Outdoor sports are relatively dangerous, and there’s no such thing as a guaranteed method to avoid death — not even a "get-out-of-jail-free card" can protect everyone. But when fatality rates are excessively high or unreasonable accidents happen frequently, something is clearly wrong. These tragic incidents always remind me how crucial it is to promote outdoor safety awareness, which is why this article exists — presenting these 13 outdoor "get-out-of-jail-free cards."

1. The Solo Survival Rule
This is the first lifesaving rule and the most important principle of outdoor safety. Teamwork is certainly important, but the ability to survive on your own is even more critical.
Conventional logic might suggest that sharing a tent between two people, or cooking gear between two, or even grouping several people to share equipment seems somewhat reasonable. However, this surface-level practicality is only valid when everything goes smoothly and no unexpected events occur. Once that calm is disrupted, all of it becomes illogical, and you’ll find risks lurking everywhere.

I strictly follow this rule with every adventurer I travel with. Nearly all of them are top-tier UL (ultralight) outdoor experts, but they are also highly skilled in solo survival. We have clear divisions of labor and collaborate effectively. On a two-person trip, although each person carries a full set of equipment for independent use, we usually share one tent. Sleeping pads are often shared or used together in creative ways to maximize comfort and warmth. To better prevent condensation, we’ve even used two tents layered together. We may have different diets and tastes, but we freely share meals. These are all signs of teamwork and the smart use of gear under favorable conditions.

The problem is, if any one of us encounters danger, in the remote routes we take, it usually takes four to five days — or even longer — for rescuers to arrive. During that period, survival is only possible with a complete set of personal survival gear.

2. The Reliable Gear Rule
This includes the following four key aspects, all of which are essential and none can be ignored.

1. Reliable Gear Performance.
The outdoor gear you buy doesn’t need to be expensive, but it must be reliable. Focus on assessing the actual performance reliability of the gear, not just the seller’s claims. But doing so is genuinely difficult and relies heavily on intuition. Gear from official sources tends to be more reliable, but not always. Either way, a knockoff jacket costing a couple hundred yuan might look similar to the original, but its performance will be far inferior.

2. Adequate Gear Redundancy.
The general principle for gear backup is this: anything important should have a backup.

3. Reliable Experience Using Your Gear.
Before using new gear, get familiar with it. Don’t even think about leaving the packaging unopened. For any significant new piece of equipment, test it out in a simulated environment. You might uncover flaws or other issues. This is especially true for tents that are complex to set up — you must familiarize yourself with them beforehand.

4. Develop the Habit of Keeping Gear on You at All Times.
No matter how good your gear is, it’s useless if it’s not with you. Tragedies caused by being separated from essential equipment are all too common, with the infamous Lingshan Mountain accident being the most notable example. Even during summit pushes, carry essential life-saving equipment. Also, having pack animals carry your gear is not recommended unless you’re in a well-developed tourist area.

3. The Safe Hydration Rule
Humans can survive for many days without food, but not without water. In deserts and other arid regions of the north, knowing how to find and use water is absolutely vital.

1. Water Acquisition.
In desert areas or other dry northern regions, finding temporary water sources is unreliable. Even recorded water points may dry up for various reasons, so carrying water may sometimes be the only option. In certain areas, like the northern Tibetan Plateau, water isn’t hard to find, but due to salinity or alkalinity issues, it may not be drinkable even when available — careful evaluation is needed. If you encounter water that cannot be consumed directly, some simple DIY distillation methods can produce enough potable water to sustain life. Outdoor survival manuals contain plenty of information on this.

2. Water Treatment.
Filtration and boiling are the most common methods. Filtration removes floating dust and impurities, and most bacteria, but typically not smaller viruses. In southern mountainous areas, if you find clean water flowing from the side of a mountain, it’s often safe to drink directly, but filtering it first is still recommended. Avoid low-end filters that mainly rely on activated carbon — opt instead for those with ceramic or ultrafiltration membranes, with the latter being preferable. However, don’t expect them to filter out saltwater or alkaline water. Boiling can kill most active bacteria and viruses, but it may not eliminate bacterial spores quickly. For a practical method, refer to my previous article.
Chemical disinfection methods are now less commonly used, but for dealing with dust and particles, such methods are still necessary, mostly involving flocculation and precipitation techniques.

4. The Thermal Security Rule
Thermal security includes the following key elements and is another core lifesaving rule:

1. Sufficient Food and Caloric Intake Is Essential for Safe Travel.
Ultralight travel may reduce energy consumption to some extent, but don’t expect too much. During heavy-load trekking, the body’s demand for calories increases significantly, especially in extremely cold conditions. Don’t count on burning off excess body fat during outdoor activities, because the body’s energy transfer and conversion don’t work that simply. The female victim in the Ao-Tai Mountain tragedy had a pitifully inadequate diet that couldn’t support her energy needs, ultimately leading to disaster.

2. Fuel and Heating Methods Also Have a Significant Impact on Body Heat Retention.
Drinking cold water and eating cold food is one of the worst habits unless you're already accustomed to it at home. The energy your body expends to warm up the food can be equivalent to the calories you’re ingesting—there’s really no difference. The law of conservation of energy doesn’t just stop working in classical physics. In this sense, some of the fuel you carry—i.e., your food—is also providing comfort.

3 Reducing heat loss is also crucial outdoors, as cold is the greatest threat.
The low temperature of the air itself isn’t that scary; what’s frightening is when that air starts moving. When temperatures drop to several degrees below zero combined with strong winds, that’s when problems arise. A wind chill effect of minus ten degrees Celsius with winds at force five feels and is as dangerous as minus twenty degrees—that’s what’s called the wind chill effect.

4 The most severe consequence of heat loss—hypothermia.
In fact, the direct cause of death in most mountain accidents is hypothermia. Aside from the wind chill effect mentioned earlier, being soaked through is another major factor, leading to rapid loss of body heat. Physically speaking, water has an extremely high specific heat capacity, meaning it draws a lot of heat away from the body. Also, don’t assume these are the only two dangerous factors—there’s another invisible one that can cause hypothermia: exhaustion. When you’re physically drained, you’re even more prone to hypothermia. These factors often compound and interact, but the root cause is still that heat intake fails to meet the body’s expenditure.

5. Rules for Determining Direction
If you have a natural talent for navigation, like the legendary ‘Colorful Cloud Guide,’ relying mostly on a strong sense of direction will rarely steer you wrong. But the problem is, most people haven’t built up much wilderness navigation experience and must rely on high-tech tools like GPS devices and topographic maps with contour lines to determine their bearings.

There are many types of GPS devices, but reliability is key. Even basic smartphone GPS functions can fail, especially at high altitudes. Here, battery safety can’t be overlooked—any kind of GPS device is a major power drain, and performance worsens in the cold. It’s best to keep it in an inner pocket to stay warm when not in use, so it won’t lose power during operation. You can carry a backup GPS device just in case, but regardless, a traditional mechanical compass is your last line of defense—a highly reliable navigation tool. Though limited in function, it almost never fails.

6. Communication Rules
1 Internal Team Communication
Some say the golden rule of safety is to never leave the main group. That’s true, but in some situations, it’s simply not possible. Ever read the detailed account of the Aotai Mountain tragedy? Shan Shui insists that at minimum, teams should be equipped with walkie-talkies—even low-power 0.5-watt civilian-band models are usually sufficient in the mountains. When Shan Shui goes out with friends, aside from satellite phones, team communication mainly relies on walkie-talkies. Whenever someone needs to scout ahead and the group splits up, the device must be turned on so everyone knows each other’s exact location and condition.

2 External Communication
External communication is more costly and generally depends on satellite phones, but they’re worth every penny. Recently, the Beidou Box has also become a viable option—it’s relatively cheaper but not as convenient as a satellite phone. Shan Shui noticed that among teams involved in accidents, few, if any, were carrying satellite phones. Had they been, alerting rescuers immediately might have prevented tragedies. In areas prone to mountain accidents, mobile phone signals are usually nonexistent due to the rugged terrain. Additionally, with external communication tools, you can ask someone outside to send real-time weather updates for your area, allowing you to make informed decisions based on local conditions and avoid the torment of severe weather.

7. Avoiding Overexertion Rule
Avoiding overexertion is another critical survival principle. This reminds me of the tragic case of Yan Dongdong, a Tsinghua University student. The Western Tianshan Mountains aren’t particularly dangerous—so how did he die? After reading the accident report, it turned out he was in a rush to return to camp after descending, and while darkness wasn’t the main issue, extreme fatigue was the real culprit. In mountaineering, many accidents happen during descent after reaching the summit. Perhaps people think descending doesn’t take much energy, or they want to escape altitude sickness and get back to a lower camp or base as quickly as possible. I call this “compulsive descent syndrome”—a mindset few can avoid.

A similar pattern occurs when escaping danger—you might push yourself recklessly toward a destination, camp, or safe zone, and the outcome may be fatal. And it’s not just in mountaineering or outdoor activities. Even during long road trips, most people tend to drive as fast as possible to get home sooner, which again increases accident risk due to exhaustion.

By the way, Shan Shui usually enjoys a slow, relaxed descent—it’s almost as enjoyable as the ascent, if not more so!

8. Risk Avoidance Rule
Avalanches, falls, falling rocks, flash floods, and similar hazards are specific high-risk factors—but they’re relatively manageable since there are established preventive measures.
If the slope is steep enough, and the snowpack has multiple layers, attempting to traverse it to save effort during a thaw is essentially suicidal. The same goes for walking through falling rock zones in valleys during rain or setting up tents in flood-prone areas or under snow-covered cliffs—any of these can lead to catastrophic outcomes.

9. Pessimistic Planning Rule
This one is extremely important—and one of the most crucial survival principles!
Whenever danger is imminent and you need to make sound judgments, always prioritize absolute safety over any sense of luck. Sometimes, when success seems near, people gamble like they’re at a casino—betting on good outcomes and ignoring bad ones. Psychologically, this is called “compulsive optimism syndrome,” where you’re convinced you’ll win this time, but things don’t turn out as hoped.

It’s a good habit to assess risks along your route before setting out. No matter how much research or planning you’ve done, variables in timing, terrain, and weather can introduce unexpected changes. You should prepare for the worst—like how to handle extreme weather, outline several contingency exit plans, or even plan for a full retreat the way you came.

10. Rapid Risk Evasion Rule
The ability to set up camp quickly is critically important. In harsh weather, being able to set up camp quickly is practically synonymous with rapid risk evasion. This includes finding natural shelters—like caves, tree hollows, or overhangs—as well as quickly building makeshift shelters such as snow caves. But the most reliable option is still bringing your own tent. How fast you can pitch it can sometimes mean the difference between life and death. Recent cases of people freezing to death while trying to set up camp are not just flukes!

One point worth emphasizing: users must be intimately familiar with their gear. Even if you know the setup process, can you really pitch a tent alone in winds of force eight or nine? Also, the type of tent you choose is extremely important!

In certain regions and weather conditions, you might have nowhere to retreat, and time literally means life. Without proper gear and skills for rapid sheltering, death is often inevitable. Here, I recommend reviewing the full account of the recent Aotai Mountain tragedy that unfolded earlier this month.

11. Safety Margin Rule
Always leave room for error—this is especially vital in outdoor activities.
When this issue is specifically applied to food preparation, for a one-week cross-country trek, it's best to set aside supplies for two or three extra days. The same principle applies to power—make sure you bring enough battery capacity, and it's best to also have some type of recharging device, such as a high-efficiency solar panel. In cold regions, when it comes to sleeping bag weight, it’s better to err on the side of too much rather than too little; you’ll rarely regret bringing more.

In addition to gear and food, your schedule should also allow for flexibility; otherwise, the risks will multiply due to rushing. The same goes for physical stamina—you shouldn’t push yourself to the limit every day, and it’s highly beneficial to keep some reserves. Unfortunately, many people find this hard to do in practice and need to be cautious.

12. The Rule of Calm Survival
Danger usually strikes when you’re not calm!
In extremely harsh weather conditions, staying put to rest and recover usually yields the best outcome, rather than fleeing the danger hastily—even if food is relatively scarce. Irrational escape attempts will only make things worse!

In a place as treacherous as Nangmen Guan Gou, I once got stuck near the top of a steep lateral moraine of a massive glacier, unable to move. At that moment of being trapped, I experienced the clearest thinking of my life. Instead, I comforted my companions, calmly thought things through, and methodically carried out self-rescue. I even got to try out my new invention, the “Flexible Rock Anchor,” which was the only piece of safety equipment that could save my life under those conditions. Then, using double ropes and a descender, I made a perfect descent.

13. The Medical Care Rule
A well-prepared medical kit can easily save a life in a critical moment.
My medical pack includes all kinds of antispasmodics, painkillers, antidotes, antibiotics, steroids, acid reducers, diuretics, and antihistamines, along with injectables, surgical blades, and anesthetics. It’s practically a mobile outdoor hospital—and a real-life get-out-of-jail-free card!

Overall, the thirteen get-out-of-jail-free cards listed above may not guarantee survival in outdoor conditions, but they are termed as such to emphasize their importance. Ignoring these factors, however, can very likely cost you your life—or at the very least, multiply the risks.

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