Work

It's fun … until it isn't: Boosting and nudging for safer decisions in hazardous backcountry winter mountains

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: With limited regulation, how can we help individuals make autonomous, safe decisions in complex, uncertain and volatile contexts? Using backcountry skiing in Norway as a case study, we explore how aspects of soft regulatory approaches—boosts and nudges—are used to support safer decision-making in high-risk environments as a complement to formal regulation. Norway's ethos of friluftsliv and the right to roam grants recreationists significant autonomy, yet this freedom comes with risks, as human-triggered avalanches in unmanaged wilderness areas pose serious threats. We present several existing interventions, such as avalanche courses, and beacon checkpoints. We then use a behavioral science lens to identify their boosty and nudgy qualities and how they may support the seemingly incongruous practice of safe and autonomous decision-making while having fun in sometimes highly hazardous contexts. Challenges, including intervention accessibility, trust, and scalability, are discussed, and recommendations for future practice and research are offered.

Source: Journal of Outdoor Recreation and Tourism

DOI: 10.1016/j.jort.2025.100996