Guard that can go out with several ships and search for a submarine.”
Who would be responsible for rescuing space tourists: NASA, the Federal Aviation Administration, the Department of Defense? And who would pay for it?
“None of these questions are answered,” Koller said.
At the same time, Congress in 2004 prevented the FAA from issuing safety regulations protecting space tourists for fear of stifling innovation. In the past, companies like SpaceX, Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic argued they hadn’t had flights yet, Koller noted.
Now they have. For instance, Blue Origin in 2021 rocketed several people into space, including owner and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.
After two extensions, the regulation moratorium expires in October, and the space community is debating whether it’s finally time for safety rules.
Some have also argued for more regulation in the industry surrounding climbing Mount Everest, another risky, expensive pursuit. Famously, some climbers aiming to ascend the world’s highest peak arrive woefully underprepared — perhaps not even knowing how to use crampons, a necessary footwear device for walking on snow and ice. More than 300 people have died on Everest.
Lakpa Rita Sherpa, a venerated climber and guide in Bothell, said a decade ago he recommended to Nepal’s tourism minister that the government require Everest climbers to have a certain level of experience, such as having summited smaller Himalayan peaks or Alaska’s Denali.
Unfortunately, Sherpa said, Nepal has not adopted that recommendation. He recently started his own company, Khangri Experience, that leads treks and climbs in the Himalayas. He hasn’t offered an expedition to Everest’s summit yet, but said he intends to implement his own experience requirement when he does.
The stakes are high. There’s no entity like the Coast Guard to lead rescue efforts — and while Nepal charges more than $10,000 per person for a climbing permit, the government rarely steps in when emergencies occur, Sherpa said.
Instead, he said, it’s largely up to the leaders of expeditions that have run into trouble, helped by any other teams in the vicinity. Climbers usually carry insurance that pays for private helicopters to take them off the mountain if necessary, Sherpa acknowledged. But he said someone has to bring climbers who need help to places where aircraft can land.
Sherpa recalled a 2014 avalanche that was one of the worst tragedies in Everest history. Sixteen Sherpa guides died. (Sherpa is both an ethnicity and a surname.) The Bothell guide was at base camp, working for Seattle-based Alpine Ascents International, which lost people in the disaster. He climbed two hours to reach the site and helped dig out bodies buried in 4 to 5 feet of snow. Each was then attached to a line dropped from a helicopter and airlifted, one by one, to base camp.
Some observers wonder if participants understand the risks of adventure travel. They typically sign waivers informing them of possible injury or death. But many people don’t actually read waivers, or if they do, don’t think about them much, said Alain Grenier, a sociology professor at the University of Quebec at Montreal.
In the case of the OceanGate expedition, passengers may not have had all the information, added Lorri Krebs, professor of geography and sustainability at Salem State University in Massachusetts. She wonders if they understood the submersible “wasn’t something that the Navy has been using for years.” Some industry leaders and marine scientists had called OceanGates’ approach “experimental,” lacking adequate testing of its submersible design.
There are environmental as well as human risks to extreme travel, Krebs said. “People like to travel places of natural beauty and the more remote, the bigger the attraction.” When more and more people go to such places, she said, “you’re creating a whole level of debris on what should be sort of a pristine sight.”
On top of pollution, garbage, and chunks of metal, such travel could stir turbulence in the water that alters a fragile environment. The Titanic wreckage has added significance, she noted, because it is a UNESCO cultural heritage site — and a gravesite.
But because the sunken Titanic lies in international waters in the North Atlantic Ocean, few regulations apply.
The National Park Service offers one model of protecting treasured sites, Krebs said, with visitor fees going toward maintaining the parks and offsetting some of the rescue costs when accidents occur.
But who would create such a system in international waters is unclear. Like others, Krebs said the latest tragedy in adventure tourism brings up more questions than answers.
